Axelrod, Left Panic Over Prospect of ‘Competent’ Presidential Wingman at DoJ

How soon they forget! Or pretend to do so, anyway.

Yesterday’s events proved rather traumatic to the Left. In one fell swoop, Donald Trump managed to strip them of an easy punching bag with Matt Gaetz’ removal as Attorney General nominee, and then moved quickly to appoint Pam Bondi instead. That had a panel at MSNBC practically endorsing Bondi in their haste to warn Democrats of the danger ahead. “We should all fear her,” analyst Jason Johnson said, “because she’s competent!”

Be careful what you wish for, etc etc etc:

MSNBC is losing its mind over Trump’s AG pick as Pam Bondi already because they know she will be easily confirmed 😆

“We should all fear [her] because she’s competent.”

pic.twitter.com/VehRNpmJbL

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 22, 2024

Alternate headline: Strange New Respect for Gaetz Breaks Out on Left. It didn’t take long for them to realize that their situation just got a lot worse within a few hours, thanks in large part to Republicans keeping their own house clean. Suddenly, competence and ability have become something to fear, as it means that [checks notes] the incoming administration will deliver on the agenda that won them the election. 

Maybe Democrats are unfamiliar with that concept …? Because this looks and sounds more like an endorsement rather than a warning. Competent. Can do the job. Experienced. Effective. What more would Democrats demand from a Republican nominee at any position?

Actually, David Axelrod had some thoughts on that topic when Gaetz withdrew yesterday afternoon. He commended Republicans for putting a brake on the nomination, but then worried about what would follow — “a reliable yes man” with experience and competence:

This was a terrible idea from the start.  The fact that he was forced to withdraw speaks to some semblance of checks and balances, as he–and team Trump–read the room in the Senate GOP.

Now Trump may elevate his criminal defense atty, which would still, disturbingly, install a reliable yes man but at least one who is an actual atty and is not mired in a sex trafficking scandal.

A “reliable yes man,” you say? Like, perhaps someone who might describe himself as the president’s “wing-man”?

Attorney General Eric Holder brushed off a question Thursday about when he might leave the administration. Instead, the top lawman professed his allegiance to President Barack Obama.

“I’m still enjoying what I’m doing, there’s still work to be done.  I’m still the President’s wing-man, so I’m there with my boy.  So we’ll see,” Holder said in an interview on the Tom Joyner radio show.

That comes from 2013 in the administration that Axelrod helped elect twice. Holder did more than just talk about being Obama’s wingman — he walked the walk, too. He provided cover for Obama in the ATF’s fatal Operation Fast and Furious to the point of defying a congressional subpoena, an act that would later land Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro in federal prison. 

But Holder’s not the only wingman of late at the DoJ. Loretta Lynch refused to proceed with charges against Hillary Clinton for defying Congress and violating the Espionage Act with her secret e-mail system run out of her Chappaqua mansion, while Clinton ran for president in 2016. She met with Bill Clinton on an airport tarmac while that case percolated, and while serving as Obama’s wing-man as Holder’s successor as AG.

And let us not forget Merrick Garland. Garland refused to prosecute people violating federal law by demonstrating in front of Supreme Court justices’ houses after the Dobbs decision, allowing the chaos to crescendo into an actual assassination plot. Garland used the FACE Act to throw pro-life activists in prison for demonstrating outside of abortion clinics while almost entirely ignoring actual violence directed at pro-life centers. At the same time, Garland’s DoJ treated parents who protested at school board meetings over CRT-drenched curricula and policies as domestic terrorists, and whose FBI determined that Catholics who preferred Latin liturgies to the Novus Ordo presented a national-security threat. And let’s not even mention that Garland became the first AG in American history to have his DoJ indict the sitting president’s upcoming election opponent — twice. 

Even Holder looks like a bit of a piker as a wingman in comparison. 

Attorneys General always get appointed by presidents, and always because they see eye to eye with the president they serve. It is not an independent position, and it’s not even designed to be an independent position. The proper check and balance on a president is Congress, not his subordinate AG. The AG has to follow the law, the Constitution, and his/her own conscience, but otherwise serves at the pleasure of the president elected by the people. To pretend otherwise is utter nonsense, and more to the point, utterly hypocritical nonsense. 

Axelrod knows better. He’s just feigning naiveté, and it’s not a good look.