Instead of focusing on his own district or the American people, Rep. Matt Gaetz decided he wanted the spotlight on him. The Florida Republican spent Thursday a long way from the Sunshine State when he held a rally in Wyoming, the home state of his colleague, GOP Rep. Liz Cheney. Gaetz, and many Trump-loving Republicans are mad at Cheney for voting to impeach the former president. Gaetz even ignored the warning from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to stop fighting people in their own party. McCarthy actually said if “If you’re not focused on what you’re doing and what the Democrats are doing wrong, and you’re focused on talking about one another, I’m not putting up with that anymore… there won’t be a place for you.” But Gaetz completely thumbed his nose at McCarthy and railed against Cheney. As CNN’s Erin Burnett put it, “For a party that rails against cancel culture, they sure are canceling a lot of people.” Here’s part of what Gaetz told the mostly maskless crowd:
“This is my first time in Wyoming. I’ve been here for about an hour and I feel like I already know the place a lot better than your misguided representative, Liz Cheney… Liz Cheney is less popular among Republicans in her own state than Muammar Gaddafi was among the Libyans.”
Liz Cheney upholds her oath of office and Majorie Green spreads conspiracy theories, antisemitism, harasses high school students after a mass shooting, inspires a dangerous insurrection that got people killed and guess which Republican Matt Gaetz goes after to unseat?
— David Weissman (@davidmweissman) January 29, 2021
I hate Matt Gaetz for a lot of reasons, but now I hate him for making me root for Liz Cheney.
— Dana Goldberg (@DGComedy) January 29, 2021
While Gaetz’s trip to Wyoming seemed pretty ridiculous, Politico’s Tara Palmeri found that a lot of people in Cheney’s district seemed to support his effort.
Our @tarapalmeri touched down in Cheyenne, Wyo., on Thursday to witness the GOP civil war firsthand. If there was any doubt that it's still Trump’s Republican Party, the rally against Rep. LIZ CHENEY dispelled it. More on the ground from Tara in Playbook: https://t.co/rjoDWoS4pI
— POLITICO Playbook (@playbookplus) January 29, 2021
There were some people who supported Cheney though, in the crowd.
Here’s how Matt Gaetz was greeted in Wyoming today. pic.twitter.com/Q33BXtrknk
— GoWildWyo (@Gowildwyo) January 29, 2021
*This post contains opinion and analysis