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There is no better candidate than Matt Gaetz, who has stared down the barrel of the corrupt Biden/Garland DoJ through every threat and slander. They were able to tarnish his reputation, but his character remains untainted. He refused to bend the knee to his slanderers, who failed to even bring charges. But there are people who count themselves informed by their devotion to the New York Times and the Washington Post, and therefore, a story like this won't go away. The Federalist editor-in-chief, Mollie Hemingway, wrote conclusively on this question before it was a question, in the Fall of 2022. (Read the whole thing, it's our republic that is on the line.)
The story begins with a feisty congressman who defends his president against the preposterous Russia Collusion Hoax, and goes on to pull the curtain back on the historically shoddy Ukraine impeachment attempt. From the Federalist article:
When Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., held secret hearings, selectively released information, and lied about coordination with the so-called whistleblower during the Ukraine impeachment hearings, Gaetz led a group of Republican congressmen in protest. The move, which enraged the corporate media and other partisans, helped unify Republicans in their eventual defeat of the impeachment stunt.
Then there was the January 6 riot at the Capitol, after which Rep. Gaetz persisted in raising the very real issues in the 2020 election (see Rigged by Mollie Hemingway, the bill of 2020 election horribles, which Trump cited to Joe Rogan). He also helped bring attention to the systemic suspension of civil rights for anyone the DoJ tagged as connected to January 6.
And back when the Cheney family were still a force in American politics—from the Federalist article:
When Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., received praise from Beltway insiders for leading a small group of Republicans to join the Democrats’ second impeachment of President Trump, Gaetz immediately went to Wyoming to rally Republicans. The two had repeatedly sparred over Cheney’s support for lengthy and poorly managed foreign wars that Gaetz said did not serve American interests. “We are in a battle for the soul of the Republican Party, and I intend to win it,” he said at a Jan. 28, 2021, rally in Cheyenne, long before she would be ousted from her leadership position in the House Republican conference. “You can help me break a corrupt system. You can send a representative who actually represents you, and you can send Liz Cheney home — back home to Washington, D.C.” Harriet Hageman delivered a humiliating primary defeat of Cheney less than two years later.
It was no surprise when the usual tools went to work:
A group of New York Times reporters who won awards for their roles pushing the Russia collusion lie penned an anonymously sourced article with a devastating headline: “Matt Gaetz Is Said to Face Justice Dept. Inquiry Over Sex With an Underage Girl.” The story was sourced to “three people briefed on the matter,” none of them identified in any way. The story contained no evidence against Gaetz of sex crimes, but much guilt-by-association. Late in the story, the pack of reporters admitted that no charges had been filed and that the “extent of his criminal exposure is unclear.”Mollie Hemingway tells a tale of her training as a rookie journalist in the corporate world. If one were to quote the New York Times or the Washington Post, a journalist was safe from a libel charge. For decades, judges throughout the land have, regardless of party, treated these institutions as infallible fountains of truth.
The Gaetz confirmation hearings will either be quick and routine, or they will be a full-throated airing of the volumes of evidence against the Garland DoJ and the suspicious collusion of our fourth estate. I leave you with this thought:
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Discussion (133)
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Thank you for bringing more light to the slanders and abuse the DOJ together with the scurrilous press have heaped onto Gaetz. It is the same playbook they used on Trump, Russia, Russia, Russia, except in stead of Prostitutes peeing on a bed, it was something underage, nameless allegations.
"The seriousness of the allegations, make him unconfirmable" Even though there is zero evidence that any of it has any truth.
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Mollie was taking Jim Geraghty to task on Twitter this morning. Jim was on Hugh Hewitt's show making fun of Gaetz and repeating it on Twitter. There might be reasons to oppose Gaetz's nomination. Repeating Democrat slander isn't one of them.
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It's a very good point that all slurs on Gaetz are disproven at this point. Any assumption that he has a dubious past is wrong.
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