‘Turns Out DEI Isn’t a Real Good Strategy’: Matt Gaetz Rips GOP Candidate Mazi Pilip Following Defeat in New York

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) tore into New York Republican congressional candidate Mazi Pilip on Wednesday after she lost George Santos’ former seat to Democrat Tom Suozzi.

“It turns out DEI isn’t a real good strategy for Republican candidate recruitment,” reacted Gaetz on Newsmax, in reference to the fact that Pilip was born in Ethiopia and holds both American and Israeli citizenship.

Chiding Pilip’s former affiliation with the Democratic Party, Gaetz continued:

George Santos was no walk in the park but he was at least a registered Republican. I think we were running this lady who was like a registered Democrat. She wouldn’t endorse President Trump, she lost by a substantial margin. George Santos stood with President Trump, backed the America First agenda, and he ultimately prevailed, so now the very New Yorkers who threw George Santos out see their own ranks diminished and they welcome back Democrat Tom Suozzi.

The congressman went on to criticize Republicans for voting with Democrats to remove Santos from the House, arguing:

Bob Menendez is still dragging his Egyptian gold bars into his classified briefings on the national security threat, but because George Santos was naughty on OnlyFans we had to reduce our majority by 25%. It is a study in how the different parties react to their membership and how really they prepare for the fight, and not everybody has the same role in the fight. But one thing about George Santos, he would’ve voted to impeach Mayorkas, he would have voted with us on FISA, and whatever else he has going on he was not convicted of a crime, and when we abridged due process we were not rewarded politically for it. We lost.

Gaetz concluded, “I think that that candidate in New York had a lot of problems, notably her unwillingness to embrace the fact that Donald Trump is the head of the party. Look, if you don’t want to run as a Donald Trump Republican, what are you even doing running in 2024 on our side? Get on board.”

On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump also tore into Pilip for refusing to endorse him during her congressional campaign.

“Republicans just don’t learn, but maybe she was still a Democrat?” mocked Trump. “Just watched this very foolish woman, Mazi Melesa Pilip, running in a race where she didn’t endorse me and tried to ‘straddle the fence.'”

Watch above via Newsmax.