As Always, the Real Story Is Not the Awful, Corrupt Candidate, It’s the GOP Enabling Same

The George Santos saga is about to ratchet up yet another several notches, as federal prosecutors contemplate whether to file criminal charges against him. Plus, the congressman-elect hasn’t even been sworn in, but it’s already been requested that the House Ethics Committee get involved in his case.

The New York Post offers a good thumbnail sketch of how a customer service rep at Dish invented himself as an up and coming securities magnate and then went on to get elected to Congress.

Santos confessed he had “never worked directly” for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, chalking that fib up to a “poor choice of words.”

The 34-year-old now claims instead that a company called Link Bridge, where he worked as a vice president, did business with both of the financial giants. […]

He also admitted that he never graduated from any college, despite previously claiming to have received a degree from Baruch in 2010.

“I didn’t graduate from any institution of higher learning. I’m embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resume,” he said. “I own up to that … We do stupid things in life.”

Santos, elected to Congress on Nov. 8 to represent the Long Island- and Queens-based 3rd District, was also accused of lying about his family history, saying on his campaign website that his mother was Jewish and his grandparents escaped the Nazis during World War II.

Santos now says that he’s “clearly Catholic,” but claimed his grandmother told stories about being Jewish and later converting to Catholicism.

“I never claimed to be Jewish,” Santos said. “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’”

At this point you’re probably asking, “Is there an echo in the room?” And well you should be. Yes, this sounds exactly like our last wunderkind GOP candidate, Herschel Walker. Walker also lied about academic and business achievements that he never had. He also had a shady personal life.

Another fact that has been unearthed is that Santos was married to a woman between 2012 and 2019. He claims now to be a “happily married gay man,” but even that is being disputed. The New York Times says, “Mr. Santos has referred to his husband only by his first name, Matt, and it is unclear when they married. Piauí, a Brazilian magazine, interviewed Mr. Santos in November 2020 and named him as Matheus Gerard.” Interesting how the wife of seven years disappeared and the gay husband appeared when he started running for Congress.

Santos might have been living with a gay boyfriend when he was married to his wife. Or, maybe he’s a polygamist. Maybe he was still married to his wife and married his current husband. If you hit the link to the Times, you’ll see this.

Peter Hamilton met Mr. Santos near the start of 2014, he said. He recalled how Mr. Santos, who claimed to be an N.Y.U. graduate, had not recognized the name of the business school he said he had attended. Nonetheless, Mr. Hamilton found him charismatic and intelligent. “He seems to know what to say, and how to say it to people,” Mr. Hamilton recalled in an interview.

He did not hesitate when Mr. Santos said that he needed to borrow several thousand dollars to move in with his boyfriend, and lent him the money in September 2014, court documents show. Not long afterward, Mr. Hamilton said, Mr. Santos stopped responding to his texts and calls.

Mr. Hamilton filed a case in small claims court in Queens to seek repayment in 2015. In October of that year, Mr. Santos responded, saying that the money had been repaid and that it was not a loan but a favor. A judge agreed with Mr. Hamilton, however, and issued a judgment of $5,000 plus interest.

“Not a loan, but a favor.” I have always considered any personal loan made to me by a friend as a favor, too, but I also pay back the money.

Simply, Santos is a fraud. He’s lied about everything, created an identity for himself. And while that is tragic, the true tragedy is that the GOP doesn’t care. To them, this is a joke, plain and simple. If you go back to the Post article,

Senior House Republicans were apparently aware of the inaccuracies and embellishments in the member-elect’s resume, and the topic became a “running joke,” multiple insiders close to House GOP leadership told The Post over the weekend.

“As far as questions about George in general, that was always something that was brought up whenever we talked about this race,” said one senior GOP leadership aide. “It was a running joke at a certain point. This is the second time he’s run and these issues we assumed would be worked out by the voters.”

Nothing got worked out by voters. The lie continued. The GOP knew who and what Santos was, just like they knew who and what Herschel Walker was, and They.Don’t.Care. The only thing they care about is capturing a seat, hell or high water, come what may. Nothing else matters. So they will continue to support the very worst candidates out there, if they think that there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that the person can win.

The GOP is in the business of duping and defrauding voters. There’s going to be more of this. This is the new normal, where they are concerned.

But — and this is big — last week Nassau County Legislator Josh Lafazan says he submitted a letter to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York requesting a federal investigation into Santos’ finances and campaign activity. Lafazan also called for Santos to resign and as of today, Santos has refused to resign. He merely admitted that he had told some lies. And of course he wouldn’t have done that, except he was cornered and he had to say something.

This is the GOP. Lawbreakers being put on the ticket to be lawmakers. There’s no way democracy can survive with this going on.

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