Gaetz Boasts Of Coordinating With Fox On Messaging

The New York Times reports:

The night before the start of a humiliating and historic five-day floor fight in Representative Kevin McCarthy’s quest to become speaker, Representative Matt Gaetz, Mr. McCarthy’s chief tormentor, handed him a list of demands from a hard-right faction ensuring that if Mr. McCarthy’s victory did occur, it would only be a pyrrhic one.

In the three weeks since Mr. McCarthy ultimately agreed to the price of the portrait, Mr. Gaetz’s role in the melodrama has only entrenched his stature as an attention-craving political arsonist adored by the Trump wing of the G.O.P. — but also, House Republican leaders begrudgingly say, as a lawmaker with new powers.

Will he continue in his role as an insatiable limelight seeker, one who boasted to colleagues that he began each day instructing aides to call Fox News bookers to determine what message du jour he should be trumpeting? Will he assert himself more on substance and push harder on his far-right agenda? Or is his only goal blowing things up?

Read the full article.

“He handed McCarthy a blunt knife and forced him to castrate himself on national television”: After Gaetz demonstrated his influence on the speaker’s election, what will the far-right rabble rouser do with his newfound clout next? ⁦@DraperRobert⁩ https://t.co/KGaR5eCwwC

— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) January 30, 2023