According to multiple people who've worked with him, few traits are more valuable to President Donald Trump than loyalty—something Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) delivers to him in spades.
Gaetz has led the storming of a classified congressional briefing, threatened a congressional witness, and mocked the virus that's killed over 200 thousand Americans—all in an effort to show his devotion to the President.
In this past congressional term, Gaetz has voted with Trump 90 percent of the time.
It seems that may not have paid off. At Trump's Friday rally in Florida, the President called Gaetz by the wrong name twice.
Watch below.
Rick Gates? pic.twitter.com/Rip4NfGpHx
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) October 16, 2020
Trump said:
"It's always Trump's fault. Can it ever be, like, [pointing at Gaetz] Rick Gates' fault? It's always Trump's fault, Rick."
Given Gaetz's years-long efforts to curry favor with the President, people couldn't help but gloat that Trump repeatedly got his name wrong.
You're Matt Gaetz and you sacrifice any reputation you might have had to kowtow to Trump - and he can't even remember your name. https://t.co/k3QACoKWW8
— Helen Kennedy (@HelenKennedy) October 16, 2020
Matt Gaetz: Donald and I are friends. Better than friends, mates, pals, buddies. It's not like those other guys that Trump just uses and discards like a soiled tampon. With me and him, it's the real thing.
Trump: You tell 'em, Rick. https://t.co/BzZPGcWzep
— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) October 16, 2020
Dear @mattgaetz,
Trump doesn't even know your name, man.
You've been his stooge for years and he still called you Rick Gates all day long.
pic.twitter.com/Znjz5SX4Z9
— Shaun King (@shaunking) October 16, 2020
Hey @mattgaetz, what does it feel like when your lover calls you another name? #RickGates https://t.co/xmhc4PANXO
— Dr. Jack Brown (@DrGJackBrown) October 16, 2020
Oh @mattgaetz ... his undying devotion to the orange clown and he gets Rick Rolled
How you hanging in there Rick Gates? https://t.co/TnARaXLPJh
— Grandpa Rufus ™ (@Grandpa_Rufus) October 16, 2020
Matt Gaetz, self-proclaimed best friend of Trump, after Trump repeatedly calls him Rick Gates: pic.twitter.com/aiIt3XL8RM
— Phil Ehr (@PhilEhr) October 16, 2020
It's possible that Trump conflated Gaetz with Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott, forming "Rick Gates." Another possibility is that Trump was recalling the Rick Gates who served on his campaign before pleading guilty to making false statements about Russian interference in the 2016 election.
People began speculating how Trump arrived at the name.
In the same speech in which he has mocked Biden for making verbal slips, Trump has called hypersonic weapons “hydrosonic," referred to some combo of Rick Scott and Matt Gaetz as “Rick Gates," and mentioned the Obama-era crisis in “Henderson" before correcting to Ferguson.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 16, 2020
The #Presidementia is getting so bad, Trump can't even tell the criminals he associates with apart anymore. He just mistook the sickly looking @mattgaetz for the already convicted former campaign manager Rick Gates. Sad! #25thAmendmentNow https://t.co/I1GIaa1Wp1
— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) October 16, 2020
I'm still trying to figure out what happened here... I'm not sure but either the President forgot Matt's name or he got confused and combined Rick Scott and Matt Gaetz into a single entity https://t.co/qaTH4AI03t
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) October 16, 2020
Gaetz has yet to respond to the gaffe.
