Gaetz gone. Donald Trump’s given up on his sex-scandal-plagued attorney general nominee, Matt Gaetz.
■ Wonkette: “Gaetz pulls out. For once.”
■ Trump was quick to pick a longtime acolyte to replace him: His impeachment lawyer, ex-Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi …
■ … who defended Kenosha killer Kyle Rittenhouse as a “little boy” who wanted to protect his community.
■ The American Prospect: She fired prosecutors who were investigating the use of false evidence to kick people out of their homes.
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich calls her “Donny’s longtime corruption-buddy.”
■ The Lever: If confirmed, she could shut down a Justice Department probe of Trump bro Elon Musk’s company—which was represented by her brother.
■ Politico: The Gaetz saga suggests that “Senate Republicans might have some gumption after all” …
■ … and, columnist Dan Pfeiffer concludes, amounts to “a real warning sign for the incoming Trump administration.”
■ The Bulwark: “The first step of defiance is the hardest. Senate Republicans just took it” …
■ … but, columnist Brian Tyler Cohen notes, Republicans “spent an enormous amount of energy running cover for an accused child sex trafficker … something they’ll never be able to take back.”
■ Gaetz, who quit his House seat when Trump nominated him, may not be gone for good.
■ LateNighter: “Late-night hosts relishing a single post-election night where they could just smile … gleefully beat the living hell out of the Matt Gaetz piñata.”
■ Seth Meyers: “Gaetz is out? But his nomination was only eight days old! Once again, he can’t even make it to 18.”
‘So many of his appointees have histories of sexual misconduct.’ Historian Heather Cox Richardson sees a pattern in Trump’s selections: “They share his determination to dominate others.”
■ The New Yorker’s Susan Glasser fears “that the stories we don’t have time to scream about amid all the other outrages could end up being the most outrageous ones of all.”
■ Then again, Aaron Rupar at Public Notice advises, “As we reacclimatize to the zone being flooded with shit on a daily basis, we have to keep in mind that the future is not determined.”
■ Stephen Colbert on a report that Trump’s cabinet choices aren’t faring well with the public: “They poll slightly below that thing where you bite the inside of your cheek and it forms a lump so you keep biting it all day by accident.”
Not so educated. Trump’s choice to head the Education Department, wrestling impresario Linda McMahon, once lied about having a B.S. in education.
■ Texas’ State Board of Education was poised today to allow Bible-infused lessons in public schools.
‘Most Americans likely didn’t sign up to have the country’s health care infrastructure gutted, but it looks like … that’s exactly what they’re going to get.’ Mary L. Trump says her uncle’s choice to head the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, TV doc Mehmet Oz, is a con-artist and grifter.
■ After ProPublica obtained details of two pregnant women’s deaths, Georgia officials have dismissed all members of a state committee charged with investigating such cases …
■ … or, as Abortion, Every Day columnist Jessica Valenti puts it: “Republican leadership didn’t like that someone from the committee told a reporter that the state’s ban was killing women.”
■ PolitiFact explores the possibility that Trump’s would-be Health and Human Services chief, Robert F. Kennedy, could actually ban vaccines.
Trump in your pocket. Pulitzer-winning reporter Ronan Farrow explains the technology the Trump administration could use to hack your phone.
■ He’s turned it into an HBO documentary detailing how average Americans are at high risk of being Surveilled.
‘Administrative and control failures.’ A federal complaint alleges that the company overseeing Chicago’s migrant shelters systematically mishandled new arrivals’ private health information.
■ An investigation earlier this week found migrants’ complaints went without response for weeks.
‘I thought we were gonna die.’ CTA bus riders tell the Sun-Times about a terrifying crash that left one dead and 13 hurt Wednesday night.
■ A Red Line passenger tells the Tribune about an “alarming” altercation involving three people that same evening.
‘Poetic justice.’ A Trib editorial takes comfort in “the ghost of Jussie Smollett” rising up to haunt Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s media exit tour.
■ But, Politico reports, Foxx sees vindication in the Illinois Supreme Court’s overturning of Smollett’s conviction in connection with a racist and homophobic attack he staged against himself. (A report about which lacked a link in yesterday’s Chicago Public Square.)
This could … smart. The Sun-Times and Inside Climate News explain that energy-hungry data centers powering the push for artificial intelligence services are partly responsible for a more-than-$10 increase in your monthly electric bill.
■ The Chicago Plan Commission’s sending the City Council a plan to create a quantum computer research park at the long-idle South Steel Works site.
Trump vs. the press. The former editor of The Washington Post warns that the incoming president will use “every tool in the toolbox—and there are a lot of tools” to go after media critical of his reign.
■ LateNighter rounds up all the complaints to the Federal Communications Commission about Vice President Harris’ pre-election cameo on Saturday Night Live.
■ The Illinois Supreme Court’s ruled against dismissal of a lawsuit over a Sun-Times article about accusations the former Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board executive director improperly pushed a property tax break on Trump’s namesake Chicago tower.
‘Ground zero for conspiracy thinking.’ The author of The City That Killed the President says the assassination of President John F. Kennedy 61 years ago in Dallas “launched a post-truth era that is poisoning our democracy.”
■ Columnist/cartoonist Jack Ohman recounts a visit to the perch from which those fatal shots were fired: “I heard truly ridiculous assertions.”
■ Another week, another middlin’ 5/8 right for your Square columnist—three in a row wrong. Ouch. ✅✅✅✅❌❌❌✅
■ On the other hand, it was a perfect 5/5 on this week’s City Cast Chicago quiz.
Seasonal joys. Axios previews Chicago’s festive weekend—including the big tree lighting tonight and the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival tomorrow.
■ Reviewing an animal rights activist’s new book, Consider the Turkey, the Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg is surprised to learn that “there are people whose job it is to extract semen from turkeys 10 hours a day. Suddenly being a newspaper columnist doesn’t seem such a burden.”
■ Chicago’s acclaimed Lula Cafe plays a central role in The Daily Show’s feature on restaurant “tipflation.”
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