And now for something completely different. You all remember Matt Gaetz, I’m sure. He’s in trouble because his producer was a moron. The producer is in bigger trouble, but it’s generating major slapback on Matty and his friend Suzy. Ah, she is Susan Lebovitz-Edelman, a conservative donor critical of the handling of Tucker Carlson’s talk with Nick Fuentes. *We* were really critical about that with Fuentes, but generated by a conservative? Yikes. So this is reflecting badly on both of them. Matty is really good at getting himself in trouble anyhow. For once, it wasn’t his doing. Nope, still detest him. From Raw Story, which has been really helpful for columns lately:
Former U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) went public on Saturday with comments about antisemitic remarks published by his own producer. Conservative political commentator James Lindsay on Friday highlighted the alleged comments first, writing, “OAN’s Vish Burra, Matt Gaetz’s scriptwriter and handler, has severely crossed the line now, calling Jews vermin, accusing them of ‘scheming,’ identifying them as cockroaches he’s destroying in the name of ‘America First’ and ‘America Only.'” According to Lindsay, Burra quickly deleted the controversial post in question.
Oof. Bad thing to do, even for OAN. VERY bad thing to do. No sympathy on that whatsoever. What the hell was going on in that … thing’s mind, to post something like that, even if he deleted it quickly? Flat-out antisemitism, no ifs, ands, or buts. Digging around gave me the following, from Mediaite via Yahoo News:
Vish Burra, a booker and scriptwriter for One America News Network’s The Matt Gaetz Show, who also sometimes makes appearances on the program, shared a wildly anti-Semitic video depicting himself threatening a group of plotting Jews who were depicted as cartoon bugs on Friday. The video shows a man who looks like Burra approaching a door labeled “Scheming Room” adorned with Stars of David. “Suzy, James, I know what you’re up to in there. Open up!” he says. When he busts into the room and flips on a light above the bugs — who are gathered behind a table stacked with cash — they begin to sizzle under the light and screech.
Mercy! That was beyond anything ever seen in the news. Bugs? Scheming? Wow. It’s a major, major shock, and now we see why Matty put out a post about it. Can’t see him doing something like that. No. He’s a slimeball, but he does have one or two morals left. This is super disgusting, and we can hope Vish gets fired for it. Everyone on OAN should demand it.
“My producer Vish Burra posted something dumb this week. He knew it was dumb and quickly deleted it,” according to Gaetz. “I too have posted dumb things on social media without thinking – some I’ve deleted, some I haven’t.” He then continued, “And I’ve had to pay some consequences along the way. Vish will too. I’m not the internet hall monitor of any of my coworkers (thankfully.) I can say on the Matt Gaetz Show we do not believe in applying bigotry to any group of people, no matter where they live or how they worship. We stand against such bigotry every weeknight at 9pm est on [OAN].”
Something dumb??!! Matty doesn’t have a better word? That was MORE than dumb. That was obscene and yes, a whole lot more. It’s still stunning that people like this exist. Yes, yes, they do, but it’s still *stunning*. It’s a kick to the chest when we see something like this. So, yeah, Matty did right. That’s a surprise, but he didn’t do this. His “producer” should be fired and go off to one of those RMNJ podcasts. He deserves that. We didn’t deserve to find out about him. But now we know. Pardon me. It’s time to scream some more, and then scrub my brain with bleach and a wire brush.
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
It’s worth saying one more time: “Not every right wing sleazeball is a crypto-Nazi, but every crypto-Nazi is definitely a right-wing sleazeball.”
I think I have to agree with that one 😉
Just a bit curious but what kind of name is “Vish Burra?”
Doesn’t exactly sound like a name you’d associate with a group that promotes an “America First” agenda and isn’t generally fond of anyone with a “foreign-sounding” name. (How Nick Fuentes manages to hang around such folks is still interesting although, I guess, he can skate by on his skin tone being more in line with European Spaniards rather than Latin Americans.)
I have no earthly idea. Perhaps it’s more of a nickname? No matter what, though, the guy gave me the creeps.
My thinking is that Matty didn’t “do right”. More probable, he had enough savvy to see the likely splashback and got ahead of the posse.
Well, yeah. I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. But he’s always been about protecting his ass.