Sen Mike Lee as AG?

[Big Fin]

I just got some message from folks I know in DC. Seems there is a meeting today to convince POTUS that Utah Senator Mike Lee should be the next Attorney General. Not sure where having such a strident anti-public lander is least damaging to public lands; as Chair of the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee or as AG.

He surely has exercised a lot of influence as Chair of the Senate ENR Committee. Maybe he would be too distracted with other issues as AG to continue taking his swipes at public lands. Or, maybe not.

 

[Nick87]

Yikes.

 

[SAJ-99]

I just got some message from folks I know in DC. Seems there is a meeting today to convince POTUS that Utah Senator Mike Lee should be the next Attorney General. Not sure where having such a strident anti-public lander is least damaging to public lands; as Chair of the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee or as AG.

He surely has exercised a lot of influence as Chair of the Senate ENR Committee. Maybe he would be too distracted with other issues as AG to continue taking his swipes at public lands. Or, maybe not.

Give a batshit crazy guy with a law degree an unlimited staff and budget? What could go wrong?

 

[TOGIE]

gut sure tells me it's a less damaging place for him to be.

i could be wrong but definitely feel like legislation is among the biggest threats to our public lands and having one of the most persistent and powerful anti public lands legislators out of the building is undoubtedly for the better.

and the courts seem to remain a powerful blockade to many of the justice department's ill begotten efforts these days

 

[Nick87]

gut sure tells me it's a less damaging place for him to be.

i could be wrong but definitely feel like legislation is among the biggest threats to our public lands and having one of the most persistent anti public lands legislators out of the building is undoubtedly for the better.

Maybe he leaves the land sell off and chases bigger "ambitions"..

 

[Treeshark]

What damage could theoretically be dealt to public lands via Executive Order?

That would be my primary worry about him getting a straight tract to DJT with the AG position.

 

[TheTone]

Might be the easiest way to get him removed from all politics. Probably only a matter of time until his boss would step in something else and have to fire him

 

[Nameless Range]

What damage could theoretically be dealt to public lands via Executive Order?

That would be my primary worry about him getting a straight tract to DJT with the AG position.

I think this is right. Lee has about 7 months before the party is over for his movement to have any hope in congress. The closer he is to Trump though, the more wacky stuff could happen ad hoc.

 

[Treeshark]

Lee has about 7 months before the party is over for his movement to have any hope in congress.

Good point. This gives him another 2 years of possible leverage.

 

[TOGIE]

What damage could theoretically be dealt to public lands via Executive Order?

That would be my primary worry about him getting a straight tract to DJT with the AG position.

I think this is right. Lee has about 7 months before the party is over for his movement to have any hope in congress. The closer he is to Trump though, the more wacky stuff could happen ad hoc.

i like chatgpts summary on this:

The strategic twist (now even clearer)​

If someone were thinking purely in terms of limiting long-term impact on public lands:

Moving him to Attorney General would remove him from the single most important legislative seat for those issues

You’d be trading:

• High-leverage, durable lawmaking power
  for
• Strong but reversible legal influence

Bottom line (updated, definitive)​

• ENR Chair: Highest-impact position in the federal government for shaping public lands policy short of the presidency
• Attorney General: Significant, but mostly indirect and reversible influence

So if your concern is long-term structural changes to public lands,
he is much more impactful—and potentially more consequential—right where he is now.

even with direct line to DJT and a new ability to direct the justice dept on what to defend and not defend as well as aid in crafting executive orders i see the effects as less durable.

the AG can't change the law, but can argue its interpretations, and even then the courts still get their say

 

[mdhunter]

I don't care what your politics are. If you are a leader, you better not surround yourself with "yes people". Lee seems like one of those types to me.

 

[Bowmannate2000]

Good point. This gives him another 2 years of possible leverage.

But after that he'd likely be out. We could have him in the Senate for much longer.

 

[Gulf of America]

I don't care what your politics are. If you are a leader, you better not surround yourself with "yes people". Lee seems like one of those types to me.

Good luck finding anyone in this admin who doesn't fit that criteria.

 

[406dn]

On balance, I think he is less powerful over the long term, if he accepts the position of AG.

Trump's marching orders are prosecute his enemy list, and keep a lid on the Epstein files. That's a full plate.

If he were to talk Trump into some extreme executive order involving public lands, it would create a substantial backlash. There are many voters in the west, who vote Republican reliably, who cherish public lands. It would peel some number of them away, how many, who knows.

 

[mdhunter]

Good luck finding anyone in this admin who doesn't fit that criteria.

I didn’t ask for luck…just stating a fact.

 

[kansasdad]

Might be the easiest way to get him removed from all politics. Probably only a matter of time until his boss would step in something else and have to fire him

See: Matt Goetz this go round, see Jeff Sessions in 2016 first term.

 

[Elkmagnet]

Might be the easiest way to get him removed from all politics. Probably only a matter of time until his boss would step in something else and have to fire him

 

[Beignet]

He was the original presumptive nominee according to some of the chatty DC punditry gossip I used to read more of online. Wouldn’t be surprised. But seems like Zeldin might be the shoo-in?

But also, yes to the above! Giving him that gig is probably the shortest route to getting him into the “private sector” (where all good loyalists’ careers go to die).