Where Are you, Evangelicals?

That's the question pundit Roland Martin asks about their uniform silence over the sordid sex scandal engulfing Republican Matt Gaetz, who is a House Representative from Florida. Before getting to the video of Martin's comments, here is a short primer on the scandal.

First and foremost, it has been established that Gaetz is under federal investigation for sexual misconduct. On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that the justice department (DoJ) is investigating whether Gaetz, 38, “had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her to travel with him”. If these allegations are accurate, then Gaetz could have violated federal sex trafficking laws.

Adding credibility to the allegation is this little nugget:

Gaetz has faced accusations of disturbing sexual conduct before. In January 2020 Chris Latvala, a Republican congressman, tweeted that Gaetz “created a game where members of the FL House got ‘points’ for sleeping with aides, interns, lobbyists, and married legislators”. Gaetz also reportedly bragged of his sexual exploits and showed other lawmakers nude photos of women he’d slept with. According to CNN, he showed his colleagues these photos while he was at work. Gaetz, by the way, was also the only lawmaker to vote against a bipartisan anti human-trafficking bill. A number of his colleagues have also spoken out about “love of alcohol and illegal drugs, as well as his proclivity for younger women”.

If you watch just the first two minutes of the following video, you will see what is sticking in Roland Martin's craw:

One thing that at least can be said about the evangelical set, I guess, is that they are remarkably and consistently selective in their moral outrages.