Matt Gaetz gives fiery speech, reactions mixed

“Donald Trump is unstoppable!” U.S. Rep Matt Gaetz, R-FL 1st District, came out swinging in his speech at the Fiserv Forum at the 2024 Republican National Convention Wednesday evening before an appreciative crowd.

Gaetz accused President Joe Biden of being feeble and Vice President Kamala Harris of being ineffectual, and got in a dig at Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, who was found guilty on all counts Tuesday of federal corruption and bribery.

“Under Biden-Harris, inflation has gotten so bad you can no longer bribe Democrat senators with cash alone,” Gaetz said, to cheers. “You have to use gold bars just so the bribe holds value.”

Gaetz said he would be “President Trump’s strongest ally in Congress to pass term limits” and would work to ban members of Congress from becoming lobbyists or trading individual stocks “for the same reason you don’t let the referee bet on the game.” He also brought up border security and voter ID laws.

While Gaetz received praise from many on social media, many early reactions focused on his apparent makeup, his ongoing ethics investigation, and his run-in with former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the RNC Tuesday when he interrupted a live interview with McCarthy to ask him sarcastically when he’d be speaking. “You’d get booed off the stage,” he said before someone nearby told him to “shut up.”

Gaetz and McCarthy have been bitter enemies for years. Gaetz tried to prevent McCarthy from getting voted in as Speaker and led the charge to get him removed. McCarthy has supported challengers against the so-called “Gaetz Eight” that voted with Democrats to remove him and emphasized the ongoing House Ethics Committee probe against Gaetz for allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. 

Social media reactions to Matt Gaetz at the RNC