Matt Gaetz Reveals Adam Schiff’s ‘Pronouns’ in Well-Deserved Spiking of the Ball

As we previously reported, it was refreshing to see House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) soundly and thoroughly reject the demands of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to reinstate California Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell on the House Intelligence Committee.

“I cannot put partisan loyalty ahead of the national security, and I cannot simply recognize years of service as the sole criteria for membership to this essential committee. Integrity matters more,” McCarthy wrote in a formal letter to Jeffries, which the House Speaker shared to his Twitter page Wednesday, with the emphasis on integrity.

In response, the predictable tears have flowed from Schiff and Swalwell, with Schiff, in particular, vowing to “always defend our democracy” – which needless to say would be a first if it actually happened, considering his disgraceful, wildly partisan actions during his reign as head of the Intel Committee.

Along with that have come the epic dunks on Schiff courtesy of the conservative Twittersphere, as my RS colleague Mike Miller recapped earlier.

But perhaps the best of all the spikings of the ball that happened in the aftermath of McCarthy’s official rejection of Schiff and Swalwell – and the Democrat eruptions that followed – came from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who in the past has sparred with Schiff, who in turn views Gaetz as an obnoxious and dangerous member of the so-called “Trump circus.”

Gaetz’s dunk on Schiff happened in response to a tweet from Twitter user “Joey From Philly,” who asked what Schiff’s pronouns were:

What are Adam Schiff’s pronouns?

— Joey M. (@JoeyFromPhilly) January 25, 2023

The self-styled “Florida Man’s” response said it all:

Removed https://t.co/lJaa2kYGw0

— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) January 25, 2023

That said, the prevailing sentiment from others who responded to the question on Schiff’s pronouns appeared to be “pencil/neck,” a term former President Donald Trump sometimes used to describe Schiff.

Relatedly, back in April 2019, Gaetz introduced what he called the “PENCIL Act” – also a play on Trump’s nickname for Schiff – in an effort to get him kicked off the Intel Committee and his security clearances revoked:

The resolution’s title in full is the Preventing Extreme Negligence with Classified Information Licenses. It calls for Schiff’s ousting from the committee because he “can no longer be trusted” and claims Schiff made a series of false statements about Trump.

[…]

“It is the sense of the House of Representatives that Congressman Adam Schiff should be removed from the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House and that his security clearance should be revoked immediately,” the resolution said.

#BREAKING: Today I filed the “PENCIL Act,” expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that “Congressman Adam Schiff should be removed from the House Intelligence Committee and his security clearance immediately revoked.” pic.twitter.com/1FsMt6NUjr

— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) April 11, 2019

It didn’t work back then, of course, because Republicans didn’t control the House. But they do now. And even with the slim majority, McCarthy is already signaling that things will be much different this time around instead of merely business as usual. His actions towards Schiff and Swalwell (and Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar) are a good sign that he intends on following through on the promises he made to his Republican colleagues during the contentious Speaker vote debates.

It’s still early on, but so far so good. As always, stay tuned.