Why are so few Republicans coming to Matt Gaetzâs defense? | Column âThe sex-related list of things Gaetz denies doing is long and lurid,â writes columnist Mac Stipanovich. Â Â Rep. Matt Gaetz speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, in Februrary. [ JOHN RAOUX | AP ] Published 2 hours ago Updated 2 hours ago If the louche and loony Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert are pretty much the sum total of the character witnesses you can muster when your character is in doubt, then you took a lot of wrong turns in your life. This is the situation in which U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, who is mired in a metastasizing sex scandal, finds himself. His difficulties have been greeted with bipartisan schadenfreude from Washington to Tallahassee, which is a testament to all of the friends he has not made in a political career distinguished chiefly by sophomoric snark, sharp elbows, egoism and excess.