![Matt Gaetz](https://queerty-prodweb.s3.amazonaws.com/2024/07/matt-gaetz-2023-cpac-shutterstock-872x453.jpg)
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla) is currently attending the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
GOP Presidential nominee Donald Trump, following last Saturday’s assassination attempt, has called for “unity”. However, Gaetz apparently missed the memo. He grabbed an opportunity yesterday to try and humiliate his nemesis: former speaker Kevin McCarthy.
As McCarthy gave an interview to CNN, Gaetz happened to be nearby. Spotting McCarthy, Gaetz taunted him by asking, “What night are you speaking? Are you speaking tonight?”
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McCarthy is not due to address the convention, as Gaetz presumably knows.
Gaetz then went on to yell at McCarthy that if he were to give a speech, he would be “booed off” stage.
At this point, a bystander calmly tells Gaetz, “Shut up, Gaetz. Get out of here … don’t be an a**hole. You’re an a**hole”
Gaetz, lacking a quick comeback, says he doesn’t know who the guy is and slopes away.
Watch below.
I’m no fan of Kevin McCarthy but Matt Gaetz is absolutely disaster.
— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) July 16, 2024
What a sad display from a sad man at the RNC Convention.
🙄 pic.twitter.com/q03OP9MZ8X
Another angle of the Matt Gaetz and Kevin McCarthy drama.
— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) July 16, 2024
Matt Gaetz tried to crash Kevin’s interview with Kaitlan Collins at CNN as Kevin was talking about Gaetz “paying and sleeping with a 17 year-old.” pic.twitter.com/NEd3wpRxK3
And here Gaetz is put in his place.
“Shut up, Gaetz”
— Free (@KaladinFree) July 16, 2024
Look how quickly Matt Gaetz backed down after getting confronted for being the grandstanding dork he is!
Listen to how quickly the bass left his voice and he started looking like a cornered animal.
Chef’s kiss. That just made my day. pic.twitter.com/W0HAab2EzB
Many expressed amusement at Gaetz’s retreat when confronted.
“Don’t be an asshole” is the golden rule. Gaetz always backs down as soon as he gets pushback. He relies on friendly confines to keep going. Call them out and they always back down.
— Captain Minnesota (@XyPhinz) July 17, 2024
In honor of this beautiful video can we spread this video and get “Shut up, Gaetz” trending?
— Free (@KaladinFree) July 16, 2024
Come on people. Your nation needs you to troll @mattgaetz.
Gaetz was scared of the dude. He got out of there fast.
— Dr. G (@GinnyMcDonald8) July 16, 2024
Simmering feud
The beef between Gaetz and McCarthy goes back some time. It was Gaetz’s motion to vacate that forced a vote that led to McCarthy’s ousting as House Speaker last year. His 270-day tenure in the role is the third shortest in the history of the House of Representatives.
Gaetz continues to undergo a prolonged, long-running investigation by the Ethics Committee. It’s looking at allegations he engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
Gaetz vehemently denies the allegations and calls them a smear against him. He is believed to be unhappy with McCarthy for not acting to end the Ethics Committee investigation.
“This is Soviet. Kevin McCarthy showed them the man, and they are now trying to find the crime,” Gaetz wrote on X last month. “I work for Northwest Floridians who won’t be swayed by this nonsense and McCarthy and his goons know it.”
This is despite the fact the Ethics Committee probe was launched in April 2021, long before McCarthy became speaker.
Gaetz the Grandstander
Gaetz has often tried to act tough to people in positions of authority. He usually comes off looking worse. A couple of years ago, during a committee hearing, he attempted to attack military chiefs for allowing the armed forces to become “woke”.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, was having none of it.
Strong reaction from Joint Chiefs Chairman Milley on the issue of critical race theory before House Armed Services.
— Dave Brown (@dave_brown24) June 23, 2021
"I personally find it offensive that we are accusing the United States military, our general officers, our noncommisioned officers of being quote 'woke'" pic.twitter.com/otWBw3YdPK
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WATCH: Matt Gaetz thought he could get one over on the military. He was wrong.
Gaetz sneered at the notion that teaching people to think for themselves is beneficial.
jp47
Does anyone else find it just too good to be true that Matt Gaetz is being called a f-ing a-hole (twice) by a Republican(!) at the Republican National Convention? I’m hoping at some point, before the election in November, that all Republicans will just eat one another.
COTTONTOP
LOVE it. Gaetz looks like he’s two white tigers away and a life partner away from having a Vegas act.
dgsea06
And, of course, you won’t see it on Fux Noose…all you’ll see is the Orange Crybaby’s ear bandage!