Matt Gaetz

Yeah, I mean, unfortunately, this is the parlance of government.

It's a series of carrots and sticks.

And I was the only Republican in the entire Congress during my time there who refused all PAC and lobbyist donations because it was like a game I just didn't want to win.

What you have to realize is what most of your Congress is doing most of the time is trying to move up in this system.

And sometimes moving up means a better committee.

Sometimes it's like getting invited to better dinner parties.

We lived in Washington for many years.

You know that there's this like hidden dinner party circuit that is reflective of your influence and your acceptance.

And people who are probably good people when they get elected go there and morally compromise for that.

And I just like reached a point when –

one time when I just thought, I don't even care.

It's like, oh, well, if you do enough favors for the chief deputy whip, they'll invite you to their fundraiser.

And then you could move up and the whip could invite you to his foreign trip.

And if you say the right things on the foreign trip and kiss the ring,

Well, then maybe like the majority leader will want, you want a task force.

And at the end of the day, I thought, I'm not here to do any of this stuff.

And I don't really care about any of it.

Those surprises not worth winning too.

Yeah.

It's sort of like the homecoming court.