Several House Republicans, including Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, were masterfully trolled by a guy holding a hilariously accurate sign outside the Lower Manhattan courthouse where former President Donald Trump's hush money trial is being held.
The group of lawmakers—which also included Bob Good (Virginia), Andy Biggs (Arizona), Anna Paulina Luna (Florida), and Ralph Norman (South Carolina)—was speaking to the press outside when someone held up a sign behind them with a simple message:
"Bootlickers."
A bootlicker is someone who seeks favor or goodwill in a servile, degraded way—a term that seems rather appropriate for Republicans who have shown fealty to Trump, the first former president to stand trial for criminal charges, during an election year as many vy to be his potential 2024 running mate.
You can see photos of the moment below.
@Acyn/X
@scottfromnyc79/X
The Biden administration also shared footage of the moment via its campaign HQ X account.
The man who held up the sign was later identified as X user @scottfromnyc79, who in a post to the political satirists The Good Liars said he was "hauled out" after waving his sign.
The sign was pretty accurate as far as social media users were concerned.
Others criticized these Republicans more directly.
The latest crop of Republicans to gather outside the courthouse have followed in the footsteps of Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert, who lashed out at the legal system for having "gagged President Trump," who has repeatedly violated gag orders. Boebert declared that "They didn’t gag me. They didn’t gag the rest of us.”
Similarly, House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared outside the courthouse last week and professed that prosecutors are targeting Trump "intentionally to keep him here and keep him off the campaign trail."
The Republicans' appearance came as Michael Cohen, Trump's former fixer, was cross-examined for his role in a scheme to conceal hush money payments made to adult film performer Stormy Daniels in exchange for a non-disclosure agreement to silence her ahead of the 2016 general election.
Trump's attorney Todd Blanche repeatedly accused Cohen of lying on the stand. Blanche spent hours grilling Cohen, focusing both on Cohen's past misdeeds and the specific allegations of the case, attempting to undermine Cohen’s pivotal testimony against Trump.
Court resumed today with Cohen back on the stand for final cross-examination and possibly a redirect by the prosecution. Judge Juan Merchan told counsel to prepare closing arguments for Tuesday.
