Rep. Matt Gaetz opposed Beltway groupthink before March 2021. At the time, the eccentric Florida congressman helped win the PR war against the Russia conspiracy hoax—the conspiracy myth that President Trump stole the 2016 election by collaborating with Russia.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., convened secret sessions, selectively leaked information, and lied about collaboration with the so-called informant during the [Redacted] impeachment trial. The maneuver, which angered the media and partisans, helped Republicans defeat the impeachment charade.
Gaetz upheld election purity, reminded Democrats of their backing for statewide riots the previous summer, and condemned media and political hysteria toward the rioters. He is one of the few Republicans to focus on the condition of the Justice Department’s targets, years after the department mostly disregarded nationwide protests that surrounded the White House, federal courts, police stations, and historical landmarks.
Gaetz flew to Wyoming to rally Republicans after Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo, was praised for joining the Democrats’ second impeachment of President Trump. Cheney’s advocacy for long, poorly managed foreign conflicts did not promote American interests, Gaetz added.
“We are in a battle for the soul of the Republican Party, and I expect to win it,” he stated in Cheyenne on Jan. 28, 2021, before she was removed as House Republican party leader. “You can fix a broken system. You can send a delegate who genuinely represents you home, to Washington, D.C.” Harriet Hageman humiliated Cheney two years later.
Gaetz averaged 87 minutes a month on TV in the year before March 2021. He even considered becoming a cable news personality.
On March 30, 2021, an anonymous report accused him of child sex trafficking.
New York Times writers who earned prizes for pushing the Russia collusion hoax wrote an unsourced article with a crushing piece: “Matt Gaetz Faces Justice Dept. Inquiry Over Sex With an Underage Girl.” Three briefed people were cited but not identified. No evidence of sex offenses against Gaetz, just guilt-by-association. Reporters eventually confessed that no indictments had been filed and that “his criminal exposure is uncertain.” Read more