Opinion | Avengers, Assemble

Gail Collins: OK, Bret.Who’s your pick for the worst Trump nomination? I know there’s a lot to choose from — but I’ve got dibs on Matt Gaetz.Bret Stephens: None.

I love them all.#MAGA.Gail: Very funny.Bret: I’m pulling your leg.

But I wonder if the choice of people like Gaetz for attorney general, or Robert F.Kennedy Jr., for secretary of health and human services, or Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence or Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense, amounts to a Big Trump Troll — “troll” in the sense of a deliberate effort to elicit a furious reaction.

And the worst response to being trolled by Trump is to react the way he wants us to: by rending our garments and gnashing our teeth.So my attitude toward these people is: Great! Brilliant choices, Mr.President-elect! Now, some staffer in Congress: Please leak the Ethics Committee report on Gaetz, and let’s replay the clips of Gabbard cozying up to Bashar al-Assad, the genocidal Syrian dictator.

Is that the wrong response?Gail: Well, there’s a pretty good chance that House Ethics report will be leaked.Or some other witnesses will volunteer info on Gaetz’s … behavior.Bret: In a normal political era that would make Gaetz unconfirmable in the Senate after he’s resigned from the House — which would be a win for everyone.

But this isn’t a normal presidency, and Trump is talking about bypassing the Senate entirely by installing his people through recess appointments.Which really would put us on the road to a Constitutional crisis, if the incoming Republican Senate majority leader, John Thune, rolls over for that one.Gail: I’m kinda wondering if Trump threw Gaetz out there to distract us from his other dreadful picks.

You know, the Senate Republicans probably can’t revolt more than once.Actually, is there anybody that you like on his list so far?We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience w...