Rep. Matt Gaetz Roundly Mocked After His Plot To Ditch Liz Cheney Spectacularly Fails
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Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) claimed he had the votes. He didn’t.
The Florida congressman was roundly mocked on social media Wednesday after he insisted that he had enough votes to demote Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the No. 3 Republican in House leadership, because she voted to impeach former President Donald Trump.
Gaetz even cooked up a conspiracy theory for good measure in case it didn’t happen.
“My concern is that though today we have the votes to remove Liz Cheney, that somehow the establishment’s going to find a way to kick the question, avoid a vote,” he said.
Except that’s not how it unfolded. The vote was held and Cheney easily kept her position in a 145-61 secret-ballot tally.
One of the most pointed replies to Gaetz came from within his own conference as Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) fired back:
No we voted. You were just wrong by like, a huuuuuge margin. https://t.co/2iwjlxpB3J
— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) February 4, 2021
Gaetz, a staunch Trump loyalist, has repeatedly attacked Cheney since her vote for impeachment ― even traveling to her state to hold a rally against her.
“We are in a battle for the soul of the Republican Party and I intend to win it,” Gaetz said at the rally last week.
His insistence that he had the votes, followed by Cheney’s easy victory, caused Gaetz’s name to trend on Twitter. But probably not in a way he’d appreciate:
Narrator: Gaetz did not have the votes. https://t.co/rKOd4U4xj4
— James Surowiecki (@JamesSurowiecki) February 4, 2021
All in all seems like a good night for Liz Cheney. And a bad night for Matt Gaetz.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) February 4, 2021
but Matt Gaetz went to Wyoming in his best suit from junior high and everything pic.twitter.com/r9J2QwcHZc
— shauna (@goldengateblond) February 4, 2021
Were the votes counted on Dominion equipment? https://t.co/YHYgTMRi8G
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) February 4, 2021
And every night I will ask as a Florida constituent; @mattgaetz why will you not disavow the antisemitic conspiracy theorist, Majorie Taylor Greene? https://t.co/Kh0owU1CZc
— David Weissman (@davidmweissman) February 4, 2021
Matt Gaetz is crying into his Zima tonight.
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) February 4, 2021
To be fair @mattgaetz has trouble counting above 10 if he doesn’t have a whole bunch of those mini tequila bottles https://t.co/1yIOUUJEB5
— StandingOvationHat (@Popehat) February 4, 2021
Jordan, Gaetz et al turned out to be better at spinning the media about how many anti-Cheney votes they had than actually delivering anti-Cheney votes
— Rich Lowry (@RichLowry) February 4, 2021
Matt Gaetz said they'd have enough votes to boot Liz Cheney. NOPE.
Matt Gaetz also said he'd resign from Congress to defend trump.
I hope he does BOTH.
Should turn out well. 😂😂— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) February 4, 2021
Bad night for Gaetz/Trump/ Jordan/Sedition Caucus https://t.co/aoPF3JJXUI
— Charlie Sykes (@SykesCharlie) February 4, 2021
Look at these freaks. This is what happened to the angry weirdos that spent Saturday night in that dorm room at the end of the hall talking about how much they hate women. Here they are. https://t.co/IH0ZoE7NQu
— stuart stevens (@stuartpstevens) February 4, 2021
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.