Matt Gaetz tries to walk it back

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In an email sent to his constituents on the morning of January 23rd, House Republican Matt Gaetz appeared to be trying to distance himself from his objection to President Biden’s confirmation as the 46th President of the United States. Representative Gaetz’s statement self righteously proclaimed that he had attended Joe Biden’s inauguration virtually in order to “avoid any additional security strain on those protecting the transition of power.”

Seriously? Representative Gaetz was concerned about the transition of power and those protecting it? Because you might conclude differently if you were aware of Gaetz’s votes on January 6, 2021. The fact that he objected to the certification of the electoral college votes for Arizona and Pennsylvania which would have disenfranchised legitimate voters in both of those states seems to present a different view of the transfer of power. Add to that the fact that the Pennsylvania objection occurred after hours of attack and occupation of the Capitol by those who had minutes before attended Trump’s rally and speech.

Gaetz had been threatening to object to the Electoral College certification since November 7th, days before the election had been formally called. That this kind of rhetoric has been used to support the conspiracy theorists’ claim that the election was stolen might deserve consideration in determining how concerned he really was about the peaceful transfer of power.