Chaos reigns supreme in Trump's Washington
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For two weeks, President-elect Trump has enjoyed — and exploited — an aura of invincibility that few Republicans have been willing to challenge publicly.
- On Thursday, the bubble finally popped.
Why it matters: For an otherwise pliant group of Senate Republicans, former Rep. Matt Gaetz's nomination as attorney general was a bridge too far.
Zoom in: There are scores of MAGA loyalists who could have sailed through Senate confirmation, plenty of whom were on the shortlist compiled by Trump's transition team.
- Instead, Trump chose a congressman not only despised by his GOP colleagues, but embroiled in a widely publicized House Ethics investigation into alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
- The explanation is head-spinning but simple: Trump has achieved historic political success by following his instincts — and his instincts tend to favor maximum chaos.
The big picture: Trump won't be inaugurated for another two months, but MAGA mayhem is already dominating the news cycle in the same ways it did throughout his first term.
Take Thursday alone:
- Gaetz abruptly withdrew from attorney general consideration after just eight days, making his nomination the third-shortest in U.S. history, according to the Senate historian.
- A 2017 police report was released detailing graphic sexual assault allegations against Pete Hegseth, Trump's nominee for defense secretary. Hegseth, who met with senators Thursday, has denied wrongdoing.
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's nominee for health secretary, apologized after CNN unearthed comments from a 2016 radio show in which Kennedy compared Trump to Hitler and insulted his supporters.
Flashback: If past is prologue, the pace of chaos is unlikely to relent even after Trump gets his Cabinet in place.
- Trump's first term saw record levels of staff turnover: His national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned 23 days in, and Trump routinely fired top officials via tweet over the next four years.
- He frequently engaged in Twitter diplomacy — threatening North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un with nuclear war at one point — and made news virtually every time he stepped in front of a microphone.
- That didn't stop even during a once-in-a-generation pandemic, which Trump used as an opportunity to broadcast daily to the American people — sometimes to the horror of his own public health advisers.
The bottom line: The Trump who won 312 electoral votes a few weeks ago is the same Trump who exhausted many Americans with non-stop political drama from 2017 to 2021.
- He may be more prepared, focused and surrounded by loyalists this time around, but chaos will always be part and parcel of the Trump experience.
- As Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) advised reporters after feigning shock at Gaetz's withdrawal Thursday: "You better pace yourself because it's not even Thanksgiving,"
