Over the weekend, NBC News reported that 30 Republican senators, including Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, have privately said they would not support Matt Gaetz’s nomination as Attorney General. However, all the senators except Murkowski made these statements off the record, giving reason to doubt their commitment. Murkowski is the only senator who has come out in opposition to Gaetz’s appointment. So, let’s look at this situation in more detail and examine who Lisa Murkowski and the Silent 30 Republicans in the Senate believe is qualified to be an advisor to the president.
I reviewed the Senate confirmation vote for all of Joe Biden’s cabinet nominees and have included that information in the chart below. It shows just how the Democrat and Republican senators and Lisa Murkowski voted.
Here are some of the more controversial Biden cabinet nominees that Lisa Murkowski voted for.
Merrick Garland is the current AG. Garland weaponized the government against Biden’s political opponents and authorized federal agents to harass parents peacefully protesting at school board meetings. Lisa Murkowski voted to approve his nomination.
Debra Haaland is the current Secretary of Interior. One of her first actions when she took office was to shut down oil exploration on Alaska’s North Slope, costing our state good jobs and its share of the oil revenue. Lisa Murkowski voted to approve Haaland’s nomination.
Lloyd Austin is the current Secretary of Defense. Austin mandated that every military member take an experimental injection with no long-term track record of safety or effectiveness. Military members who refused the shot were kicked out of the military, destroying its morale and capability. Lisa Murkowski voted to approve his nomination.
Pete Buttigieg, the current Secretary of Transportation, was a failed small-town mayor with no noteworthy legislative accomplishments or experience in the transportation industry. He was unqualified, but he publicized his homosexuality, which made him popular with some Democratic constituencies. Lisa Murkowski voted to approve his nomination.
Murkowski voted for all of Biden’s liberal cabinet nominees except one, including the most controversial and unqualified ones…
Rachel Leland Levine is the current Assistant Secretary for Health. Levine is a biological male who believes he is a woman. The issue of transgenderism came up in Levine’s confirmation hearings, where he supported “gender-affirming care” as important and valuable and publicly stated that it should be available for minor children. Murkowski voted to approve Levine’s nomination.
This chart disproves everything Murkowski has said about her opposition to Matt Gaetz’s nomination. It shows that Murkowski has no problem voting for controversial nominees as long as they are Democrat-supported, left-leaning individuals.
So, when the Murkowski supporters go on and on about Murkowski taking a principled position and defending the Senate’s constitutional role of advice and consent, it is all hogwash. Murkowski voted for all of Biden’s liberal cabinet nominees except one, including the most controversial and unqualified ones noted above.
Murkowski even broke ranks with Republicans for the Levine confirmation vote. The only Republicans to vote for Levine were Murkowski and Susan Collis of Maine. This controversial nominee was only approved because of Murkowski’s vote, and we can see that Murkowski is not afraid of taking a controversial vote if she wants to.
Secondly, the Senate Republicans opposed to Gaetz are also hypocrites. Not one single Democrat Senator voted against any of Joe Biden’s nominees. Not one. This shows that cabinet confirmation votes are more about partisan internal Senate battles than principled reviews of public officials’ qualifications. The Democrats held the majority in the Senate when Biden was elected, and they delivered approval for every one of Biden’s cabinet picks.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
If the Republican Senators were smart, they would do the same and quickly approve Trump’s nominees. However, they are attacking Matt Gaetz and some of Trump’s other nominees, and we should ask why are they against these nominations?
They can only be opposed for one of two reasons. Either Murkowski and the Silent 30 are trying to rein in Trump’s power by defeating his nominee for AG, or they fear what a relentless and determined AG might discover about the malfeasance in government over the past four years. Malfeasance which occurred with the tacit approval of the RINO Republicans in Congress. I will leave it up to you to decide their motivations for opposing Matt Gaetz as AG.
As far as most Trump voters are concerned, Donald Trump survived two assassination attempts on his life and took a bullet to the head for the American people. They rewarded Trump with a massive landslide victory in November. The people sent Donald Trump back to Washington, DC, because they wanted a substantial change. Trump has earned the right to nominate who he wants to be his AG. If Trump wants Gaetz as his AG, then Trump gets Gaetz as his AG, and all of the ankle biters in the US Senate should confirm his nominee as soon as possible and then get the heck out of the way.
The views expressed here are those of Greg Sarber. Read more Sarber posts at his Seward’s Folly substack.
1 Comment
I belive all of this to be true. In addition, Murkowski said she was changing parties if Trump got elected, but then when she found out the Republicans were going to be in “POWER”, she “changed her min.” She is not now, nor has EVER been a conservative Republican. She is an “out for Lisa” Republican(term used loosely). Vote her out!