A couple of months ago, if you turned on any of the Fox News primetime shows hosted by Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, or Laura Ingraham, you were almost guaranteed to see Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) holding forth on any number of subjects and proving his own lack of comprehension on an almost nightly basis. In March alone, Gaetz appeared on Fox shows 19 times, an incredible number for a congressman who has made his name almost solely by being willing to praise failed, one-term former President Donald Trump no matter what.
But those days are long gone, and Fox News has essentially “excommunicated” the Florida Republican, according to a revealing article from Business Insider:
“Since news broke that Gaetz is at the center of a federal sex-trafficking investigation — and after an interview with Fox host Tucker Carlson in March that the host dubbed ‘one of the weirdest’ he’d ever done — the Florida Republican hasn’t appeared on the network.
It’s a major lifestyle change for the lawmaker, who was a darling of Fox hosts for years during the Trump administration and early into Biden’s term. He juices ratings with punchy soundbites that trash ‘wokeness,’ ‘cancel culture,’ and the COVID-19 poster doctor Anthony Fauci.”
The allegations against Gaetz have resulted in him having made a total of ZERO appearances on Fox in April, May, and now halfway through the month of June.
Clearly, the Fox-Gaetz love affair is over with thanks, it appears, to Gaetz’s own sick search for love (or illegal one-night stands) among underage girls.
And yes, Fox has indeed pushed Gaetz to the curb because of the baggage that he’s carrying:
“It’s not worth it for the conservative network to risk putting Gaetz on its airwaves while the high-profile sex-trafficking investigation is playing out, according to Republican insiders and media watchdogs.
“Gaetz hurt his relationship with Carlson during his infamous March 30 interview, sources told Insider. Carlson had invited Gaetz on the show to give him a platform to respond to the breaking news about the federal investigation.
“The interview took an unexpected turn when Gaetz said that Carlson, too, had been ‘falsely accused of a terrible sex act.'”
Afterwards, Carlson was said to be “pissed” by what had just transpired, and insiders say the Fox host will never allow Gaetz back on his show no matter how the sex crime allegations turn out:
“I don’t know how Tucker ever has him back on,” a Republican familiar with how Fox operates told Insider this week. “What Matt did to Tucker, he might as well have hooked up with his wife. That was horrible.”
That’s bad news for Gaetz because Fox was his main platform for spreading his inanity to the right-wing masses. And since he’s up for reelection next year, that could prove to be a very big loss for the congressman.
If Gaetz thinks he’s toxic now, the second he’s indicted, he can count on the vast majority of his GOP colleagues turning their backs on him, too. They might even begin calling for his expulsion from the House.
This is not a good time to be Matt Gaetz. About the only person in as much legal jeopardy as him is none other than Donald Trump himself, and even the Donald has distanced himself from his one-time biggest cheerleader. When you’re too radioactive for Trump, you know you’re screwed.
