This may or may not be more evidence that the Trumpian fever is passing slowly from American conservatism, leaving only the underlying prion disease as the source of public derangement. We’ve already seen vivid indications that Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene has lost a considerable portion of her dark mojo, having fought, and thus far lost, a showdown with Speaker Mike Johnson, who is no bargain himself. Now it appears at least some of it is dissipating. From The Hill:
Aaron Dimmock filed to run as a Republican in Gaetz’s district last Friday, the qualifying deadline for federal and judicial candidates in the Sunshine State. Dimmock is the only Republican challenger against Gaetz this election cycle and will face off with the incumbent in Florida’s Aug. 20 primary. He is a former naval aviator, the Pensacola News Journal reported, and appears to have recently served as the director of the Missouri Leadership Academy in Missouri, according to his apparent LinkedIn profile.
In his district, Matt Gaetz is a formidable political nepo baby. His grandfather, Jerry Gaetz, was a prominent Republican in North Dakota who collapsed and died giving a speech in support of Barry Goldwater in 1964. Matt’s father, Don Gaetz, is a state senator from northwest Florida and at one time was the president of the Florida Senate. In an ironic twist in his son’s political devolution, Gaetz the Elder once called for the investigation of the vice-principal at a local high school for pushing religious extremism. However, upon hearing that he would have to contest a primary, young Matt leaped immediately into his profitable political persona, and in its rankest form.
In a statement to The Hill, Gaetz called Dimmock a “Missouri-based DEI instructor.” “Aaron is not in Kansas City anymore. This is Trump Country. Our pronouns are USA and MAGA. I’m a proud Trump Republican. I stand shoulder to shoulder with President Trump to defeat Joe Biden, secure our border, restore our economy, and support our veterans,” Gaetz wrote Monday. In a separate post Monday on the social platform X, Gaetz posted a purported screenshot of Dimmock’s LinkedIn repost of a “#blacklivesmatter” post four years ago. The screenshot [shown has the words] “We remain committed to making it better,” accompanying the repost.
If there really is a sincere anti-Trump form of Republican—to wit, the historically rancid, garden-variety movement conservatism—they will have to find a lot more candidates to contest a lot more primaries in a lot more places and, sooner or later, those candidates will have to win a bunch of them. And a series of bloody GOP primaries will make it easier for the Democrats to wring the crazy out of the Republicans for the betterment of us all, and for the battered old republic, which needs a break from fools and mountebanks.
Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976. He lives near Boston and has three children.
