The Nation Owes Matt Gaetz A Hearty Thank You, especially from the squish Republicans.

  Issues & Insights

Whatever one might think of his ethics and demeanor, the actions of the allegedly slimy Gaetz have been fully vindicated. In place of the spineless, soulless, uniparty-associated, donor-class-beholden McCarthy, the chair of Washington’s third-ranking official is now occupied by a movement and, yes, MAGA conservative who on issue after issue, stands tall and unbending on his principles.

"The best (if unintended) endorsement for the most lopsided deal since the Yankees acquired Babe Ruth for a paltry $125,000 came not from a pundit nor a party colleague, but from the opposition (albeit punctuated by a partisan). Per the Wall Street Journal:

Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., said … Republicans were choosing a person [Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson for Speaker] who ‘can pass their extreme litmus test to oppose marriage equality, enact a nationwide abortion ban without exceptions, gut Social Security and Medicare, support overturning a free and fair election.’

Aguilar said Johnson had been called ‘the most important architect of the electoral college objections,” and a Republican member shouted “d@#n right.‘

"Those among the estimated 335,633,214 Americans (at this writing) who are sufficiently sentient should all be signing a coast-to-coast-sized thank-you card for reviled Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz.

"Gaetz has been hammered for three solid weeks as the “most-hated” GOP member in Congress, who plunged the House into “chaos,” for engineering the coup that cast aside limp-wristed Speaker Kevin “Fredo Corleone” McCarthy.

"You’ll recall this commentator fingered McCarthy back in January for “project(ing) hesitancy, moderation, and self-focus when intense, inspirational passion for the conservative cause is the order of the day.” And more recently for “betray(ing) the conservative wing that allowed him to take power by depending on squish Republicans and a unanimous vote of his opposition to pass a 45-day clean continuing resolution keeping federal funding at its outrageously bloated fiscal 2023 levels.” . . .