Matt Gaetz: Ditching Justice in Service to Petty Hatreds

In a just world, Martha Stewart would never have been sent to prison. In a just world, American servicemen, pilots, and business owners would not have lost their livelihoods because they refused to take an experimental COVID vaccine. In a just world, an embezzler sent to prison wouldn’t have to worry about being raped. We don’t live in a just world, but that doesn’t mean the pursuit of justice should so easily be discarded.

I remember Oprah, after one of her weight loss adventures, being told by an audience member, “I liked you better when you were fat. I could relate to you.” This random, horrible woman preferred Oprah fat so she could feel better about herself. Humans are base, nasty creatures who nurse petty grievances and take sick pleasure in the misery of their enemies, and even friends they envy — no matter how unjust. They don’t pause to consider being on the receiving end of such treatment. Rather, the short-term schadenfreude makes their sad personal existence a little warmer and more satisfying.

It’s one thing to enjoy true justice being served — a terrorist who has killed hundreds of American soldiers being vaporized comes to mind. It’s another thing to distort justice, to pervert the law and abuse it and enjoy its abuse, to punish someone because one finds them a distasteful person.

The Biden years brought wrongful prosecutions, excessive prosecutions, unjust prosecutions, false imprisonments, over-charging, and lengthy and unwarranted prison terms to their political enemies. Leftists have swum in the warm sea of moral superiority and smug self-satisfaction imagining the torment of their political enemies losing their lives, jobs, financial security, and happiness. Perverting the law, to save democracy, they told themselves. They imagine themselves as the good guys in this scenario. They’re not.

They’re not good people for being happy that a healthcare CEO got murdered in cold blood. They’re not good people for cheering the raid on Donald Trump’s home. They’re not good people for a whole host of reasons.

But this phenomenon does not just exist on the Left. Republicans, too, enjoy destroying reputations and ruining lives if it suits their political purposes and they believe they’re justified. Liz Cheney, the one now anxiously retaining legal representation, didn’t care that she coerced lying testimony and suppressed testimony that would dispute the lies she compelled a witness to tell. She was doing the bidding of other Republicans. Adam Kitzinger did the same.

Republicans attempted to smear Pete Hegseth. Republicans attempted to smear Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Republicans, the old D.C. guard, seem to think that the old rules, as Scott McKay wrote on these pages, still apply. They don’t, but that won’t stop them from trying and trying again. (READ MORE: The Old Game Continues Among the Worst GOP Senators)

This brings us to Matt Gaetz. The former Congressman from Florida has few friends and many enemies in Washington, D.C. He is disliked. He upset the applecart in the House. He forced the resignation of the Speaker. (What’s his name, again?) He is a showboat and a blowhard and a rumored womanizer. He loves the spotlight and will do almost anything to get a couple of minutes of airtime on TV. To make it worse, he looks like a 1980s televangelist with slicked-back hair and a greasy smile. In short, he makes it easy to hate him. The fact that he relishes controversy makes the target on his back that much bigger.

Today, the House released an ethics report on Gaetz. According to their research, Gaetz schtupped a 17-year-old and paid for dates and gifts and that makes him guilty of underage prostitution. Left out of the report were some confounding facts. For example, this girl didn’t just fool Gaetz about her age. She fooled lots of people. So many people in fact, including law enforcement for a while, that Gaetz has never been charged. He hasn’t been charged in Florida. He hasn’t been charged by Joe Biden’s DOJ. He hasn’t been charged anywhere. Also left out of the report? The greater evil behind all this is the extortion of his father.

Gaetz is considering running for the Florida Senate seat. Republicans in the Senate do not want a Senator Matt Gaetz. They want Matt Gaetz to go away. This report was a way to make it happen.

Lots of talking heads on X opine that conservatives should have principles and not condone abominable behavior. Indeed! This conservative believes in the rule of law, an opportunity to meet one’s accusers, an opportunity to present exonerating evidence, and an opportunity to depose one’s accuser and present discovery. A House Ethics report dumped two days before Christmas allows for none of those things. It’s a smear job and a sloppy one at that. Gaetz spent his time on X disputing the foundation of the document and did so compellingly.

A fair hearing under the law is more important than one loathsome politician. It is not a “just” outcome when someone one hates is ruined by distortions and lies.

Too often, people who should know better relish the demise of their enemies, and sometimes their friends, knowing well that the person’s reputation is being destroyed by hearsay and calumny. Whole industries have been made out of this nasty business.

People say, “That’s just politics.” Maybe. It certainly is on the Left, but conservatives, the ones who croon about the rule of law and high moral standards should not be okay with this sort of politicking. They should be mindful that destroying the rule of law in order to save it simply does not work.

Hearteningly, this political tactic has become less effective. Most Americans see the game now and they’re not willing to play it. They take the extra time to look up the facts and decide for themselves. In addition, they know that not one of the House members who released this report cares about Gaetz’s moral failings. They care about power. Power and revenge.

Petty hatreds and long memories fuel much animosity in the swamp. That’s politics. It shouldn’t be confused with justice. Accusing someone of underage prostitution should be fact-based — like, say, in the case of Hunter Biden.

READ MORE from Melissa Mackenzie:

Mitch McConnell Did Not Win a Mandate

What Trump’s Cabinet Picks All Have in Common: They Don’t Give a ____

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