The notice that Gaetz would be making a big political announcement on Thursday had sparked a certain level of intrigue. “People have texted me their guesses as to what that might be. Everything from I am not running for reelection, to I’m gay, to the latest, which is I am announcing that I am getting into a throuple with Diamond and Silk,” he said, glancing at his phone. “Unfortunately it is not nearly as interesting as all of that.” In describing his decision-making process, Gaetz said “it just felt off” to continue taking PAC money. “I have people all the time that say, ‘Oh, well, we’ve got a few thousand bucks for you, so when can we schedule that dinner?’ And I think to myself,” he continued, “What in the hell makes you think that your few thousand bucks is important enough to justify my time that could otherwise be spent serving my constituents?”
When Gaetz finally took the stage, it was as if a switch had been flicked, and he’d been teleported right back onto the reservation. Gesticulating confidently, he ticked off well-worn talking points. “Bernie Sanders imagines a very different world. One without cows, cars, buildings, airplanes, straws, or cheeseburgers. And Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg has spent $400 million in money to take away our guns and our Big Gulps. They tell Americans not to do more with less, but to do less with less. As conservatives, we hold tight to our principles by remembering our people, the United States of America, first, always, and forever!” he declared before segueing into the news of his PAC disavowal. “Hear me now. We will not be able to successfully defend crony or corrupt capitalism. Honest capitalism, what we cherish, is under attack every day. Not just by the Bernie Bros and Antifa and the radical left, but by special interests and PACs inside the swamp of Washington, D.C.”
Afterward Gaetz proudly told me about an encounter he had with Matt Schlapp in the hallway. “[He] said, ‘Well, you know that the American Conservative Union has a PAC, right? You will still take our money?’ And I said no.” When asked whether he thought the announcement had gone well, he replied, “No one stuck me in the rear end with a hot poker on the way out the door.
“Honestly this is something that has been in my heart for a long time, and it just felt good to say it,” he said. “Like, liberating.”
Walking into an elevator in Longworth, on the way downstairs to catch an Uber, Gaetz expressed dismay at not getting his typical dose of cable-news hits in recent days. “We have been bumped off of television the last two nights because of the coronavirus, and I am just low-key convinced that Jillian would give me coronavirus to get me back on television,” he said, in reference to his chief of staff, Jillian Lane Wyant. When Wyant rattled back a handful of statistics about the low prevalence of infections among infants and children, Gaetz joked, “Do you think someone weaponized the disease to take out the boomers?
“I do believe that to get the job done, you got to engage people, you got to get eyeballs on your message, you’ve got to get an enthusiasm around your values,” he said. “And having an active television and digital presence allows me to do that.”
Gaetz’s P.R. predilections have been evident for a while. “He is never going to settle with being a guy even sitting in the middle row of attention. He will find a way to have his voice heard. And if that means lighting himself on fire to get attention, he will do it,” Florida-based Democratic strategist Steve Schale, who has known and been friendly with Gaetz for years, said.
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