Anglin later reported that Gaetz fumbled for his license and registration, his eyes were watery and bloodshot, and he swayed and staggered when he got out of the car. Near midnight, Okaloosa County Deputy Chris Anglin clocked Gaetz going 48 in a 35 mph zone.
He drove a 2001 BMW SUV registered to his state senator dad. It was the night before Halloween in 2008 when Gaetz, then 26, drove back from the Swamp, a nightclub on Okaloosa Island. The fact blended into these memes’ fictions is that a mug shot stemming from Gaetz’s arrest for driving under the influence is real, as has been acknowledged by the congressman himself and was reported by the Tampa Bay Times in 2014: congressman Matt Gaetz’s mug shot from a 2008 DUI arrest: That appears to be the strategy employed in memes making use of U.S. Memes peddling false political claims often work best when they sprinkle a pinch of fact into their misinformation stew.
