It’s hard to know which of the numerous allegations swirling around Matt Gaetz ultimately put an end to the former Florida congressman’s short-lived attempt to become Donald Trump’s attorney general. The 42-year-old man, whom Trump nominated to be the nation’s top law enforcement official, has been deployed in various ways. accused sex trafficking, having sex with an underage girl, using illegal drugs, paying women to have sex with him, taking bribes, and misusing campaign funds.

In the hours before the AG withdrew her consideration on Nov. 21, it was revealed that the same woman who claimed Gaetz had sex with her while she was a minor testified before the House Ethics Committee about another sexual encounter. She was a minor and this included another adult woman.

Gaetz denies all allegations against him and has not been charged with any crimes, but he resigned from the House on November 13 after Trump appointed him as the next AG and before the House Ethics Committee announced its results. An investigation was launched into alleged abuse of power. His colleagues in Congress have previously expressed concerns about this issue. behavior and attitude towards women.

Gaetz announced his decision to step aside on November 20, after touring the Senate to promote his candidacy with Vice President-elect J.D. Vance and meeting with several Republican senators. “It is clear that my endorsement has become an unfair distraction from the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” he wrote on social media the next day; Ironic, considering the far-right congressman has built a national profile by creating distractions. It draws attention to itself. (One factor in Gaetz’s downfall may have been that he made enemies within the Republican party last year when he led the movement that blocked Kevin McCarthy’s presidential bid and then ousted him.)

Trump apparently came up with the idea to nominate Gaetz for AG out of nowhere during a flight. A Trump adviser said that, unlike other candidates running for the role, he bore himself with “vaunted legal theories and constitutional nonsense.” Bulwark. “Gaetz was the only one who said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to go out there and start chopping off fucking heads.’”

It is possible that Gaetz’s candidacy was never serious. There is speculation that Trump deliberately put forward an extreme nominee, knowing full well that he was unlikely to be confirmed by the Senate, to distract from debates over his other troubling nominees. He also nominated the clearly unqualified Fox News host Pete Hegseth to be defense secretary and Tulsi Gabbard, the former Hawaii congresswoman known for repeating pro-Kremlin speeches, to be director of national intelligence. Additionally, anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom Trump appointed to head the Department of Health and Human Services. There is also.

But Trump’s choice of Gaetz shouldn’t have come as a shock. He made clear throughout the election campaign that he was determined to take “revenge” and root out the “enemy within” once he returned to power. He believes he was unfairly constrained by left-wing institutions and the “deep state” in his previous term, and he has no intention of making the same mistake again. This time, he wants a team around him that will be loyal to him above all else. He never forgave Mike Pence for putting his loyalty to the country ahead of his loyalty to himself by documenting Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. Gaetz’s promise to “start beheadings” sounds more like the style of government Trump has in mind for his second term.

None of the egregious allegations against Gaetz were considered disqualifying by Trump. The new president was found guilty of sexual assault. He bragged about molesting women and was convicted of 34 felonies for falsifying business records to hide hush money payments to a porn star. Additionally, if he had not regained control of the justice department in this election, he would have faced federal litigation for trying to overturn the results of the last election and mishandling classified documents. If none of this behavior prevents Trump from winning the presidency (tens of millions of Americans voted for him), why should we expect those who serve under him to be held to higher standards?

The only silver lining to this tawdry saga is that there still appears to be a limit to what Senate Republicans can tolerate. Despite Trump’s dominance of the party, considering Matt Gaetz as attorney general seems like a step too far. That doesn’t mean they won’t confirm other scandalous appointments in the coming weeks and get behind the legislative agenda for years to come. But it shows that, at least for now, the party’s allegiance to Donald Trump is not absolute.

(See also: Kevin Roberts’ fire-breathing American right)