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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has threatened to air Republicans’ dirty laundry if they support releasing a House Ethics Committee report into Matt Gaetz’s alleged sexual misconduct and other accusations. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida suggested the House should investigate the investment portfolios of Republicans who don’t support Gaetz as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said any Republican who steps out of line on Trump’s Cabinet picks will face efforts from him and a vaguely ominous “we” to “try to get you out of the Senate.” And right-wing influencers like Steve Bannon are getting in on the action, as well, demanding Republicans support Trump’s picks — despite their assorted controversies — at the risk of being primaried.
Some Senate Republicans have balked particularly at confirming Gaetz, who was investigated by the Justice Department over allegations of sex trafficking and obstruction of justice. The Justice Department ended its probe without bringing charges against Gaetz, and the House Ethics Committee investigation into related claims effectively ended when Gaetz resigned. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.
Trump loyalists are behaving like MAGA mafiosi in their attempts to push his problematic Cabinet picks, arguing essentially that instead of “advice and consent,” Trump gave GOP senators an offer they can’t refuse. What else should one expect from a party that includes members who’ve literally compared its factions to the Five Families in “The Godfather”?
Trump’s rise in the Republican Party has made the politics of fear more commonplace among conservatives, but after last year, when the race to replace House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was plagued by external death threats against members who refused to support Rep. Jim Jordan’s speaker bid, it at least appeared that the party was easing off the strong-arm tactics against its own. That evidently didn’t last long.
The MAGA mob is trying to flex its power. And right-wingers like Greene, Tuberville and Luna are using all sorts of bullying to bend fellow Republicans to the boss’ will. Trump diehards in Congress have been explicit in what kind of unthinking deference they expect from their fellow congresspeople.
Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas summarized it best when he said, “If Donald Trump says, ‘Jump 3 feet high and scratch your head,’ we all jump 3 feet high and scratch our heads.”
Scholars and critics are suggesting that Trump’s Cabinet nominees represent a test of Republicans’ fealty to him. In other words, it’s jumping time.