I knew it was Clinton staffers — just had a momentary brain fart. Had Obama staffers wanted to make a similarly nasty gesture they would have left rattlesnakes in the desk drawer. Clinton’s people were a lot gentler.

It helps when you just make up the “institution” – I believe that “The Office of the President-Elect” was a Rahm Emanuel creation – and then demand reverence for this thing that never existed.

There is a relevant Churchill story:
https://ricochet.com/696389/regular-and-irregular-channels/

If you look at it that way, nominating Gaetz, Gabbard, Kennedy, and so on is actually brilliant. The story is phenomenal. In one episode, Trump successfully turns a scion of the most famous dynasty in the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, nominates him to high office, and then fights the Deep State and RINOs who are threatened by these developments. In another episode, Trump converts a former Democratic Congresswoman and Democratic candidate for president, nominates her to high office, and fights the “sinister” forces who want to keep her down so they can continue fighting “endless wars.” In yet another episode, Trump fights back against the Deep State by raising up a Trump loyalist who, like Trump, Kavanaugh, and so many before, is the subject of a slanderous accusation of sexual misconduct. Trump bravely counters the Deep State and RINOs who, surely, are only opposing Gaetz because they fear his “success” as AG.

In other words, I don’t think it makes sense to think of this in terms of Trump knowing who his friends are. Republicans who are more interested in governing and less interested in creating compelling entertainment are actually pretty uneasy friends of Trump.

Trump’s personality, style, and the fact that his voters don’t bother to show up when he’s not on the ballot make it very likely that Democrats are going to sweep 2026 and 2028. (That, and Democrats are guaranteed to nominate better candidates. See Josh Shapiro jumping to the head of the parade and condemning the county commissioners who violated the law in the Casey/McCormick race, but not until after the PA Supreme Court weighed in.)

If Republicans want to get anything out of the Trump administration that won’t be immediately washed away in 2026 and 2028, they can’t be afraid to cross Trump now, especially on dumpster fire nominees like Gaetz.

I don’t share their fear, but that insistent fear of theirs does give me pause. Well, that along with the fact that Trump hasn’t declared Kash Patel as his man for the FBI already. Yet, I will contine to believe Trump will so declare for Kash, right up until he doesn’t.

An excellent Powerline post, and the comments are fantastic…