Rep. Matt Gaetz was looking for some sound bites to make Dear Leader feel loved and appreciated, so he showed up for an interview with MSNBC's Hallie Jackson. Most of it was just talking points and filibustering intended to make Donald Trump feel better about the fact that he's been caught shaking down Ukraine, but this moment at the beginning was precious.
Jackson introduced the segment with some context from NBC News' political unit: "If you want to know why House Republicans decided Wednesday to disrupt the deposition into the impeachment inquiry, it's probably because President Trump and the GOP are running out of defenses."
She then played a clip of Rep. Jackie Speier's take on the SCIF Gang:
Enter Matt Gaetz, the oh-so-aggrieved white man who led the high school prank.
"Did Jackie Speier identify my race and gender in the context of my activities as a member of Congress yesterday?" Gaetz asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm and faux outrage.
Jackson drily observed that she thought he heard it just fine, offering Gaetz an opportunity to respond.
"Did she say we were a bunch of white men? What does the fact that we are white men have to do with our desire to represent the millions of constituents we serve?" he asked, without regard to his own privilege.
"I was deeply offended," Gaetz said. "When Jackie Speier walks in, I don't say a white woman comes in. This is the type of identity politics from the left that seems to permeate any substantive or procedural arguments they make and it's sickening to me that's how we would be thought of. People we serve are diverse and it's just really kind of sickening."
77 percent of the population in Gaetz's district is white. We know who elected him and who he represents, which makes his mewling that much more absurd.
After this, the interview went forward (not clipped here) into filibusters and talking points about the impeachment inquiry, none of which were worthy of the broadcast or the viewers. The one nugget that came out of it was that Gaetz was personally mad that he couldn't be in the room because he doesn't serve on the committees handling the inquiry. Tough beans, my man. Get over it.
It would have been better if Hallie Jackson had told Gaetz she'd cut his mic if he didn't quit talking over her and being rude, but she didn't. If MSNBC is going to put white dudes on who have no respect for national security or Congressional hearings, they should be prepared to use the mute button until they learn how to be respectful of others.
