GOP congressman pulls ridiculous new stunt to suck up to Trump

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) really will do anything to earn the affection of Trump.

On Wednesday, Gaetz filed a childish and asinine bill to taunt Rep. Adam Schiff, the California Democrat and chair of the House Intelligence Committee who is working to ensure Trump is held accountable for his campaign’s Russia-related crimes.

Gaetz titled the bill the PENCIL Act, an homage to Trump’s juvenile “little pencil neck” nickname for Schiff. It aims to revoke Schiff’s security clearance and thus his access to highly classified material that he’s privy to, thanks to his position as chair of the Intelligence Committee.

Getz’s reasoning for revoking Schiff’s security clearance is that Schiff can “no longer be trusted by his colleagues in Congress or the American people” because of Schiff’s “blatant bias” against Trump.

#BREAKING: Today I filed the “PENCIL Act,” expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that “Congressman Adam Schiff should be removed from the House Intelligence Committee and his security clearance immediately revoked.” pic.twitter.com/1FsMt6NUjr

— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) April 11, 2019

First, all of that is ridiculous. Schiff has been one of the most measured and deliberate members of Congress when it comes to what he disseminated about the Russia investigation — which, by the way, no one really knows the outcome of, given that Trump’s attorney general is sitting on special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

And second, Gaetz’s claim is rich given that Gaetz and his sycophantic band of Trump cronies — like Rep. Devin Nunes, who chaired the House Intelligence Committee before Republicans lost the House in spectacular fashion in 2018 —  have perpetuated ridiculous conspiracy theories and blatantly false claims about Democrats and Hillary Clinton.

Of course, Gaetz’s dumb bill has no chance of making it anywhere. Democrats control the House, and would never put such a waste of time piece of legislation up for a vote.

But the stunt is just the kind of thing Trump would give Gaetz accolades for, which is all Gaetz seems to care about anyway.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.