OPINION:
When Donald Trump stunned the political world in 2016 by winning the presidency, he waited until his inauguration the following Jan. 20 to announce that he was not kidding.
Immediately after obligatory pleasantries about the outgoing president seated behind him, Mr. Trump told the world that he meant to follow through on all his promises during the campaign.
“Today, we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to another. We are transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the people.”
There was an audible gasp in the crowd. But he was not finished.
“For too long, a small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered, but the jobs left, and the factories closed.”
And on he went, excoriating the life’s work of every man and woman seated on the dais behind him.
“That all changes starting right here and right now because this is your moment,” he told the voters. “It belongs to you.”
No one had ever given such an inaugural address in Washington before. Usually, these speeches were for patching things up between the parties and discarding the big promises from the campaign. But then again, few politicians had ever run for public office with more scalding sincerity than Mr. Trump.
Few were more shocked and horrified than the Democratic media assembled in the seats below, who declared it the “American carnage” speech. And, as reported by The Washington Post within minutes of his delivering those lines, Democrats in Congress began impeachment proceedings.
In 2024, when Mr. Trump stunned the political world again by winning reelection to the presidency, he did not wait until Jan. 20 of next year to announce that he is not kidding. He did that on Nov. 13, Wednesday of last week.
That was the day he announced his nomination of former Rep. Matt Gaetz as his next attorney general. If a conclave of the most devious minds had come together to think up the most destructive and diabolical choice to head the Department of Justice, they could not have done better than Matt Gaetz.
Whatever you think of Mr. Gaetz, he is a truly inspired choice.
He looks like an emaciated Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, better known as the villainous Penguin from DC Comics. His peaked eyebrows, pointy nose and greased-back hair make him a cartoonist’s dream.
His rap sheet matches his looks.
Sex parties, drugs and dirty pictures on his phone, according to the House Ethics Committee. But there is just one problem.
Has anyone ever come up with a more comical oxymoron than the “House Ethics Committee”?
Ethics? Congress? Politicians? Or perhaps the funniest of all: “nonpartisan”? If these people were in any other line of work, they would be in prison.
The truth is, Mr. Gaetz is far and away the most loathed man in Washington, especially Congress. If he were running in a popularity contest around here against Donald Trump, Mr. Trump would win. In a landslide.
Last Wednesday, the happiest man in Washington was House Speaker Mike Johnson, who had just offloaded his biggest headache to another branch of government.
And therein lies the genius of Mr. Gaetz and the diabolical genius of Mr. Trump’s decision to nominate him for attorney general.
For all his odiousness, Mr. Gaetz is certainly loyal to Mr. Trump and Mr. Trump’s America First agenda. In Mr. Gaetz, Mr. Trump has found an attorney general who hates the Washington establishment as much as the Washington establishment hates the average American.
Mr. Gaetz is a tenacious and inventive lawyer who will prosecute the Washington establishment as zealously and relentlessly as they have abused American taxpayers. His confirmation hearings will probably be the most watched since the invention of television.
Even if Mr. Gaetz fails to be confirmed attorney general by the Senate, the Department of Justice will be on trial and Mr. Trump will have — again — kept his campaign promises to transfer power from Washington back to the people.
• Charles Hurt is the opinion editor at The Washington Times.
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