Kevin McCarthy just blew the Matt Gaetz thing, and now it’s too late for them both
The Republican Party had a window of opportunity to dump Matt Gaetz and get out ahead of what was coming. Now that the Joel Greenberg deal has happened, that window is closed. Gaetz is going down, and he’s about to become the albatross we’ll get to hang on every Republican candidate in 2022.
The smart move for the Republicans would have been to immediately remove Gaetz from committees, so if and when he was indicted, they could say “see, we took action against him before anyone.” But Kevin McCarthy is an idiot who panders to Trump’s whim, instead of doing what’s strategically smart.
DOJ wouldn’t be giving a monster like Greenberg a deal unless it 100% intends to use that deal to indict Gaetz. So we’ll see Gaetz arrested on ugly criminal charges this year, and he’ll likely go on trial next year. Just as the midterms are heating up.
The entire time the Gaetz trial is going on, House Republicans seeking reelection in moderate districts will be forced to explain why they refused to take any action to stop Gaetz when they had the chance. It’ll be their worst nightmare.
But this will ONLY work if we seize the narrative and actually use it against the Republicans in 2022, instead of wasting our time yelling defeatist nonsense like “Oh no, they’re going to get away with it all!” So, as always, let’s not fall into that trap.
