I see Matt Gaetz has chosen a traditional focus for his defensive maneuvers when it comes to recent revelations concerning Justice Department criminal investigation of his activities:
Rep. Matt Gaetz on Wednesday announced a six-figure ad buy for a spot that targets CNN, as he fights to save his political career amid sexual trafficking allegations.
The new 30-second ad will be featured in the Florida Republican’s congressional district and nationally on select cable networks, according to a statement from Gaetz’s congressional campaign. The ad marks the beginning of Gaetz’s counteroffensive, as he “fight[s] back against a multiweek fake news cycle against him,” it said.
“Now we see what’s really behind all of this: Democratic Party and media-driven smears aimed at taking out a Congressman of the United States,” a spokesperson for the Friends of Matt Gaetz said in the statement. [Politico]
Sadly for him, neither CNN nor the Biden Administration started this investigation; it’s the product of the Trump Administration.
Which is not to say Trump is rewarding Gaetz’s loyalty with a spike up the backside. Perhaps former AG Barr didn’t much care for him. Perhaps a lower level official carried out a political hit on Gaetz.
Maybe Gaetz is even guilty.
But Gaetz is faced with a conundrum here. If he goes after the real source of his investigation, he may find himself attacking influential figures in the conservative movement, and as a firebrand conservative himself, he knows the movement is fragile at the moment. The January 6th insurrection did not play well outside of the Republican Party, and even within the party it’s only acceptable due to self-deception. This has lessened support for the Republican Party, and while it’s not yet in danger of sinking into the self-made swamp of mass irrelevance, it’s been moving that way since the term of Gingrich as Speaker of the House.
Gaetz needs to survive without knocking over any Republican kingpins.
So he’ll go after traditional targets and hope that he can make it stick. Will he? I doubt it. If he is put on trial, I think he’ll be done. But until then, he’ll scrabble around and look worse and worse.
Or he’ll be vindicated. That is looking less and less likely, but it’s not impossible.
