On Thursday, as Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) wrapped up the latest stop of the "America First" tour, conservative commentator Matt Lewis scorched the pair of them as a "traveling freak show" in The Daily Beast — and predicted that even former President Donald Trump, who popularized their political style, would end up losing control of what he has created.
"Gaetz hit the stage first, throwing out a bunch of populist, demagogic rhetoric ('forever wars,' 'socialism,' 'rebuild America,' 'world's policeman,' 'deep state') and pandering ('gun control just means we have a steady aim!'). He took shots at the Bushes and the McCains and the Romneys and James Comey and Anthony Fauci," wrote Lewis. "Not to be upstaged, Greene entered the room in a humvee, before making her way on stage, grinning from ear to ear ... She feigned the Mexican accent of a supposed cartel leader talking about how much he loved Joe Biden, who she said wants a "woke" military. She also called the Squad 'the Jihad Squad' and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 'O'Crazyo-Cortez.' Really classy stuff."
The rally even pivoted into seditionist rhetoric, with Gaetz suggesting the Second Amendment creates the right to the violent overthrow of the government — just days after a horrific mass shooting.
Ultimately, wrote Lewis, this is as much a danger to Trump as it is to anyone else.
"Over time, Trump is in danger of having what happened to Sarah Palin happen to him," wrote Lewis. "At one point, Palin was the only game in town. She was the hot commodity. But once she left her position as governor of Alaska, she became irrelevant. It took a couple of years, but a generation of younger, more relevant, imitators supplanted her. Now, Trump is a better marketer than Palin and he was, after all, the president. Still, you can see why he has to at least feign a 2024 run — and why he has already announced he will be doing more of his own rallies."
"The Matt Gaetz-Marjorie Taylor Greene event was one-third tent revival, one-third rock concert, and one-third circus — and it was all a freak show," concluded Lewis. "This is all to say it was a rollicking success in today's Republican Party. Expect other MAGA-types to start replicating this idea. The devils went down to Georgia."
