Don’t worry. Although Congress is at a standstill without a speaker for the first time in American history, Rep. Matt Gaetz said that everything is going according to his “plan.”
During an appearance on Meet the Press, Gaetz — who led the effort to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy from his position as speaker of the House — defended his actions, even though they have left Congress “paralyzed,” according to Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton, in the face of an unprecedented attack against Israel.
“You led this effort to oust Speaker McCarthy without a clear replacement in place,” Meet the Press host Kristen Welker said to Gaetz during Sunday’s broadcast. “Was that irresponsible on your part?”
“Not only do we have a clear replacement, we have two,” Gaetz said, referring to GOP Reps. Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan who are vying for the top leadership position in the House. “We have two men who are incredibly respected.” Jordan has been accused of covering up sexual assault allegations as wrestling coach at Ohio State; Scalise reportedly once likened himself to ex-Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke “without the baggage” and spoke at a 2002 white supremacist conference organized by a hate group Duke founded.
“But you don’t have a choice and it’s not clear either of them have enough votes,” Welker said to Gaetz.
“I think that in a two-man race, it’s a lot easier to get someone to 50 percent plus one than in a race where you have three, four, five, seven people,” Gaetz replied. “So the fact that it’s been a constrained race, you are watching the plan play out.”
Welker to Gaetz: “You voted for those tax cuts under the Trump administration which helped create that $8 trillion deficit that you’re talking about right there. Did you not? Is this not as some of your critics would say hypocritical?” pic.twitter.com/gG8DntYrke — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 8, 2023
In addition to Scalise and Jordan, some MAGA Republicans have floated Donald Trump himself as a candidate for the role. Trump refused to step in and try to save McCarthy as his speakership was threatened. Sources close to the former president told Rolling Stone that Trump said behind closed doors that McCarthy’s fate was “up to him.”
Welker also questioned Gaetz about efforts to remove him from Congress: “I have been speaking to some of your Republican colleagues and you know that there are discussions about potentially kicking you out of Congress… If you lose your job will it be worth it?”
“Absolutely,” Gaetz said. “Look, I am here to fight for my constituents. And I’m here to ensure that America’s not on a path to financial ruin. Your average American family right now is spending $700 more each and every month for the same household goods and services… We’re spending $7 trillion a year and only taking in $5 [trillion]. So to me, people who are willing to drive $2 trillion annual deficits are the agents of chaos. The people who want budgets are actually agents of regular order.”
Welker pounced at this, pointing out that Gaetz is responsible for a portion of the deficit by voting for Trump’s tax cuts. “Congressman, respectfully, you voted for those tax cuts under the Trump administration, which helped create that $8 trillion deficit that you’re talking about right there, did you not?” Welker said. “Is this not, as some of your critics would say, hypocritical, given that?”
“No, I voted against ten continuing resolutions during the Trump era,” Gaetz said.
“But you voted for the tax cuts,” Welker retorted.
“I actually voted against the budget that created the platform for the reconciliation of those tax cuts because it didn’t balance,” Gaetz said. “I agreed with Senator Rand Paul at the time that we should do the tax cuts with offsets and balanced budgets.”
But Gaetz acknowledged right before he voted for it that the tax bill would increase the deficit at the time of the vote in 2017. “Certainly in the early years, this tax cut will negatively affect the deficit,” he said on MSNBC at the time.
The tax cuts ultimately benefited corporate America to the tune of billions of dollars in profits while lowering taxes for middle-wage earners by only $65 a month — far short of the windfall Trump and the GOP promised. By 2027, the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reported, the tax burden for working-class wage earners will increase as the cuts phase out. Maybe that, too, was all part of Gaetz’s grand “plan.”
Someone should check his ties with Hamas. Triggering an action that hamstrings the House at a time when a surprise attack against an ally that benefits Russia comes through.
The plan he got from Putin, more likely.
How long before the GOP is united in its support for hamas? I have always wondered how the GOP would deal with Russia’s Iranian allies when things came to a head. There are lots of wedges trying to break the GOP. Having to support hamas because they are a Russian ally might be the biggest one ever.
Gonna be a wild couple weeks I think.
Republicans are generally much more in favor of the other evil side. On fact, they tend to be the supporters of Israel. They’re the reason we give them so much aid and ignore their actions. There’s a lot of information online if you’re interested in how they got to that point, but basically the Israelis have courted republican leadership for a long time, and I doubt that’s going to change.
That’s the point. Hamas and Iran are increasingly Russia aligned. If Israel and Russia have both bought and paid for the party, what’s gonna give?
Yeah, American support for Israel is rooted in Imperialism. None of our elected officials seem to want a peaceful solution.
Oh is child rapist Matt Gaetz fucking some more kids while slamming dick pills then? That plan?
“Not only do we have a clear replacement, we have two,” Gaetz said
Sooo… not a clear replacement, then. I know that everything he said is stupid, but that quote particularly annoyed me for some reason.
America isn’t a 14 year old, why is he trying to fuck us so hard?
Remember- he also planned on banging underage girls.
So now our lower chamber of Congress is in stalemate because of a man whose only notable achievements are being universally hated and grooming young girls.
None of those republicans care he bangs kids. After all, most of them have banged kids.
💀
Not paying America’s bills is not a plan, it is failure.
Stop voting for Republicans, they don’t believe in our democracy.
“You are watching the plan play out.”
🫣
His plan is a disaster.
That is the intent, yes. Bring down the government so they can replace it with a dictatorship. I’ve posted about the “Red Caesar” plan before, and I can find the Guardian article discussing it if needed.
How could anyone trust Matt Gaetz given how publicly ghoulish he is at literally every waking moment?
What is this pedophile’s plan exactly? Shit America’s bed and get away with molesting kids?
Just like daddy Putin likes.
The next Governor of Florida. Desantis is term limited, and the state has had a large GOP influx because of antivax and culture war policies, so the seat is open to whatever alt right shithead makes the most noise at this point.
So Florida can actually get worse, is what you’re saying.
They’ve already got bottom and have started digging, yes.
The only thing that sucks more than Gaetz plan is Gaetz himself.
So to me, people who are willing to drive $2 trillion annual deficits are the agents of chaos.
This also includes the wealthy business interests that finance the campaigns of Gaetz and others like him.
The only plan I would believe he has is shitting himself and saying it was on purpose.
That guy has fuck all rattling around up there that why he preys on kids.
