Ding, Dong Gaetz is Gone, Bondi Is In & South Florida’s Well Represented – Top 3 Takeaways

Ding, dong Gaetz is gone! It was just after noon yesterday that President Trump’s designee for AG, former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz posted this on X: I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback - and the incredible support of so many. While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition. There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I'll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump's DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1. And with that, Matt Gaetz’s candidacy was done. It’s my hope that’s the case in more ways than one. One thing I’ve always done is shoot straight with you. I believe in intellectual honesty. I believe in integrity. I don’t go on the air to tell you want to hear. Related...the most backlash I’ve received from this audience over the past two years has been in reference to Matt Gaetz. It was on January 6th of 2023, as the new Congress was being seated, and Matt Gaetz was fighting Kevin McCarthy’s bid for speaker, I said this in talking about the real motivation behind Gaetz challenging Kevin McCarthy’s bid for house speaker: I’m going to throw a few names at you for a moment. Ron DeSantis. Matt Gaetz. Kevin McCarthy. Now, by way of Congressional voting records, who do you think is the most conservative? And how about the least conservative of the three? I ascribe to the notion that actions speak louder than words. If you had Gaetz, DeFacto leader of the McCarthy opposition party as the most conservative... You’d be way wrong. He has far and away the least conservative voting record of the three. Kevin McCarthy had the most conservative voting record of the bunch (under Trump). That doesn’t inherently mean he should be speaker, but it does mean that there’s been a game of deception that’s been played by dissenters to his bid this week. And what was the deception as Gaetz put McCarthy through the paces and beat him down with numerous votes? It was always about his House ethics investigation. He wanted McCarthy to pledge to him that he would try end it. In reality, the House speaker doesn’t determine when there is and isn’t an ethics investigation. But when McCarthy, as House speaker, didn’t do what Gaetz wanted him to, he threw him overboard. As I mentioned on October 26th last year: All the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy ever really was, was a personal vendetta carried out by Matt Gaetz and his small gang of malcontents who almost like being the center of attention as much as him. As I said at the outset of the House spectacle a few weeks ago... Gaetz will take a victory lap and lean on the ignorance of others who still don’t know or don’t want to account for why he has spear-headed a yearlong effort to circumvent the conservative agenda, all because his top concern isn’t a conservative agenda. It isn’t what’s in the best interests of this country. It hasn’t been serving his constituents. It’s been about the House ethics investigation that’s ongoing into Gaetz for alleged bribery and sex-trafficking. The investigation that he blackmailed McCarthy into attempting to end and that resulted in a personal vendetta against him when he didn’t. So here we are. Why did Gaetz suddenly drop his bid? Because if he had continued with his bid, what’s in that House ethics report would continue to be leaked. Matt Gaetz isn’t who he’s portrayed himself to be. I’m familiar with the circles that he ran in. I knew back then what’s becoming clear to most now...that his ethics investigation wasn’t an unfounded witch-hunt. Now with that said...
Who is the biggest winner with what’s transpired? President-elect Donald Trump. You may recall that Matt Gaetz also briefly tried to throw Mike Johnson overboard, just as he’d done to McCarthy, because similarly to McCarthy, Johnson wouldn’t attempt to make his ethics investigation go away. But the most important person in this conversation to the president-elect, is House Speaker Mike Johnson. The man who Donald Trump told the Republican conference just last week that “he’s with all the way” and the man who has been working with Trump on his legislative agenda for the past eight months. Getting Gaetz out of the House is a huge win for what will be another slim Republican House majority. There was no room for Gaetz to get in the way in the next Congress in order for Trump’s agenda to get done. By nominating Gaetz, Trump got him out of Mike Johnson’s way. And now the best possible outcome has happened, and he’s gone. I think. Here’s one wrinkle to consider, and that I’m somewhat unclear about. Matt Gaetz resigned from the current congress; however, he won reelection to the next one. Is it possible that he tries to get seated in January despite having resigned? Florida’s Secretary of State Cord Byrd has already called a special election for the race. It’s a little murky. This is a development I’ll be watching. In any event, Florida’s former AG Pam Bondi, is an infinitely better choice, and most likely Trump’s preference all along. After all, this development isn’t exactly new. Pam Bondi was the number 2 in line, behind Bill Barr when Trump moved on from Jeff Sessions in his first term as president.
South Florida’s time has come. If you were to ask just about any South Florida mayor, current or former, what their most consistent frustration over the past twenty years has been about the policy that comes from Tallahassee, regardless of party...almost all of them would tell you something that would have to do with policy geography (I know because I’ve had dozens of these conversations over the years). Florida’s Republican Party has held complete control of the state’s government for 26 consecutive years, and control of the state legislature for 28 consecutive years. It’s been an incredible GOP run that in many ways feels as though it’s only just begun due to Republicans having only gained a voter registration advantage in the state three years ago, but that now are holding a greater than 1.1 million voter advantage, as of a month ago. And of course, with a surging Republican voter advantage in state, Republicans have had two record setting elections in a row with more elected Republicans top to bottom than at any other time in Florida’s history. Florida’s remarkable success has translated into our state becoming the heart of the Republican Party with Floridians wielding unparalleled power and influence outside of our state – starting with the president-elect of the United States. But back to where I started regarding policy geography. For much of the past 26- or 28-years South Florida’s arguably been better represented in Washington D.C., than it has in Tallahassee. And that had been the case for one primary reason. For most of the previous three decades elected Republicans in Southeast Florida had been a rarity. With Republicans in control of Tallahassee, but with Democrats representing the TriCounty, often their priorities weren’t the majority's priorities. It’s hard to blame state legislators in the majority for prioritizing the interests of their constituents over those of the constituents represented by the legislative minority. Elections have consequences after all. But times have changed in many ways. As I’ve consistently covered, the primary reason why Florida’s Republican Party has been winning historic majorities, and the only reason that there’s a legislative super majority, is because of South Florida. In the TriCounty, only Broward is still reliably blue, and even then, its hue isn’t anywhere near as dark as it was in say 2002. And with record Republican representation in South Florida, comes record influence in the upcoming legislative conference. Yesterday incoming state Senate President Ben Albritton announced the upcoming legislative session’s committee chairs. While only 28% of the state’s senators derive from the TriCounty, 54% of the state’s senate committees will be chaired, or will have a vice chair from the TriCounty. It’ll be the most representation in the senate’s leadership that we’ve seen. South Florida’s time has come.