Matt Gaetz rejected Trump’s cabinet picks. It doesn’t solve the problem.

On Thursday, former congressman Matt Gaetz announced that he is withdrawing from consideration by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as attorney general in his administration. The day before, after a two-hour closed session, the House Ethics Committee announced that it would not at that time release a report on Gaetz, the culmination of an investigation into allegations that Gaetz attended sex parties, took illegal drugs and had sex with a minor. Gaetz reportedly announced his retraction on X after he was asked to comment on testimony regarding an alleged second and previously unreported sexual encounter with the minor, according to CNN. (Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and the DOJ closed its investigation into him without filing charges.)

Gaetz was just one of many controversial cabinet picks we’ve seen from Trump as he prepares to re-enter the White House, with Democrats and Republicans alike expressing surprise and concern. Indeed, Gaetz’s sudden decision to remove himself from consideration a day after courting senators was less surprising to some than the election itself. “Holy s—! I didn’t see that coming,” Sen. John Fetterman reportedly said sarcastically after hearing of Gaetz’s withdrawal. Some GOP senators are reportedly “relieved” by the news.

Still, Gaetz’s withdrawal and the uncertain future of the ethics report don’t derail the course the president-elect has already set for his future cabinet — one that includes not only the unqualified but also men accused of sexual assault. There is no “relief” in sight, as the allegations against Gaetz did not automatically disqualify him for Day One consideration. There will also be no relief as a result of his withdrawal, potentially allowing the former congressman to evade accountability and avoid further investigations.

Instead, lawmakers will continue to scratch their heads over Trump’s choice of former WWE executive and former Small Business Administration administrator Linda McMahon for education secretary or TV host and surgeon Mehmet Oz as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. By any logical, reality-based standard, these choices would unanimously be considered ridiculous, inappropriate, and even repugnant — but Trump has made it clear that normal standards no longer apply.

When Trump appointed Gaetz to head the Justice Department, attention immediately turned to the accusations of sexual abuse surrounding the exposed lawmaker, including claims he had sex with a minor and allegedly became involved in sex trafficking beside his former friend Joel Greenbergwho pleaded guilty to sex trafficking in 2021.

“Why is he so intent on choosing the most controversial zealot he can think of for every post?” NBC News’ Chuck Todd wrote, arguing that “politically, it just doesn’t make a lot of sense” for Trump to name a man under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for sexual misconduct allegations. A ton of GOP senators were reportedly “stunned, and not in a good way,” by Gaetz pick. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, responded to the news by asking a reporter: “Are you me?”

Still, it feels painfully naive to be surprised by any of this. The overarching troubling theme is that men accused of sexual misconduct are not a bug but a feature of the inner circle Trump is assembling for his administration.

In 2016, when the country first decided that a man accused of sexually assaulting or harassing more than two dozen women was fit for the highest office in the land, I was admittedly shocked.

I watched in horror as acquaintances and family members celebrated Trump’s ascension when just weeks earlier he was heard – on tape – bragging about grabbing women by their genitals without their consent. I tried and failed to follow the mental gymnastics deployed by some of the very same people who once offered their heartfelt condolences, well wishes and righteous indignation after I was sexually assaulted by a former colleague, only to praise their god when Trump secured an Electoral College victory.

I navigated post-traumatic stress disorder, which first-time president Trump endorsed Roy Moore, a man accused of pursuing relationships with underage girls (Moore denied the allegations)and defended his former White House staff secretary, Rob Porter after he was charged with multiple counts of domestic violence (Porter denied the allegations but resigned from his position). I cried when now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court – his accuser Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony was dismissed as the rape kit I endured, which to this day still sits on a shelf somewhere in Oregon, gathering dust and indifference.

Now, as the country prepares for Trump 2.0 despite his two impeachment cases34 felony convictions and a the jury finds him responsible for sexual abusethat shock is hollowed out. And it has been replaced by a cold disassociation that overtakes body and mind as so many promises that good will overcome evil and justice will prevail crumble before your eyes.

It is a feeling many, including 1 in 6 women and 1 in 10 men will be victims of sexual assault at some point in their lives know all too well. This is what bombards the senses when you live in a country where fewer than 7% of rape cases end in a conviction. It’s the familiar gut punch that precedes a local prosecutor telling you there isn’t enough evidence to go to trial; they are sorry, but there is nothing they can do; that’s what happens when it’s “he says, she says.”

That is also why more than 200 survivors of sexual assault and gender-based violence signed a full-page ad in The New York Times is urging — begging — voters not to reinstate Trump to the Oval Office. While others may have forgotten the tumult that defined his first presidency, those of us were there called sexual assault hotlines at record high rates during confirmation hearings and listened to him claims his accusers were too ugly to rape have not.

We know all too well how the country has historically put toxic, misogynistic men in positions of power that overlook or even embrace their sexist rhetoric as just “men being men” or later engaged in “locker room talk.” We can still remember a Republican legislators call our bodies “hosts” and claims “legitimate rapes” do not result in a pregnancyonly for the same political party to pretend that it “respects life” and upholds “family values”.

That’s why very few of us were shocked when Gaetz at one point allegedly showed sexual videos of women to his fellow congressmen on the House floor, or when he cast the only “no” vote on a 2017 anti-trafficking bill.

And that’s why we weren’t surprised when prosecutors closed their investigation into whether Gaetz recruited women online for sex and paid with cash apps without bringing charges.

Even with Gaetz’s withdrawal, Trump’s election is shaping up to be nothing short of a disaster — a collection of men accused of sexual assault, harassment or rape whose careers appear untouched by the allegations.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the 90s who worked in his homeresponded to the allegation by saying on the Breaking Points podcast that he was “not a church boy” and admitted that he has “so many skeletons in my closet.”

And then there’s former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, who was investigated in connection with sexual assault allegations a woman in 2017 and then pay to keep her quiet. No charges were filed and his attorney denied the charges.

In this context, the president-elect’s choice of Gaetz as attorney general, despite his withdrawal, feels like just another canary in the coal mine, alerting those who need reminding of what’s likely. to come.