Topics: Donald Trump, News, Politics, Social Media, US News, World News, Iran, Israel
Matt Gaetz's leaked texts criticising US president Donald Trump's Iran strikes have sparked a major conspiracy theory after people called out one issue with the font.
Over the weekend, the US launched strategic airstrikes on three major Iranian nuclear sites - Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan - which Trump hailed as a 'spectacular military success'.
He also claimed the facilities were 'completely obliterated', however, US intelligence assessments later suggested the damage likely delayed Iran’s nuclear activities by only a few months, not wiped them out.
Iran responded by launching missiles at US and Israeli targets, including an airbase in Qatar.
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A video posted by 'momfluencer' TikToker @tidesofmarch earlier this week, which has since amassed over 2.1 million views, sees Gaetz’s texts with a contact named 'Mom', filmed by someone sitting behind him on a plane.
"Don’t be criticising the President or his actions. He’s trying to keep us safe. That’s his job. MAGA will turn on you. You will lose viewership. Your days in congress are over. Practice of law? Let’s not mess up the media gig," Gaetz's mum, Victoria, wrote.
"The president has been a very good friend to you. He hates betrayal. Be smart, not stubborn."
Responding to the message, Gaetz - a Trump ally who was briefly the president’s choice for attorney general - insisted he was 'trying to guide him, not criticise him', adding: "But I’ve never been freer to share my views - and I’ll continue to do so."
He then said that he thinks 'about the people who cheerled the Iraq war' because they liked President George W. Bush, claiming that they now 'have blood on their hands' prompting his mother to once again warn him about crossing Trump publicly.
"Don’t guide him in the public square. He has intelligence and briefing[s] you are not [privy] to," she warned.
Gaetz then lamented that he had felt 'deep shame that [he] failed' to sway the 79-year-old Republican personally despite talking to him 'constantly'.
"How many times do you want to hit the wall?" Victoria responded as Gaetz replied: "I'm a happily married man with a son on the way, two penthouse condos, a 1:1 real estate asset to debt ratio.
"And $500k in my bank account cash. I guess I’ll keep hitting it till I die."
At one point in the back-and-forth text exchange, Victoria claimed that Iran 'would have gotten nuclear weapons and delivery systems' if left 'unchecked' because no other president would stop them, leading Gaetz to push back, insisting that Tehran wasn’t close to developing a bomb.
"Iran has been 3 months away from a nuke since 1992. They had surrendered their ICBM program in 2003. They have done no R&D on re-entry capability. These are facts," he stated. "By your logic, should we bomb North Korea? Also, wasn’t Saddam on his way to getting nukes? How did that work out?"
After Victoria doubled down, saying that he identified more with Barack Obama’s presidency, Gaetz claimed that 'Obama doubled down on the Afghanistan war' and was 'way more pro-war than' Trump.
"Trump hopes this is like Solimani[sic]. So do I. But there is a chance it isn’t," he continued as his mother replied: "This is Grump’s [sic] Reagan moment. I hope it works out. I feel safer."
"Remember. These wars are always popular at first. But history turns," Gaetz concluded.
Gaetz later took to X on Tuesday (24 June) to issue a statement on the matter following the release of the now-viral TikTok.
He penned: "Apparently someone sitting behind me on a flight recorded me without my knowledge.
"They found me texting my mother about news of the day, family finances, and working on my laptop.
"Please let this be a reminder to everyone to CALL YOUR MOTHER! (and maybe get a screen protector)."
However, it's clear many were skeptical that the leaked text message thread was an honest error with many pointing to the large font as 'evidence' that the whole thing was a 'stunt'.
One X user declared: "Smells like a stunt."
A second claimed: "Bro definitely wanted this to get leaked even my grandpa doesn’t have his font size that big."
Another added: "I’ve seen those 'leaked' screen shots. Weird how you, a guy with no eye problems, had the font so big it took up the whole screen and held the phone at the perfect angle for whoever was behind you to take the pics.
"Weird this happened right as you were taking heat and getting exposed as not being America First and were actively stabbing the president in the back. Weird. Really weird."
And a final X user questioned: "Nothing wrong with texting mom. But I'm worried about the font size on your phone," prompting Gaetz to respond: "Now you know. My eyesight has gotten very poor in recent years"
Tyla has reached out to Matt Gaetz for further comment.
