Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz told a crowd of his supporters at a campaign event on Saturday that instead of catching the Delta variant of the coronavirus he had caught the “Florida variant” and it is affecting his brain.
“You’ve had all the experts say look out for the delta variant or the lambda variant, well next it’ll be the Chi Omega variant or the Pi Kappa Psi variant,” Gaetz said. “I got the Florida variant. I got the freedom variant. It affects the brain. It gets you to think for yourself where you don’t just surrender to the truth that they’re trying to create in corrupt big media.”
Gaetz held several rallies on Saturday in Florida as part of his, “Florida Man Freedom Tour.” He kicked things off in Largo, Fl. He made similar jokes about the ‘Florida variant’ at other stops on tour.
In Melbourne, FL, he claims the variant gives him skills in “hunting, fishing, and hugging your family.”
He also called Dr. Anthony Fauci a “sniveling little twit,” and criticized him for “flip-flopping” on the CDC’s recommendations for facemasks and social distancing, according to Florida Today.
This coming from a lawmaker whose home state is now the epicenter of the pandemic outbreak in the U.S. On Saturday, Florida recorded the highest number of new covid cases since the start of the pandemic. There were over 110,000 new cases recorded in the state this week, a jump from the more than 73,000 reported last week.
Gaetz’s home state accounts for about 21.4% of the country’s new COVID infections, despite making up just 6.5% of the U.S. population.
