Conservative radio host Dana Loesch claimed Thursday that President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of former Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz was a game of “4D chess” to get him “out of the way.”
Gaetz announced Thursday afternoon that he would be withdrawing his name from Trump’s Cabinet pick for attorney general, stating in a post on X that he would still be committed to supporting the former president and ensuring he becomes the “most successful president in history.” On “The Dana Show,” the conservative talk show host said that if she had been in charge, Gaetz’s nomination to attorney general would have been the best way to “clean” house, claiming Trump knew he wouldn’t be confirmed due to his history and strained relationships with other lawmakers.
“The best way to get Gaetz out of the way, and as I said last hour, this is what I would do if I was in this situation and I needed to clean up my house, so to speak, or the House, is nominate him for a position you know he’s not going to get because you know he’s not going to get confirmed … Not just because of his own chosen poor relationships with other lawmakers, regardless of whether you like him or not, he didn’t get along with everybody,’ Loesch said.
“[Trump] He knows he’s not going to get the seat, or get confirmed, nominates him anyway, and then lets the public in the process do what they do. Take care of it for you, right? Let them handle it for you. Then you can stand back [and say], ‘Hey, look, I’m being loyal to the guy. I picked him for the seat. It’s tough. Tough stuff that it didn’t work out,’” Loesch added. “It’s a brilliant move. It’s literally the exact same thing I would do. If I was in the position where I needed to get rid of somebody that was causing me problems, but hadn’t taken a stance against me publicly, that’s what I would do.”
The same day as Trump’s announcement of Gaetz’s appointment, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson revealed to reporters that the former Florida lawmaker would be resigning from his House position “effective immediately.” Loesch went on to say that despite concerns over Gaetz’s open seat, she believes they will be able to get another Republican due to the district being “solid red,” noting that she doesn’t think the former lawmaker would be moving on to the Senate, as he would have to undergo more scrutiny.
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“But I don’t think that he’s going to get the appointment of that Senate seat for a number of reasons. It’s just stupid strategy. It just awards bad strategy. You don’t narrow the majority by resigning your House seat before the greater certainty of your confirmation. You know what I mean? None of these other people that have been nominated, they haven’t resigned anything yet,” Loesch said. “You don’t need to make the show of doing that. You don’t even have to make it immediately. So that’s what I thought was weird.”
“Also, I don’t think Gaetz and [Republican Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis have gotten along. So you can’t expect after you, if you’ve gone at anybody publicly, you can’t turn around and ask them for a favor. That doesn’t work that way. Because remember, especially in Gaetz universe, loyalty is the thing, right?” Loesch questioned. “I’m just laying it out here. I’m not telling you to take a position on whatever’s in the ethics report. I’m just telling you what I see. But I do think it’s actual 4D chess on behalf of POTUS, not Deep State.”
Over the last week, Gaetz has been under the corporate media’s spotlight, with political pundits calling out his lack of experience and the House’s investigation into allegations that Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. On Wednesday, the House Ethics Committee announced it would not be releasing the report, as House lawmakers were unable to reach the required majority vote.
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