(Photo
by
Saul
Loeb-Pool/Getty
Images)
On
November
13,
just
a
week
after
winning
reelection,
Matt
Gaetz
noped
out
of
the
House
of
Representatives.
In
theory,
this
was
so
he
could
go
exact
revenge
from
Donald
Trump’s
enemies
as
Attorney
General.
Trump’s
biggest
backer
gushed
on
his
personal
social
media
site
that
Gaetz
had
“a
big
brain,
a
spine
of
steel
and
an
axe
to
grind,”
making
him
the
ideal
candidate
to
serve
as
“our
Hammer
of
Justice.”
But
the
Hammer
had
apparently
been
indiscriminately
nailing
[cough]
everything
in
sight,
and
soon
his
nomination
was
withdrawn.
The
debacle
did
have
the
salubrious
—
for
Gaetz!
—
effect
of
ending
a
House
ethics
inquiry
which
reportedly
surfaced
testimony
that
he’d
paid
multiple
women
for
sex,
including
one
girl
who
was
a
minor
at
the
time.
This
would
appear
to
confirm
reporting
on
Gaetz’s
public
Venmo
history,
which
included
payments
to
women
for
“tuition,”
“school,”
and
“ice
cream.”
Recently
the
politician’s
career
has
taken
some
unexpected
turns.
He’s
headed
for
a
bottom-of-the-barrel
conspiracy
news
channel
that
got
dumped
from
basic
cable,
and
he
may
also
be
running
for
governor
of
Florida
in
2026.
Gaetz
will
be
joining
One
America
News
Network,
to
host
a
nightly
“news”
show
with
Dan
Ball,
an
anchor
whose
oeuvre
is
typified
by
a
hard-hitting
broadcast
where
he
made
fun
of
Rep.
Alexandra
Ocasio
Cortez
for
having
a
white
boyfriend.
Ball’s
schtick
is
to
yell
incoherently
about
various
culture
war
issues,
which
he’ll
be
doing
nightly
at
6pm
with
Gaetz
starting
in
January.
His
post
tagging
reporter
Chanel
Rion
would
appear
to
suggest
that
she’ll
be
joining
them
on
the
show,
bringing
her
signature
joie
de
vivre.
Rion
is
most
famous
for
trailing
along
after
Rudy
Giuliani
in
2019
as
he
pratfalled
his
way
through
Ukraine
looking
for
evidence
of
Biden
corruption.
At
one
point,
Rion
claimed
that
they
had
narrowly
escaped
octogenarian
philanthropist
George
Soros,
who
was
leading
a
squad
of
goons
hellbent
on
taking
them
down.
Gaetz,
who
was
reprimanded
by
the
Florida
Bar
for
attempted
to
intimidate
Michael
Cohen
by
falsely
implying
that
he’d
had
an
extramarital
affair,
should
fit
right
in.
But
if
his
broadcast
career
doesn’t
work
out,
Gaetz
appears
to
have
an
escape
plan.
As
Forbes
reporter
Zach
Everson
noted,
the
recently
registered
Florida
Firebrand
PAC
appears
to
have
ties
to
Gaetz
and
his
staffers.
And
the
panhandle
politician
has
long
been
rumored
to
be
contemplating
a
run
in
Florida’s
2026
gubernatorial
campaign.
Tough
break
that
his
new
show
is
barely
accessible
in
Florida,
huh?
Well,
to
be
fair,
you
can
watch
it,
but
you
have
to
pay.
No
word
if
the
network
accepts
Venmo.
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.