Gaetz Pulls Out

Plus: NYC stabbing spree, rescheduling pot, Burke vs. Paine, and more...

Gaetz gone: Turns out the scandals—which may have involved a second instance of sex with a 17-year-old escort*—were too much for the Trump team, which withdrew once (and future) Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz's nomination for attorney general.

"I have decided to withdraw my nomination so I can spend more time with teenage girls and, time-permitting, my family." https://t.co/lo7a11YQM6

— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) November 21, 2024

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…

— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) November 21, 2024

Gaetz had, in preparation for the confirmation hearings and possibly serving as head of the Justice Department (lmao), resigned from his seat in the 118th Congress. But don't get too excited: He's back for more, come January, as he was reelected by his constituents.

Now, President-elect Donald Trump has picked former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to head up the Department of Justice, pending confirmation by the Senate. Bondi is a Trump loyalist who "oversaw the filing of voting-related lawsuits in battleground states," per The New York Times. Trump will also "nominate three members of his criminal defense team to top roles in the Justice Department" making clear that he will, in essence, funnel his own personal legal advisers and defenders to top positions within the government. Of course, this is just kind of how administrations work—you choose people you like and trust, who are loyal to you—but Trump has, in particular, vowed a purging of deep state enemies within the DOJ, repeatedly affirming that he intends to put an end to the lawfare that's victimized him.

Pot possibilities: It's not clear how, exactly, the incoming Trump administration will handle pot at the federal level; though it remains federally illegal, it's now legal for recreational use in 24 states. Matt Gaetz as head of DOJ could have been a useful pot champion, but Trump's replacement pick for attorney general, Bondi, is decidedly no fan of weed. Still, advocates are looking toward possible movement during the next few months, prior to Donald Trump taking office.

The Safer Banking Act, which would allow much of the industry to gain access to banking services, has some slimmish odds of passing over the next few weeks, and "one potential positive for the industry is a Biden-led plan to reclassify cannabis," reports The Wall Street Journal, theorizing about lame-duck pot possibilities:

"Marijuana is labeled a Schedule I substance alongside heroin and LSD. Because it falls into this category, cannabis companies aren't allowed to offset regular business expenses such as rent or travel, which can leave their effective tax rate north of 70%. Rescheduling would boost the profitability of many struggling cannabis growers who don't have enough cash on hand to pay what they owe to the taxman. An initial hearing on the proposal will take place on Dec. 2. So long as Republicans don't scuttle the process, estimates of how long rescheduling cannabis could take range from six months to two years."

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Scenes from New York: Earlier this week, a 51-year-old homeless man named Ramon Rivera went on a stabbing spree across Manhattan, killing three people. He was released last month having been jailed on charges of burglary and assault. His record is long—he's been arrested by the NYPD eight times, at least five times in Florida, and twice in Ohio—but it's not totally clear how many arrests have resulted in convictions and jail time.

Many will continue to say crime is down year over year, which may well be true, but two things are worth considering: People aren't these perfectly rational creatures who compare the crime level to this point last year—it's more of a broad sense of how things used to be, versus how they are now; and public disorder, which is very hard to measure and isn't captured by crime stats, appears to be quite bad. Whether it's people shooting up in plain sight, or behaving erratically on the street, or pharmacies locking up their wares due to shoplifting, many New Yorkers share a sense that our politicians simply do not care about ensuring public spaces are safe, pleasant, and usable.

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QUICK HITS

• Yuval Levin came on Just Asking Questions to talk about what Trump's mandate to rule is, if it exists at all, as well as framing the American political divide between right and left as one of Edmund Burke vs. Thomas Paine.

• Speaking of Just Asking Questions, we have something special planned for fans of the show once we reach 5,000 subscribers on YouTube. You know what to do!
• "My analysis of precinct-level voting data in four major urban areas shows that the exit polls may actually be understating the degree to which Asian Americans shifted to the right," writes Neetu Arnold for RealClearPolitics. "Majority-Asian precincts in New York City, for instance, saw a rightward shift of 31 percentage points. Precincts in Dallas and Fort Bend counties in Texas both saw rightward shifts between 17 and 20 points. And precincts in Chicago saw a 23-point shift to the right."
• This is a good point, on the topic of the ongoing battle between Rep. Nancy Mace (R–S.C.) and incoming Rep. Sarah McBride (D–Del.), who is transgender. (Relatedly.)

This defies reason. Bathroom bills (by either party) only benefit one population: The trans people who *do not* pass.

If they pass, then no one even notices and it is not an issue. This is only coming up because activists want bathroom access for people who *do not* pass. https://t.co/rbAZwrxXyy

— Sarah Haider ???? (@SarahTheHaider) November 19, 2024

• So true:

G.K. Chesterton writes why children ought to be read fairy tales. Just superb pic.twitter.com/YrjtdbH5vm

— Istra of Glome (@tillwehvfaces) November 21, 2024

*CORRECTION: A previous version of this post got the specifics of Gaetz's sexual encounter wrong.