GOP must remove Gaetz from House Armed Services Committee
“PAGING @
GOPLeader! U.S. military families & veterans are trying to reach you.” That was the tweet our coalition of veteran and military families was reduced to after countless unanswered messages to House
GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy. For years, we have been voicing concerns about Congressman Matt Gaetz’s mounting ethics problems and his failure to faithfully execute his oversight duties on the House Armed Services Committee, to no avail. As a last resort, our coalition filed a formal 44-page complaint with McCarthy calling for Gaetz’s immediate removal from this critical national security committee. We are still awaiting McCarthy’s response.
As the Leader of the House Republican Conference, it is McCarthy’s responsibility to assign competent, diligent and honorable members to the Armed Services Committee. Instead, McCarthy tapped the guy who nicknamed himself “the firebrand” and wrote a how-to book for politicians who fancy themselves social-media influencers rather than statesmen.
While Gaetz and McCarthy might confuse social media with governing, the 1.4 million servicemembers and their families whose lives depend on the Committee for sound policy and oversight certainly do not. Our review of Gaetz’s tenure on Armed Services reveals a staggering pattern of shirking his oversight duties, politicizing the military, and using his official communications to sow domestic unrest, spread disinformation and undermine federal law enforcement.
For as much as Gaetz’s record reveals about his unfitness, it speaks volumes more about McCarthy’s leadership and the uncertain future of the GOP. As the party becomes increasingly consumed by conspiracies and culture wars, many in the military community are left to wonder if we can count on the GOP leadership to rein in the Gaetzes of the conference in order to ensure our national security.
For example, since when do Republicans support isolationism, Russian appeasement and weakening our international alliances? Since when do they oppose funding troop readiness and programs for military families back home?
Since when do they attack seasoned military leaders as “warmongers” and the “forever wars lobby”? Because this is precisely Gaetz’s record and McCarthy reassigned him to the Armed Services Committee anyway. McCarthy has also turned a blind eye to Gaetz’s record of amplifying dangerous disinformation and undermining federal law enforcement’s efforts to quell extremism and domestic terrorism. Gaetz’s social media, cable news appearances and speeches are chock full of precisely the conspiracy theories and incendiary rhetoric that the FBI and DHS warned Congress would lead to violence — and it did.
Just like the influencers and pundits he emulates, sowing outrage and distrust has proven incredibly lucrative for the congressman. Since 2016, Gaetz’s fundraising haul has soared 413%, now more than double the average member of Congress. A whopping 75.4% of his donors now live outside of Florida, up from just 20% in 2016.
With brazen disregard of House ethics rules, Gaetz also uses his official communications office to promote at least three commercial ventures: his book, podcast and the private TV studio that taxpayers built in his father’s home. McCarthy might not have any qualms about Gaetz hawking his wares from the House website, but we are confident that most taxpayers do.
It is staggering we need to remind Leader McCarthy and the Republican Party that the Armed Services Committee is a place for serious policy and oversight, not political stunts and conspiracies. Honor, truth and accountability are deep and abiding principles of the military community. It should go without saying that our constituency deserves representatives who also live by these principles. Michael Smith, who lives in Colorado, is the executive director of Veterans for Responsible Leadership, a nonpartisan military veterans group fighting authoritarianism. Carrie Remis, who lives in South Florida, is the executive director of the Homefront Fidelity Project, a group of Florida military families working to hold elected officials accountable.