Former congressman Matt Gaetz remains a diehard Trump fan, even after the Florida Republican saw his bid to be attorney general in the incoming administration go down in flames.
“I’ll never love another president again,” Gaetz, who withdrew from consideration last week under a cloud of misconduct allegations, wrote on X on Thursday.
The occasion for this praise was responding to Trump’s rather unorthodox Thanksgiving message, where the president-elect bashed “Radical Left Lunatics.”
“Happy Thanksgiving to all, including to the Radical Left Lunatics who have worked so hard to destroy our Country, but who have miserably failed, and will always fail, because their ideas and policies are so hopelessly bad that the great people of our Nation just gave a landslide victory to those who want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote on social media earlier in the day. “Don’t worry, our Country will soon be respected, productive, fair, and strong, and you will be, more than ever before, proud to be an American!”
Early in the week, Biden marked the holiday by carrying out his final turkey pardon on the South Lawn, granting a reprieve to two turkeys named Peach and Blossom.
Gaetz announced last week he wouldn’t seek the nomination to be attorney general, despite resigning from Congress after the Trump administration tapped him for the position. The nomination process proved a stormy one though, as a House committee probed Gaetz over allegations he paid for sex and had sex with a minor, which he strongly denied.
“I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback – and the incredible support of so many. While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” Gaetz wrote on social media of his decision. “There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1.”
The former congressman added he won’t return to the House, but will continue supporting the Trump administration.
In Gaetz’s place, Trump has chosen another proven loyalist as a nominee, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Bondi is an experienced prosecutor and a long-time Trump ally who has supported the president-elect through presidential campaigns and impeachment hearings. She also controversially passed up bringing charges against Trump University, shortly after a Trump foundation gave her a donation.
