As President-Elect Donald Trump rolled out his cabinet picks, observers were pleasantly surprised with a handful of picks, like Marco Rubio for Secretary of State. Others—Matt Gaetz for Attorney General, Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense, Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, Robert Kennedy Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Kash Patel for Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation among them—were a wee bit more controversial. Some observers, at least, questioned whether they were suited for positions of high public trust. There were questions of moral turpitude. Of seasoning. Of being stooges for adversarial foreign powers. Of brain worms taking a toll on their sanity. Of plans to turn the ostensible mission of the agency they would lead on its head. You know, things like that.
Back in the halcyon days of late 2024, there was a quaint notion going around that the United States Senate might refuse to confirm some or all of these nominees. As of today’s confirmation of Patel, all of these people are set to be sworn in.
All, that is, save for Gaetz.
Gaetz, reading the writing on the wall, quickly withdrew his name from consideration. In hindsight, however, he was a fool. He would surely have been confirmed.
Many times over the years, I have cited Matt Yglesias‘s 2011 essay, “The Most Important Rule Of Surviving A Political Sex Scandal Is: Don’t Resign!” I’ve seen it play out over and over, not just for sex scandals but other brouhahas. So long as the politician is willing to endure the heat during the initial wave of press scrutiny, it usually blows over. If they’re not and resign, they always lose.
