Politics / November 14, 2024
Matt Gaetz Is the Best Possible Outcome for Attorney General

The man is a preposterous pick who will almost certainly do terrible things—just not as terrible as what a savvier prosecutor would do.

Elie Mystal


US Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, speaks during the third day of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 17, 2024.
(Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images)

Pop quiz: Who was the best attorney general during Trump’s first term? The answer is former toilet bowl salesman for the well-endowed, Matt Whitaker. Trump’s first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, was an unreconstructed racist who had one good moment (when he recused himself from the investigation into Trump’s dismissal of FBI Director James Comey) but otherwise weaponized the Justice Department against vulnerable people. His third attorney general, Bill Barr, was a devious monarchist whose wackadoodle theories about executive power exempted Trump from any level of accountability. Jeffrey Rosen was Trump’s last attorney general, and he was fine for the few minutes he was in charge, but Rosen barely fought off a challenge from Trump sycophant Jeffrey Clark, who almost overthrew the government after Trump lost the 2020 election.

In contrast, Whitaker, who was the acting attorney general between Sessions and Barr, merely did what he was told. He was a nonentity, a person with neither the will, vision, nor power to do anything other than what Trump ordered him to do during his brief time at the top. The attorney general is not supposed to do the bidding of the president, especially when the president is a criminal, but Whitaker, at least, did not come up with additional evil of his own.

As we look towards the second Trump administration, I did not dare to hope for another Matthew Whitaker as head of the DOJ. The MAGA bench is deep with frightening individuals who understand the immense power of the DOJ and are eager to deploy it against Trump’s enemies, their own enemies, the free press, and vulnerable people across the country. These people include functional Klansmen, who are just itching to get their hands on the FBI and would revel in bringing prosecutions against any Black person who dissents from their rule.

But in the first bit of good news since the election, Trump announced that his pick for Attorney General is Florida Representative Matt Gaetz. Given the universe of likely options, I will take Gaetz as AG any freaking day.

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