Matt Gaetz’s violent rhetoric spirals out of control as his life falls apart

| 12:31 pm EDT May 28, 2021
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Yesterday Matt Gaetz gave a speech condemning social media giants for banning certain users who have violated their terms of service. Gaetz said: “Silicon Valley can’t cancel this movement, or this rally, or this congressman. We have a Second Amendment in this country, and I think we have an obligation to use it.” This has been widely interpreted as a violent call to arms against the likes of Twitter and Facebook, in retaliation for banning Donald Trump. Now Gaetz is doubling down.

Today Matt Gaetz posted this tweet: “The Second Amendment is not about hunting, recreation, or sports. The Second Amendment is about the ability to maintain, within the citizenry, an armed rebellion against the government if that becomes necessary. I hope it never does.”

So now Matt Gaetz has graduated from calling for gun violence against American corporations, to issuing a backhanded call for a violent domestic terrorist attack against the United States government itself. Given that he tweeted this in his official capacity as a United States Congressman, this amounts to an even more egregious call to arms – especially in the wake of the January 6th Capitol attack, which Gaetz also helped incite.

This also comes within the context of Matt Gaetz knowing that he’s under federal criminal investigation for various heinous crimes, and that multiple witnesses are now cooperating against him. Gaetz knows that he’s very likely to be indicted and arrested soon, and that he’s potentially headed to prison. And now he’s talking about scenarios where Americans should use guns to launch an “armed rebellion against the government.”

This should be grounds for Matt Gaetz’s immediate arrest. It should also be used as grounds for denying him bail while he’s awaiting trial. Gaetz will argue that the “I hope it never does” he tacked onto the end of his tweet gets him off the hook. We don’t see it that way, and we doubt the judge at his bail hearing will see it that way either.