Dem
51
GOP
49
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) regularly reveals himself to be both a scumbag and a moron. Does that make him a scumron? A mormbag? We don't know. In any event, because he shows his true colors so often, he's eligible for this feature on a very regular basis. In fact, it would be pretty easy to just change it from "This Week in Schadenfreude" to "The Gaetz-Greene Report." Of course, that would get old quickly, so we have to be judicious in how often we make one of those two the subject.
This week, however, the Florida Representative definitely cleared the bar. The House Judiciary Committee had its first meeting since the Republican takeover, which means this was the first time Gaetz attended a meeting of the Committee as a member of the majority. And boy, did he make a mess of it. See, the Republicans have decided that Judiciary Committee meetings must commence with a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance (this was not the case under the Democrats). And, at Gaetz' instigation, the first performance of the pledge was led by Corey Beekman, a U.S. combat veteran.
Announcing Beekman, Gaetz said: "It is my pleasure and distinct honor to introduce to the committee Staff Sergeant Corey Ryan Beekman, an American hero and a constituent of mine residing in Pensacola, Florida." The Representative then presented Beekman's résumé: 16 years' military service, Purple Heart winner, loyal Republican, member of the local gun club, etc. Gaetz neglected do his homework, though. It would seem that Beekman definitely is a fan of guns, so much so that he allegedly used one of them to kill a man named Billy Buchanan. Beekman has been indicted for murder, although the case has moved at the speed of molasses. Buchanan's family was hurt and outraged that Beekman was being honored on Capitol Hill, and Gaetz was forced to call them and apologize for the mistake. Oops!
That was not Gaetz' only less-than-shining moment this week, however. He also sits on the House Armed Services Committee. And the first item of business for that group was hearings about support for Ukraine. As an ultra-Trumpy fellow, Gaetz wants to make the case that the Biden administration has been reckless in its support for Volodymyr Zelenkskyy. So, he grilled Colin Kahl, the U.S. defense undersecretary for policy, about whether any U.S. money or weapons have gone to the Azov Battalion, a far-right group that is dangerously close to being Nazis. That sort of thing offends Gaetz, apparently, at least when it's foreigners.
Kahl answered the question by saying that he was not aware of any U.S. resources going to the Azov Battalion, and added: "But if you have information I'd be happy to hear it." This was the "gotcha!" moment that the Congressman had been waiting for, and he promptly entered into the record a report from the Global Times about how the U.S. has been supplying the Azov Battalion since 2018. Gaetz then asked: "Any reason to disagree with that assessment?"
If this began in 2018, well, that's the Trump years, of course. However, that was not the flaw in Gaetz' reasoning that Kahl found most significant. Here's the exchange that immediately followed the "gotcha!" moment:
Kahl: I'm sorry, is this the Global Times from China?
Gaetz: No, this is... It might be, yeah.
Kahl: As a general matter, I don't take Beijing's propaganda at face value.
Boom! Mic drop! If you would care to see the exchange for yourself, the video is here (click on "Rep. Gaetz Cites Chinese Newspaper" on the right-hand side). Oops again!
Maybe next week, Gaetz will hire someone for his office to do some actual research so he doesn't embarrass himself like this. But this week, he twice made national headlines for his sloppy work. And that is certainly a schadenfreude moment. (Z)