Speaking yesterday on Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast, Rep. Matt Gaetz opened his reckless mouth and sputtered what his Republican colleagues have tried to keep under their fright wigs: Speaker Kevin McCarthy's putative policy statement, the party's "Commitment to America," is a scam.
Gaetz explained that should a Republican House not launch "impeachment inquiries" against President Biden, the party's Trumpian base will feel "betrayed," which in turn will disgruntle the base and cause low 2024 turnout. Added Gaetz, and "that could be the biggest wind that Democrats could hope for in 2024."
The Florida congressman also conceded that for House Republicans, the business of governing will be a "far, far diminished priority" — which puts a torch to McCarthy's much-ballyhooed "Commitment to America" and all the wonderful things he has said it would do.
Gaetz says if Republicans don’t immediately begin impeachment of Biden and Cabinet officials if they get the majority “our voters will feel betrayed” heading into 2024, “and that’s why it should be investigations first, and policy as a far, far diminished priority.” pic.twitter.com/vCdKGvxnLN
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) September 26, 2022
Republicans' impeachment panels were destined for 2023 anyway, and they would have had McCarthy's full blessing. As I wrote last Saturday: "Not one word of McCarthy's ["Commitment to America"] has anything to do with what his House caucus will actually do once nestled back in power.
"Which is nothing more than one rube-feeding committee investigation atop mounds of other committee investigations. You name it, and if it has Joe Biden's name on it or anything they stamp as Biden, the precious McCarthyites will be 'investigating' it — all in a runup to the ultimate game of creating at most one sort-of new job, for Donald Trump, or maybe Ron DeSantis, whichever one is unincarcerated in 2024."
But McCarthy certainly never planned on unchained House Republicans pouncing on publicly available podcasts and blaring to the nation that the mountainous socioeconomic problems they say have been exacerbated by Democrats will be of no policy concern to the new majority.
The only national betrayal would be that committed by House Republicans, and a leading voice in the party just announced that it shall be so. This story — America's socioeconomic troubles shall be of "far, far diminished priority" for the GOP — should have been above-the-fold, headline news in the New York Times and Washington Post this morning. It is not.
Gaetz's for-once honest blunder mirrors Kevin McCarthy's 2015 exchange with Sean Hannity. Said the Fox News host: "Sixty percent of Republicans polled this week feel betrayed by the Republican Party in Washington."
McCarthy's eventual reply: "Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she's un-trustable. But no one would have known any of that had happened had we not fought and made that happen."
Thus the "Benghazi special committee" was but a political weapon — a blunt-force instrument meant to severely wound her 2016 presidential campaign — and Kevin McCarthy stupidly admitted it. As Matt Gaetz has done, again.
Where's the press? Why are we privy to the GOP's scam only because of one lone soul on Twitter?