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The Republican Senate burst President-elect Donald Trump’s bubble this week — and left the nation splattered in chaos, a new political analysis contends. Former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s withdrawal from the Trump Cabinet contest proved to the president-elect and the nation that the Republican Party is not his to control absolutely, according to Axios writer Zachary Basu.
“Trump has enjoyed — and exploited — an aura of invincibility that few Republicans have been willing to challenge publicly,” wrote Basu. “On Thursday, the bubble finally popped.”
But Trump’s decision to select among the most despised among his MAGA loyalists — and bog down his party with a House Ethics probe into statutory rape and illicit drug use allegations — shows the future president has another tool in his arsenal, Basu argued.
“The explanation is head-spinning but simple,” wrote Basu. “Trump has achieved historic political success by following his instincts — and his instincts tend to favor maximum chaos.” Basu argued “MAGA mayhem” has already begun to dominate the nation even though Trump has yet to claim his position in the White House.
On Thursday alone, three major scandals rocked Trump’s transition, Basu noted: Gaetz announced his withdrawal, police released a report on sex abuse accusations Pete Hegseth faced in 2017, and a CNN report revealed Robert F. Kennedy once compared Trump to Adolf Hitler.
“The Trump who won 312 electoral votes a few weeks ago is the same Trump who exhausted many Americans with non-stop political drama from 2017 to 2021,” wrote Basu. “As Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) advised reporters after feigning shock at Gaetz’s withdrawal Thursday: ‘You better pace yourself because it’s not even Thanksgiving.'”
