Opinion | How Matt Gaetz is trying to weaponize Donald Trump's denial playbook

This week we learned the House Ethics Committee is continuing its investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., over allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. Though the U.S. Department of Justice previously announced it was no longer pursuing charges against the congressman, the Ethics Committee announced it is now expanding its own probe, which was first opened back in April 2021. The 10-person committee, which is currently chaired by a Republican, revealed it is also now studying claims that Gaetz dispensed special privileges from his position and that he sought to obstruct government investigations. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.

The drip, drip, drip of allegations against Matt Gaetz can feel so omnipresent they risk fading into the background of a relentless news cycle. But they should not be ignored. For one thing, the various accusations have always been serious, many following him from his bachelor days as a Florida state legislator. The allegations bring ill repute upon the people’s House and raise clear questions about the congressman’s fitness to serve, to be trusted with the levers of government and to have jurisdiction over matters of justice and national security.

A Republican politician repeatedly forced to angrily deny seemingly endless allegations of misconduct while refusing to step back professionally or show even a modicum of introspection or contrition? It all feels eerily familiar. In the MAGA era of Donald Trump, Gaetz is the genuine article, a young politician who has successfully fashioned himself in Trump’s image. Together, they represent two intensely polarizing icons of today’s Republican Party and American politics.

Gaetz and Trump share an instinct for performance and a never-blink blend of showmanship and confidence. Allegations of personal misconduct have sunk the careers of more scrupulous politicians like former Democratic Sen. Al Franken. But Gaetz and Trump continue to slither by, empowered by a newly transformed GOP base.

Both came to Washington to break the system, not to fix it. Trump eventually tried to disrupt and subvert the peaceful transfer of presidential power. Gaetz successfully toppled a speaker of the House. And in the gravest of terms, they each face allegations of sexual misconduct, with Trump having already been found civilly liable for sexual abuse.

We do not know how the House Ethics Committee’s investigation will end. The committee’s potential actions range from closing the matter without comment to recommending censure or even expulsion from the House. Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy has suggested publicly that he was ousted from his post to prevent an ethics investigation into allegations that Gaetz had sexual relations with a teenager. (Gaetz responded by calling McCarthy a liar on X.) But if McCarthy is correct, one hopes the House committee investigation won’t simply disappear.

Which brings me to the most consequential of similarity between Trump and Gaetz: their proven ability to offend norms, shatter convention and defy political gravity. Trump is literally a convicted criminal, and yet he is also a contender to again control the White House. Gaetz flexed his political might during the speaker debacle, and may now be eyeing a run for the Florida governorship in 2026.

This reality is an indictment — of all Republicans. The party of Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, of Dwight Eisenhower and George H.W. Bush, has now settled into the arms of Donald Trump and Matt Gaetz.

It is also, arguably, why today’s Republican Party is a minority political coalition in the United States. In national elections, Republicans have performed as a minority political coalition for 30 years, only outperforming Democrats in the national popular vote once in the last eight presidential elections.

Let’s not mince words: Today’s Republican Party leadership offends the senses. It’s a view shared not just by Democrats, but by leading traditional Republicans like Sen. Mitt Romney, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Rep. Paul Ryan, former Rep. Liz Cheney, and others.

American voters, meanwhile, have historically embraced a healthy two-party democracy, recognizing the import of a strong Democratic and strong Republican Party, regardless of personal political affiliation. The push and pull of policymaking and leadership of our national direction has been respected, even in times of disagreement. But that respect is slipping away.

Today, Donald Trump is 78 years old. Matt Gaetz is 42. The GOP is truly in trouble if it allows a full transfer of power and momentum between this old and new guard. Hopefully, the House Ethics Committee will ensure justice is done, certainly if the allegations against Gaetz are confirmed. It’s been a depressing decade for the GOP. Enough is enough.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com