Rep. Matt Gaetz (MAGA-FL) has tried to prop up a defense for himself amid allegations of sex trafficking by saying he was the target of an extortion plot. However, even far right-wing Fox News host Tucker Carlson didn’t appear to find his explanation to be plausible. Republicans have been largely silent about the exploding revelations, but there could be a reason for that. According to a report from The Daily Beast, the MAGA congressman doesn’t have many friends on his side of the aisle.
“Gaetz—the Trump-loving, Fox News-grinning, 38-year-old Florida Republican—has a less-than-sterling reputation among his congressional colleagues,” the outlet reports. “More than a half-dozen lawmakers have spoken to these reporters about his love of alcohol and illegal drugs, as well as his proclivity for younger women. It’s well-known among Republican lawmakers that Gaetz was dating a college student—one over the age of consent—in 2018. She came to Washington as an intern.”
Ooof! And there’s more.
“As for his few friends in Washington, The Daily Beast found that to be true,” the report continues. “One former GOP staffer said Wednesday that their office had an informal rule to not allow their member to appear next to Gaetz during TV hits, fearful of the inevitable scandal that would come out one day.”
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Gaetz’s defenders aren’t exactly the best and brightest.
“Only two House Republicans jumped to his defense on Wednesday: Judiciary Committee ranking Republican Jim Jordan (R-OH), who himself has been accused of turning a blind eye to sexual assault; and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who has repeatedly boosted the QAnon conspiracy theory accusing Democrats of abusing children,” the report continues.
“It was not surprising to some observers that the wagons didn’t circle around Gaetz in the explosive 24 hours after the scandal, even as the congressman produced documents that lent some weight to his extortion claims. “I don’t think a lot of people are going to go out of their way to defend him, especially with this outlandish-sounding defense,” one GOP staffer said, according to the outlet. “I don’t think you’ll find a lot of people who are desperate to keep him involved in Republican politics.”
“Even the Republican Party doesn’t like him very much,” a Republican operative told the outlet. The Daily Beast was sent a photo from a source of a trash bin outside Gaetz’s office, and at the top of the heap was an empty Costco-size box of “Bareskin” Trojan condoms.
It’s not too surprising that Gaetz doesn’t have many friends. It is surprising, though, that he found someone to have sex with him, even though he might have paid them for it.
You can read the full report here. (There is a paywall).
Featured image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr, under Creative Commons license 2.0
