Donald Trump isn't even in the White House yet, and already he's failing. Matt Gaetz, the trolliest of Trump's "Legion of Doom" Cabinet appointees, gave up on the dream of being attorney general on Wednesday. It wasn't just because the recently-resigned Florida congressman is intensely disliked, as much by fellow Republicans as Democrats. Despite the cowardly efforts of House Republicans to quash the findings of an Ethics Committee investigation into Gaetz's alleged sex crimes, the details kept getting leaked at a rapid pace: Reports of drug-fueled sex parties. Multiple witnesses who testified about seeing Gaetz have sex with an underage girl. An elaborate FBI-created graph showing all the cash exchanging hands allegedly to pay for the sex work and drugs.
The New York Times' Matt Gaetz Venmo diagram: www.nytimes.com/2024/11/20/u...
— Alex Wagner Tonight (@wagnertonight.bsky.social) November 20, 2024 at 9:03 PM
When CNN called Gaetz to let him know they were publishing another story about witnesses who saw him having sex with the 17-year-old at another orgy, he gave up the ghost, tweeting, "my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition."
EXCLUSIVE: Gaetz withdrew from AG nomination 45 mins after we called to say we were going to report that “Ethics committee told there was a *second* sexual encounter between Gaetz and 17 year old in 2017.” w/@sarahnferris.” Full story: https://t.co/z244tATQIU
— Paula Reid (@PaulaReidCNN) November 21, 2024
This is welcome news, to say the least, and not just because Gaetz was a truly terrifying threat to basic law and order. It's a reminder that resistance is not futile. In the two weeks since Trump won, a dark cloud of depression has gathered over the heads of everyone who cares about the rule of law, basic decency, and freedom in this country. Not just because we rightfully fear the destruction Trump and his Project 2025 minions have planned for our once-great nation. So many people feel hopeless to do anything about it. There has been a lot of discourse regarding the fate of the "Resistance," the umbrella term that started in 2017 as a description of liberals en masse, but soon devolved into a term of derision for those perceived as overly earnest and easily excitable in their outrage over Trump. There was a real threat that the "savvy" take was that there is nothing we can do to fight back.
Gaetz throwing in the towel is a necessary reminder that it can pay to fight back. Republicans were sullenly falling into formation behind this pick, as evidenced by the suppression of the ethics report. But because ordinary people showed some spine — and some interest in consuming news about the scandal — the embarrassing details about Gaetz kept coming out. Trump likely saw the Gaetz pick as a fun way to stick it to the #MeToo movement. Instead, the story was a reminder of why that movement was so necessary. It's hard for even the most devoted rape apologist to argue that we should all be cool about reports of grown men paying high schoolers to have sex. The MAGA backlash wants to see sexual predators as cool, fun-loving guys. The Gaetz debacle reminds us they are, in fact, sad and gross losers.
That doesn't mean all critiques of "resistance" tactics are wrong or that we should return to 2017-style politics. I agree with Molly Jong-Fast that the tone of nonstop outrage from that era backfired, by making liberals seem joyless and hysterical. Not every provocation requires a response. And when we do respond, it cannot be just expressing outrage, especially when MAGA thrives on "liberal tears." We have to be smarter and more strategic, which I fully admit is easier said than done. But there are lessons to be learned from the Gaetz faceplant.
The first and foremost is to recognize that chaos and wickedness aren't strengths of MAGA, but weaknesses. That's why I flinched to hear pundits describe Trump as a "strongman," and even worry at times about the word "fascist," though I use it out of a commitment to truth-telling. There's a widespread myth out there that dictators know how to "get stuff done," which authoritarians use to persuade people they are a necessary evil. But it is a myth. Mussolini did not make the trains run on time. Hitler wasn't ruthlessly efficient. He instead bankrupted his country with a horrific war that eventually led to much of the nation being bombed into oblivion.
As I argued last week when Trump started rolling out his troll-nominations, the Achilles heel of authoritarians is they confuse power and domination, and end up struggling to hold a coalition together. When they were focused on defeating a common enemy — Democrats — Republicans were able to set aside their differences to get Trump over the electoral line. But now that he's won, the fractures are starting to show. Even more importantly, Trump doesn't know how to bring different factions to the table to compromise. Instead, his every instinct is to set people against one another in a never-ending contest to curry his favor. That's great for his ego, but it is not, thankfully, how to get stuff done.
As we saw with the Gaetz immolation, there will be plenty of opportunity to stoke the intra-GOP tensions. As a bonus, it can be done without resorting to annoying "how dare they" tweeting, which can backfire by reminding Republicans of the common enemy they wish to defeat. What was so effective this time around was that Republicans were humiliated by having to defend Gaetz, and the drip-drip of details only made it worse. These people embrace authoritarianism because they want to feel powerful, and having to eat poop in public is the opposite of that. With characters like Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the nomination funnel, there will be more opportunities to mock anyone pretending they are eminently qualified. We need less "how dare they" and more "ha ha people who give in are sad bootlickers."
That doesn't mean Trump will be easy to defeat. He is going to be president, and that comes with a lot of power. He has a lot of goons whose commitment to ending democracy will overcome their reluctance to be photographed with the cartoonish villains Trump surrounds himself with. This is, to be absolutely clear, still bad. But it's not hopeless. The ballots have barely been tallied up and Trump has already sparked massive infighting within his caucus. That can be stoked. It's a potent weapon.
Nor is this just about short-term wins, either. These tensions can be used for long-term gains. Take Speaker Mike Johnson beclowning himself by repeatedly covering for Gaetz. Johnson has made showy evangelical piety a big part of his political brand. For people who believe all that Christian talk about morality and decency, his behavior is a slap in the face. It's exactly the kind of "oh crap, they don't believe a word of this" wake-up call that people cite as the reason they eventually leave Christian conservatism and join the progressive cause. This is another fracture that needs to be publicized at every turn, not because it will stop Trump immediately, but because it helps drain the MAGA forces of younger people they need to refuel their movement.
We're not going to win every round. There will be painful losses, including many people who die or suffer under Trump's far-right agenda. This is bad, super-bad, and no one should deny that. But it's also not over. The "resistance" will look different this time, and in ways that will hopefully be more effective. It probably won't even have a too-cute name this time around. But it's not dead. It's already banked a win, and it's still two months to the inauguration.
