The end of Matt Gaetz
Donald Trump knows he’s on a glide path to prison in New York. It’s why he just hired an expensive high profile criminal defense attorney. It’s why he’s sounding more bitter and dejected in each of his recent public appearances, even as New York prosecutors meet with Michael Cohen yet again while pressuring Allen Weisselberg to flip on Trump.
It’s a remarkable bit of self awareness from a guy whose presidency was marked by self delusion. Then again, Trump seemed to understand all the way back in November of 2020 that it was all over for him once he was declared the loser of the election. It’s why he doubled down so heavily on the fantasy that he could somehow overturn the result. It’s why he’s still whining incessantly about Mitch McConnell and Mike Pence, who refused to go along with his fantasy. They couldn’t have magically given him a second term even if they’d wanted to. But they weren’t even willing to play along with his last ditch fantasy, and that fantasy was all that Trump had left. Now he has nothing left to cling to.
It’s becoming abundantly clear in hindsight that Trump’s bash and thrash political tactics ultimately failed him. He had the power of the presidency, but he couldn’t find a way to use (or abuse) it to give himself a second term. He couldn’t even use his one term as president to set himself up so he’d stay out of prison. If Trump had tried doing something constructive, tried doing the job right, tried being forthright for once in his useless life, maybe he could have found some way to save himself from his current fate, which is one of total self destruction.
Yet even as Donald Trump is finding out the hard way that his approach to politics was an ineffective one that ultimately destroyed his entire life, his sidekick Matt Gaetz is betting his own fate on these same Trump tactics. Gaetz is under federal criminal investigation for underage sex trafficking and too many other crimes to list. His only way to survive this would be to shut up and hire a good lawyer who can try to find some narrow path to acquittal.
Instead, Matt Gaetz is busy tweeting conspiracy theories about how the criminal probe against him is a Deep State operation, in retaliation for his political honesty. Gaetz is also retweeting unstable crackpot Randy Quaid, because that’s the closest Gaetz can find to a celebrity who’s willing to defend him.
Spoiler alert for Matt Gaetz: this strategy has already been tried by Donald Trump. As a result of it, he’s finished in politics, watching his financial empire slip away, and sitting around miserably while awaiting arrest. This same strategy will only net equally poor results for Gaetz. Yet he’s trying it anyway, because it’s all he knows. Those in politics who have built their careers by emulating Trump will only end up emulating Trump’s downfall.
