Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz is a stupid maniac at the best of times, but boy, this is a lot even for him.
Here’s Gaetz, a sitting member of Congress, with a little message for Michael Cohen, who is reportedly going to make some very spicy allegations about Donald Trump in his testimony to Congress on Wednesday:
Many, many, many people interpreted this as thinly-veiled threatening of a witness, from a politician with no small amount of power, ahead of very sensitive testimony. Which is not good.
Gaetz, however, assured reporters from the Daily Beast and Vox, among others, that the very logical conclusion the entire world jumped to about his comment was actually just a routine thing, no big deal, happens all the time. Here’s how he put it to Vox:
“This is what it looks like to compete in the marketplace of ideas,” he added to the Beast. Yep, that checks out.