Talk:Matt Gaetz

Criminal allegations in the lede

I think it made sense for a while to have the sex trafficking allegations in the lede, as it was the most mentioned thing in relation to Matt Gaetz. I think that time has passed - there doesn't appear to be any progress or new stories about the investigation, and media mentions of Gaetz increasingly don't concern or raise it. I think having it in the lede is therefore Wikipedia:UNDUE, and it would make more sense to continue the lede by focussing on his positions and profile in the House (i.e. Trumpist, provocateur, anti-election certification etc.) which are more central and relevant parts of his profile (obviously this would change if charges are brought in the criminal allegations, and certainly if he's convicted). --Samuelshraga (talk) 13:05, 10 January 2023 (UTC)

I agree. The article as a whole needs a rework. Curbon7 (talk) 22:45, 11 January 2023 (UTC)

I also agree. As of this month the DOJ concluded its investigation and no charges were brought. Keeping this in the lede centers an issue that's failed to be substantiated, in a way that takes up nearly half of Gaetz's intro no less. The topic is still covered in the Legal Issues section. Why don't we just delete it from the lede? Joeparsec (talk) 20:47, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

A bit late to the discussion, but the House Ethics Committee had reopened the probe into Gaetz in July 2023. I've update it at the bottom of the Federal Investigation section for chronology since its related because the reports says the probe was paused then re-opened to not overlap with the DOJ investigation. Not sure if that still justifies an inclusion in the lede, or if the "Federal Investigation" heading should be updated - is the HEC considered a federal agency? ----Zhanzhao (talk) 01:01, 1 October 2023 (UTC)

There's still a lot of news about it and an ongoing House Ethics Committee investigation concerning it. See [1] and [2] which came up for me on a search of his name alone. TarnishedPath^talk 07:28, 11 March 2024 (UTC)

Far right winger?

This article contradicts itself. If this man is truly a “far right winger” then why is this article stating that he voted on making same sex adoptions legal in his state, proposed on moving cannabis from schedule 1 to 3. Either this sites article on the “far right wing” is not telling the truth or this mans character is being smeared 2601:244:4181:4AC0:D5DC:D2F8:30D7:82BF (talk) 21:36, 14 January 2023 (UTC)

We document what reliable sources say, and there are many. Read them. -- Valjean (talk) (PING me) 21:48, 14 January 2023 (UTC)

who (not persons) or what are your sources? That's a fair question. What I see is many/most republicans/conservatives are labeled unfairly and many/mostdemocrats/liberals are labeled favorable. 2600:1004:B192:7B07:D006:35ED:3D22:FDF8 (talk) 22:59, 5 April 2023 (UTC)

In the References section, see number 2, a list of six sources. -- Pemilligan (talk) 01:19, 7 April 2023 (UTC)

As used it is problematic. The issue is that far-right is not a well defined term and news articles that offhandly describe a politician as far-right don't always say why they feel he is far-right or what they mean by far-right. Gaetz is certainly far right by the standards of the GOP but that is often called hard-right. However, when we look at the Wikipedia definition of far right it's not clear he universally qualifies. Our definition includes "radically conservative, ultra-nationalist, and authoritarian, as well as having nativist ideologies and tendencies". This is part of why Wikipedia really should show rather than tell. Things like his support for Trump certainly will make many media sources call him "far-right" but we already say he is a Trump supporter. It doesn't appear he is authoritarian or ultra-nationalist. Another way to check this is do a survey of articles and see how many call him far-right vs something else. For what it's worth, I did a simple google new search. None of the first page of sources called him "far-right". However, most of those sources were less than a week old. That tells me that first, "far-right" is probably not a descriptor commonly applied to Gaetz and second, he is obviously in the news a lot so a key word search certainly could turn up examples of a source calling him far-right. As another check, I did a google news search for "Matt Gaetz", 556,000 hits. A search for "Matt Gaetz" "far-right" returned 28,700 hits. Number of hits isn't a perfect metric but again it seems like the label is one that has been used but isn't universally used. I think it would be better to remove it. Springee (talk) 22:59, 14 January 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 26 July 2023

Please add this near the end of the U.S. House of Representatives section of the article:

UFO/UAP Disclosure At the congressional hearing on UAPs July 26 2023, Gaetz related how he, congressman Tim Burchett, and congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna visited Eglin AFB in early 2023. Gaetz stated that while there, they viewed radar evidence of four craft in a diamond formation over the Gulf of Mexico and photographs manually taken by a pilot of an "orb" that disabled the FLIR sensor and radar tracking by the military aircraft investigating it during a test mission.

"The image was of something that I am not able to attach to any human capability," Gaetz said.

Citation: https://youtube.com/watch?v=KQ7Dw-739VY&t=7075

I'm not making this up. Watch the video at 1h 58m to see Gaetz describe this, it will only take 3 minutes of your time. Make of it what you will. 135.180.194.177 (talk) 19:03, 26 July 2023 (UTC) 135.180.194.177 (talk) 19:03, 26 July 2023 (UTC)

 Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made.

As this is a video of a Congressional hearing (without any analysis), it is considered a WP:PRIMARYSOURCE. Primary sources are to be used with caution, if at all, because it is not Wikipedia editors' job to determine notability or relevance of such material. That's the job of reliable secondary and tertiary sources. On a topic as contentious as UFOs/UAPs, it's especially important to exercise caution with primary sources. Therefore, I am declining this request. If you can find reliable secondary sources that verify the content you wish to add, feel free to reopen this request. Xan747 (talk) 22:33, 31 July 2023 (UTC)

No Mention of McCarthy Rivalry in the Main Section?

Gaetz is getting a whole lot of national attention from his rivarly with Kevin McCarthy. I'd put it in myself but i don't know how to do sources and i figured this was the best place to ask if it could be put it. I propose it would go like this:

"Beginning in 2022, Gaetz became embroiled in a political rivarly with Repubilcan House Leader Kevin McCarthy. He lead the unsuccessful far-right opposition to McCarthy's election to Speaker of the House. Gaetz grew frustrated by McCarthy's leadership, so in October 2023, he led an attempt to oust McCarthy from Speakership." Noahop3000 (talk) 01:43, 3 October 2023 (UTC)