Six years ago Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was briefly dating some woman whose mother dies and then he takes her now orphaned kid brother under his wing and doesn’t mention it publicly until he claims to have been “triggered” (his word) in a Judiciary Committee markup session in which he feels the need to claim he has a non-white son and therefore understands the challenges facing African Americans as a rhetorical justification for trying to delay/torpedo a police reform bill.

So basically Gaetz is using an orphaned teenager as a prop to justify the continuation of white supremacy. He might be a great father figure and positive influence on this kid’s life but like so much of what happens in Congress, it seems like all that good intention died in committee in the service of politics and vanity.

Don’t turn your back on 2020, this year will not quit.