In her latest column for the Wall Street Journal, longtime Donald Trump booster Kimberly Strassel questioned the president-elect's post-election judgment while asking if his supporters should be worried.
Strassel, who has defended the former president through both of his impeachment trials and after the Jan. 6th insurrection he inspired, expressed dismay that Trump saw fit to choose embattled Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL ) to be his attorney general nominee, causing needless headaches for his presidential transition.
As she noted in her column, Trump likely knew selecting Gaetz would prove to be controversial, but underestimated how much congressional Republicans detest their colleague from Florida.
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Getting right to the point, she wrote: "... the decision to pick a self-promoting featherweight disliked by 98% of his colleagues and towing a steamer trunk of skeletons is foolish indeed. It’s the kind of choice that makes even true supporters wonder how easily Mr. Trump is gulled by Twitter flash."
"Among House Freedom Caucus rebels, Senate conservatives and Trump partisans, a Gaetz mention elicits smirks, sighs, knowing eye rolls. They aren’t jealous, and they aren’t 'RINOs.' They simply make a distinction between the many members who put in the hard work, and the few of no accomplishment who preen on social media as the 'true' conservatives in Washington," she explained before accusing Trump of swallowing "the hype."
Calling in the president-elect's "first mistake" since winning re-election, she suggested the former president either failed to read the room or was willfully blind ––which should be concerning to his supporters.
"It’s a seal of approval to choose a nominee uniformly reviled by the left; it’s 'not so smart' (as Mr. Trump might say) to pick one capable of emptying a room of Trump loyalists. Did he honestly not know? If so, worrisome," she wrote before adding that the former president needs to remedy the situation and cut Gaetz loose.
"Better would be for the president-elect to recognize the error and save everyone the drama and delay. The former president campaigned this year on a promise to restore the Justice Department’s reputation, and the country deserves to see that fulfilled. Bold means nothing if it isn’t accompanied by seriousness," she concluded.
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