Prof. Lawless and GoLocal's Fenton Spar Over Trump's Appointments & Dems’ Strategy
Prof. Lawless and GoLocal's Fenton Spar Over Trump's Appointments & Dems’ Strategy
Fenton and Lawless sparred over a number of issues — including the dynamics of now former-Congressman Matt Gaetz being tapped by Trump for Attorney General.
“Democrats seem to be offended, but many Republicans seem to be more offended," said Fenton over the pick. "He was not a popular guy in the Republican House, he does not seem to be a particularly popular guy amongst Republican Senators - many are casting that his chances of confirmation are unlikely."
"Was this just an attempt as he needed a way of getting out of the House before the House Ethics Commission issued its report? It could create a situation in which Republicans could say, look, we stood up to the President and shot down one of his appointments is this more gamesmanship than reality?" asked Fenton.
"No," said Lawless. "In fact, I think you’re assuming they’re playing a game of chess and I’m not sure they even know how to play checkers."
"This is a situation where Donald Trump believes Gaetz is incredibly loyal to him, and he believes he’s been wronged by the justice system in this country the same way Donald Trump is and he believes that he’ll do his bidding for him," said Lawless. "In fact, he has said that if necessary, and he has gotten John Thune and other Republicans seeking the leadership position to agree that these appointments would be recess appointments, which means that they don’t actually require Senate approval."
Rumble Over Rubio
"Wouldn’t all of Congress have more credibility - if the United States Senate uses advice and consent?" asked Fenton. "Let’s just use Marco Rubio, because I think he’s the most mainstream appointment named so far by President Trump…in the olden days, maybe 20 years ago, that nominee coming out of the Senate would get probably 90-something votes — why shouldn't Democrats vote overwhelmingly..."
"Why didn’t Republicans?" interrupted Lawless.
"Let me just finish…speak out on the floor where you disagree with him on policy initiatives, but he is qualified to serve as Secretary of State, thus when they raise concerns about appointments like Gaetz, or Robert Kennedy Jr., that that criticism would have far more viability in the minds and hearts of Americans?" Fenton finished.
"Because it doesn’t," said Lawless. "It doesn’t have more credibility, because we’re not in a situation right now where if the Democrats do what would be the sort of unifying thing for the country on one dimension, that they’ll be given some sort of due deference and Republicans will reciprocate."
"The Republicans didn’t overwhelmingly vote for Joe Biden’s nominees, who by the way, were all qualified - none were out of the mainstream…and being thrust into a position where they had no business being there," said Lawless.