If you’ve ever looked for a perfect way to summarize the current state of the Republican Party, Matt Gaetz is certainly making a case of himself. But how do you convey to the nation that your party behaves recklessly, uses little information, demonizes others for no reason, laughs at pain and suffering, and embraces oligarchs? That’s a lot of information to get across. It would take a book, or an entire series of diaries here at Daily Kos to summarize all of these points effectively for the reader. Or, if you’re Matt Gaetz, you can explain all of this within one Tweet:
So, let me cover the bases here:
- Makes a joke about the destabilization and death of thousands, plus the aftermath, in a region that is rapidly becoming an obvious humanitarian crisis.
- Dismisses the value of science by attacking Dr. Fauci, and implies that advocating COVID-19 prevention is in some way worse than invading an independent nation.
- Does so by seemingly offering Putin a “strategy,” even a tongue-in-cheek one, which is akin to aiding and offering comfort to the perpetrator of war crimes.
Is there more? Of course!
Just today, Gaetz, in discussing white supremacist Nick Fuentes, laid out his case. It boils down to, well, there are brown and black “ethno-nationalists,” too, and he rejects them, as well. Buuuuut, Gaetz contends, “I find Nick well informed.”
This is the Republican Party today. Or, to quote LeVar Burton’s timeless Reading Rainbow catchphrase: “You don’t have to take my word for it.”