Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a longtime antagonist of President Joe Biden, surprised many of his followers on Tuesday by gently speaking out against Hunter Biden's conviction on multiple gun-related charges.
"The Hunter Biden gun conviction is kinda dumb tbh," wrote Gaetz on X.
Given how Gaetz has reliably been a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, his criticisms of the Biden verdict were surprising.
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In fact, many of Gaetz's followers believed that Joe Biden deliberately sacrificed his own son so that he could then take down his true target in Trump.
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"This is the perfect timing for left, what a coincidence!" wrote one. "Now they can say there is no two-tiered justice system, avoid Hunter being charged for his more serious crimes leading to his father, and no jail time!"
"It’s all for show…" wrote another.
Others believed that the gun conviction was done simply to cover up far more serious purported Biden crimes.
"So many bigger crimes proven on that laptop," claimed a Gaetz follower.
Some of Gaetz's more liberal critics, however, were quick to claim that the Florida Republican was only upset by the verdict because it makes it much harder to argue that Biden rigged the entire Department of Justice against him.
"The imbalance here is that Democrats are pretty firmly against committing financial crimes to manipulate elections, whereas Republicans don't like impiety towards their death god who must be sated with the blood of children," wrote Twitter user Jack Walsh.
"Republicans may/are going to attempt to downplay Hunter’s conviction as 'dumb' because they know this has the potential to backfire on them AND because it shatters their 'unfair judicial system' narrative," wrote Drexel Heard.
"The right is now defending Hunter because they have made their bed with a convicted criminal so now all criminals are AkShUaLlY innocent," argued another Gaetz follower.