Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida appeared on Fox Business Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” with Maria Bartiromo this past Sunday and, when confronted about his unrepentant, hardline stance on the budget and what is funded in it, refused to back down and called out Kevin McCarthy’s failed leadership.
The fight was on from the beginning, with Bartiromo characterizing Gaetz as the root of the GOP’s failures, saying, “Now joining us: one of the people holding up an agreement to fund the government, Florida, a Republican Congressman, Matt Gates. Uh, congressman, thank you very much for being here this morning.”
Rep. Gaetz pulled no punches in response. First, he poked holes in Bartiromo’s assertion that the GOP has been doing much winning under McCarthy and McConnell, saying, “Oh, thank you. I’m glad I get to respond to your monologue because if you’re saying that I’m standing in the way of all the Republican wins, I’d love for you to enumerate them.”
He then noted that there are numerous issues about which the GOP can’t afford to back down, as things are getting worse and worse as we head on the path to financial ruin. As he put it, “Watching my friend and mentor Jim Jordan, it was quite painful because he started by saying, we should only pick one fight: the border. But then as the interview went on, he said, well, we should pick a second fight: Jack Smith. And by the time the interview rounded out, he was saying that we shouldn’t be funding Ukraine without a plan. And yet the very continuing resolution that you and Jim Jordan seemed to be for, continues to have $300 million more for Ukraine. So I think we ought to fight on all fronts. I think the border’s very important. And the best way for us to advance the Republican border policies is to pass the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Bill. Do that along with Veterans Defense, and State, Ag and foreign ops. We’ll have 73% of the discretionary budget funded. And if, you know, the Department of Labor and Education have to shut down for a few days as we get their appropriations in line, that’s certainly not something that is optimal, but I think it’s better than continuing on the current path we are on to America’s financial ruin.”
Bartiromo apologized a bit and then went right back to blaming Gaetz, accusingly asking, “So tell me why you are threatening Speaker McCarthy and trying to shut down this government, at a time that the Republicans have finally gotten some upper hands here in terms of wins — able to investigate President Biden on what looks like, uh, bribery.”
Gaetz began by noting the idiocy of the question, saying, “Yeah, we don’t put our pencils down in the investigation of President Biden during a shutdown.” Continuing, he noted that the details make McCarthy’s effort look less than serious, saying, “Second, if Kevin McCarthy was actually serious about pursuing the Bidens, he would’ve sent Hunter Biden a subpoena by now. During the first year of Democrat control of the Congress, they brought in Donald Trump Jr. three times over nothing — over a nothing burger.” And, getting to his big issues, the out of control debt and deficit, Gaetz said, “But what is serious is the fact that we are spending more than $7 trillion a year, bringing in around $5 trillion a year.”
The two then went back and forth for some time before Gaetz delivered his real knockout blow, which was noting that, whatever the facts of the Biden situation are, McCarthy and Co have shown no real inclination to follow up on them by taking legal action.
That came when Bartiromo rattled off statistics about the Biden family and Gaetz, in response, said, “But you have to follow that to its natural conclusion. It’s not enough to expose facts that get people angry and animated. You then have to follow those facts to a conclusion — and to accountability. You see, that’s what Republicans are bad at. And then guess what? He goes back to the Justice Department — and the coffers are full with money from the American taxpayer. That [money] gets turned against the brave patriots in this country.”
Watch Gaetz rake Bartiromo and McCarthy over the coals here:
.@MariaBartiromo tried to shill for her friend @SpeakerMcCarthy this morning.
This is how that went. pic.twitter.com/FKIOS6ffPm
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) September 24, 2023
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