In the year 2025, when American democracy is actively crumbling and millions face deportation, Tucker Carlson decided the pressing question of the day was whether Matt Gaetz ever tried to date Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“Did you ever date her?” Carlson asked on his X show this week. When Gaetz said no, Carlson pressed: “Did you try?”

He did not stop to consider whether a brilliant progressive congresswoman might have literally any standards.

THE DETAILS: Gaetz, who resigned from Congress after his own party wouldn’t back his attorney general nomination amid federal sex trafficking investigations, responded that AOC was “not my cup of tea.”

This from a man who once publicly said he’d “swipe right” on working with her.

The interview devolved from there, with Gaetz claiming AOC was friendly with Republicans before January 6th but then “treated us all like we had horns or something.”

BUT BUT BUT: Gaetz dismissed AOC’s documented trauma from January 6th—when a violent mob stormed the Capitol hunting for lawmakers—as “bad performance art.”

You know, the insurrection where people died, where legislators hid in fear, where rioters literally brought zip ties and weapons. Performance art.

Meanwhile, in the same breath, Gaetz predicted AOC would make a “compelling run” against Gavin Newsom for the Democratic presidential nomination. So she’s either a traumatized faker or a serious political threat—pick one, my guy.

OF COURSE: This entire exchange happened between two men who were both deemed too toxic for their own teams. Carlson got fired by Fox News. Gaetz couldn’t even get confirmed as Trump’s AG pick because Republican senators couldn’t stomach him.

Now they’re doing a podcast together speculating about whether a woman they clearly can’t stop thinking about would ever consider them.

WHY IT MATTERS: This isn’t just cringe content—it’s revealing. The right-wing media ecosystem is so detached from actual governance that its biggest names spend their time on bizarre personal speculation about a progressive woman rather than, say, discussing policy.

It’s the political equivalent of middle school cafeteria gossip dressed up as commentary.

And the casual dismissal of January 6th trauma? That’s not accidental. It’s deliberate minimization of an actual attempted coup.

BOTTOM LINE: Two disgraced men sat in a studio wondering aloud why a successful congresswoman doesn’t want to hang out with them. The answer, gentlemen, is obvious to everyone but you.