Matt Gaetz Reappears In D.C. With Scruffy New Look And A Strange Callback To His Past Life
Matt Gaetz has been removed from the political spotlight since he resigned from Congress in late 2024 after he was named by Donald Trump as his candidate for attorney general. He ended up withdrawing his name for consideration after a number of scandalous things came out about Gaetz. Now, he is back in Washington, D.C., but this time, not as a representative from Florida (despite the label on his jacket). Gaetz was seemingly part of the press pool during a Pentagon news briefing on December 2, where he asked questions to Kingsley Wilson, press secretary for the Department of Defense (which Trump has declared the "Department of War").
Gaetz's hair looks less coiffed and longer, with hints of gray that we haven't seen before. Perhaps it's just bad lighting in the press room, but he's looking pale, tired, and scruffy compared to his Mar-a-Lago face days. He could have used a visit to Pete Hegseth's rumored Pentagon makeup room for just a touch of bronzer.
get a load of the "journalist" asking questions at the Pentagon press briefing pic.twitter.com/zAx8eJHkKa
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 2, 2025
Then there's the weird label on his jacket. Despite not actually being a U.S. representative anymore, Gaetz's jacket at the press briefing denoted him as "Representative Matt Gaetz." It's left us with so many questions. Is it something he had made? Is it a holdover from his time in office, and was it just chilly in the press room? Did he want to remind people of who he was? After Gaetz left office, he went to work for the conservative One America News Network, so it's odd that the label doesn't indicate his employer, instead.
Matt Gaetz's appearance at the Pentagon briefing was quickly mocked
We weren't the only ones who noticed Matt Gaetz's jacket at the Pentagon press briefing. One person on X (formerly known as Twitter) said, "omg he's wearing his congressional jacket. bet he still owns his h.s. varsity jacket too," while another quipped, "How nice, his mommy sewed his name on his jacket.
On the positive side, Gaetz received some backward compliments when people noticed that he seemed to have more movement in his forehead than he had at the Republican National Convention, when speculation about Gaetz's plastic surgery went into overdrive. One person on X posted, "His plastic-surgery and Botox seems to have settled back down so he can pretend to be a human being again."
Perhaps Laura Loomer, who has one of the worst cases of Mar-a-Lago face that we've ever seen, should follow Gaetz's lead and ease off the cosmetic work. She was also at the Pentagon press briefing, though without a snazzy jacket. With Gaetz and Loomer asking questions, one person posted on X: "This is like the most unserious, partisan maga only press Conference with a spokeswoman that is like 17. it's like a SNL skit."