In a move that came to the surprise of just about every one, president-elect Donald Trump announced that he would select Matt Gaetz, the 42-year-old Florida GOP congressman, to be his next attorney general.

Trump has made a lot of safe bets with his appointments so far. None that would raise any flags. But his appointment of Gaetz, no doubt, will be his most difficult to get over the finish line.

Matt Gaetz has built a reputation for himself in Congress as a firebrand Trump loyalist. He and his coalition of Trump-loyalist House members were directly responsible for ousting former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and they’ve been a point of contention among moderate republicans who don’t subscribe to their agenda.

Now, to be clear, none of this is to say that he's not qualified. I’m just pointing out the fact that, whether you agree with him or not, Gaetz has made a lot of friends and a lot of enemies.

So, what could be Trump's thinking behind this? Some are pointing out the fact that because Trump has faced a breadth of very unlawful conduct from people within the federal government and state governments, that he needs somebody loyal to him that will follow his every command to go after these people.


It could be the case that Trump wants to weed out the corrupt prosecutors and expose them for their misdeeds.

It could also be the case that Trump realizes that when he's out of office, he'll be used as a scapegoat by Democrats for the remainder of his life, and with Matt Gaetz by his side as Attorney General for four years, Trump knows that he’ll have somebody ruthless and loyal by his side that won’t allow fringe leftists to take him down without a fight.