Access To (Young) Aides – Marc Short Says That’s Why Gaetz Is There

That headline might seem over the top, but an article in Huffington Post reports that in an interview Marc Short who served as Chief of Staff to Mike Pence made clear in his Wednesday interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper he has zero use for Gaetz:

In fact, he made a shocking statement to Jake Tapper that he thinks Gaetz’s real reason for wanting to be in Congress was less about public service and more about access to underage aides on Capitol Hill.

Wow. Short had other criticisms of Gaetz including stock GOP stuff about him not being as conservative (especially on fiscal policy) as he claims but he then went on to get even more specific about Gaetz:

“To say he came as a fiscal crusader, it’s more likely he came here for the teenage interns on Capitol Hill, to be honest,” Short said, referring to an investigation that started in 2020 over allegations that he had sex with a 17-year-old.

Again, wow! Keep in mind that while as far as we know Gaetz dodged the bullet on prosecution for his paying teens including underage ones for sex. However, the House Ethics Committee has continuing looking into that and other allegations including him showing pics on his phone to others while on the House floor.  I’ll talk more about that in a bit.

Bratty Matty Gaetz has as we know has alienated a lot of his fellow Republicans in the House. Over in the Senate where those of both Parties tend to look down their noses at the “lesser” folks in the House Chamber Republicans don’t like Gaetz any more than they do Democrats!  There have been multiple articles starting in the days leading up to the vote to oust McCarthy, and some since including one yesterday by our very own Murfster noting that House Republicans are sick and tired of Gaetz. Even the Free-Dumb Caucus has members distancing themselves from him. Keep in mind, when it came to the vote the “Gaetz Gang” only had eight people vote to toss out McCarthy! The other 210 Republicans including a couple of surprises told Gaetz he was on his own. When the likes of Bobo the Clown and Marjorie Gangrene are abandoning Gaetz you have to figure he’s in way deeper shiite than he ever thought he would be.

There’s fellow Republicans that have told multiple outlets that if the Ethics Committee finds Gaetz guilty of at least some of the charges against him they won’t waste any time taking action. Action in the form of moving to EXPEL him from the House. It seems like they are looking for an excuse and if reporting is accurate it’s not just a handful of House Republicans that are itching to get rid of Gaetz.  Apparently a lot of them are and while I don’t for a second believe they’ve found a moral compass all of a sudden they are looking at their current razor thin margin and next year’s election and they are running scared. Making a show about kicking Gaetz out over his sexual misdeeds would I’m sure they believe insulate them from serious attack ads, especially in the fifty or so competitive seats up for grabs next year.

Combine how bad Gaetz made House Republicans look back in Jan., what he’s just done and the likely Speaker Selection Sh*t-Show likely coming up they are plenty pissed at Gaetz. And the last thing most of them want is a shutdown headed into the holidays, with the election year starting maybe while one is still going on! The Ethics Committee they are hoping will give them the ammo to make a  huge show about dumping him overboard, all cut up into a school of sharks.

The level of support Trump gives (or doesn’t) to Gaetz in the days (perhaps weeks) ahead will be interesting. With the E. Jean Carrol case hanging over his head if the Ethics Committee nails Gaetz Trump will toss him under the bus just like he does anyone else who’s of no use, or worse a liability.

Gaetz of course knows all the rumors that have been flying around the Hill and that Ethics Committee investigation as well as that indications are they are close to a report. He knows there’s a lot of REPUBLICAN support to use guilty findings to dump him. I don’t think Democrats will say much, but I do think they will vote in lockstep to toss him out. Gaetz might be lucky to get fifty people voting to keep him in office. Maybe not even that many.

Remember, only seven others joined him in taking out McCarthy!

Keep an eye on this in the days and weeks ahead. Now that criticism is coming from outside the House GOP caucus, and someone as prominent as Marc Short has stepped up and been so blunt pressure is going to be on the Ethics Committee to do two things – find Gaetz guilty of the charges against him and publish their report saying so.  Finally, with short, who again I note was Pence’s Chief of Staff coming out like he did this is going to be a question posed to GOP Presidential candidates including Mike Pence.

This could get both interesting and ugly. And soon. Stay tuned.