The Gaetz nomination wasn’t really aimed at the left; it was a preemptive attack on GOP moderates in the Senate. Trump is trying to tell them that he’s in charge, and that their job is to submit meekly to his demands, regardless of how outrageous they are. If he can do that up front, everything else should follow fairly smoothly.
But Trump will actually be a lame duck the minute he takes office, and some of the GOP senators clearly don’t owe their positions to him. Collins and Murkowski aren’t going to vote for Gaetz. Will all of the others fall in line? Will Mitch show some genuine independence, or will he just stick with his usual passive-aggressive approach in the name of party unity? We’ll see.