“We’ll assess the nominee, but …” sounds pretty ominous in that context, especially since Cruz is also tamping down on the idea of a recess appointment at the same time:

"I will say, that was a pick that was, I think, very surprising to the entirety of the Senate. And so we'll assess the nominee on the merits, but there's a process that will unfold…"

— Texas Sen. @tedcruz on the nomination of Matt Gaetz for attorney general@BiancaDLGarza pic.twitter.com/YAufZoHmzL

— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) November 14, 2024

If Trump wanted a recess to make his appointments (which wouldn’t really work anyway, as I explained earlier in the week), the Gaetz appointment probably put the kibosh on that strategy. Democrats would have tried to block a recess even if Trump nominated candidates from the Deep State Approved List. Choosing Gaetz not only will energize Democrats in both chambers even more, it has enough Senate Republicans thinking twice about it — and not just Cruz, or the establishmentarians:

Some of President-elect Donald Trump's Senate skeptics are joining what is expected to be full Democrat opposition to former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., as the next attorney general. ...

There are at least five Republican senators who have at times broken from Trump to come out against Gaetz's nomination and another, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Thursday he wants to review the House ethics report on Gaetz, an investigation that seemingly had been spiked when Gaetz abruptly resigned his seat once nominated Wednesday.

The count doesn’t include Cruz either. That would mean a maximum of 47 votes for a recess, which is looking like the only path for Gaetz’ appointment. And since it’s clear that the recess would be mainly for Gaetz, it’s not going to happen.

So now what? I never took this nomination that seriously anyway; Trump’s smart enough to understand a deal that cannot be made. I followed Cruz on Newsmax today (video not yet available), and suggested to host Bianca de la Garza that Trump nominated Gaetz to draw fire away from other controversial nominees. Corey Lewandowski told Newsmax earlier that the nomination was “not a bluff,” and in a sense, it’s not; it’s a screen to get others through the process. 

So why did Gaetz rush to resign his House seat? Trump will put him somewhere in the administration. If he can’t get a confirmation as a Cabinet member, Trump will hire him in a non-confirm position in the West Wing. Gaetz also gets to kill off his Ethics probe before it finishes either way. Trump hasn’t lost anything with this gambit, except a small amount of time on the AG pick. And since we’re still in November, even that’s debatable — and he has some room to still get a hard-line ally in place, like Mike Lee. Although, Cruz himself might be a better fit for what Trump wants.