George Santos Could Cost McCarthy His Title. And Is Already Costing The GOP Its Image And Branding

You know, with each new revelation that comes out about GOP Pinocchio George Santos, or whatever his real name is comes out, it reminds you of one simple thing. And that is that Santos is such a cheap, 3rd rate hustler, thief and con man that these new stories are never going to stop, when wellspring is almost endless.

That’s nothing new for the GOP, hell, Traitor Tot should give Santos a gift membership to Mar-A-Lago, these two goniffs are brothers under the skin. But even though His Lowness numbed the GOP to shame and disgrace, at some point the less endeared finally started to figure out the kind of damage he was doing to the party’s branding. Independent and moderate voters were so repulsed by The Mango Messiah that they ran in hordes. And Trump’s vaunted base has never been enough to win an election on its own.

I grew up in Cicero, a middle class, blue collar suburb just west of Chicago. It was also the town where the Capone mob relocated when the feds and the CPD made it a little uncomfortable in the city. Believe me, in my 24 years living in Cicero, I knew my fair share of family soldiers, hustlers, con men, thugs and street thieves. I like a well rounded education.

But they all shared one thing in common that was their salvation. And that is that they were all too small time to waste the time, energy, and manpower to get them off the street. But let one goody-goody rope a dime on them with solid info, and a couple of beat cops and a detective do a little digging around, and viola!, they weren’t just up one charge, the DA went to court with a laundry list of charges. because the combined charges gave the detective a fine case closure record, and the time he’d serve was well worth the effort of prosecuting him. Mostly because they just weren’t very good at what they were doing.

And that ladies and gentlemen, is George Santos. It’s becoming obvious as time goes on that he’s been pulling this shady sit since his teens. And what else is obvious about is that he sucks at it! But like the yeggs I knew in my misguided youth, he stayed on the move and under the radar, and the puny spuds damage he did wasn’t worth the effort to collar him.

But then, just like his idol, El Pendejo Presidente, Santos got delusions of grandeur, and ran for office. And pulled off the upset. And suddenly, with the drop of a hat, everybody was looking at him. And the more they looked, the more the patterns started to emerge. And suddenly he wasn’t such a little fish anymore. Because the charges started piling up.

This is becoming Howdy Doody Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s worst, groundhogs Day nightmare. But it isn’t just because of the corruption and criminality. Both Republicans and Democrats have had to deal with corrupt members of congress, and the way to deal with it is to clean house. But McCarthy is so terrified of his own shadow, and his majority is so narrow that he doesn’t dare to take action against Santos, and risk the loss of the seat in a special election.

McCarthy’s biggest problem isn’t just the corruption, hell, both parties have it, and the standard mantra is the same, Innocent until proven guilty, at which time the party gives the miscreant the Denver Boot. McCarthy’s major headache is the incredible cheapness and heartlessness of Santos’s alleged crimes. This isn’t political corruption, it’s preying on the weak and defenseless. In the last two weeks it’s been alleged that Santos

• It has been alleged that Santos stole money, jewelry, and even a designer shirt from his roommates at the time
• A woman living in Brazil who knew Santos at the time alleges that when he started coming over, money she had hidden in her apartment started disappearing. At one point he told her that she lived in a dangerous neighborhood, and conned her into giving him her jewelry for safekeeping. After which he promptly disappeared without a trace
• Santos allegedly stole a check book in Brazil from a friend, used a different name, and then took off
• Santos got named as the President of a 3rd rate boiler shop Ponzi scam that bilked investors, even using his connections to the cousin of a sanctioned Russian oligarch to con him into investing tens of thousands of dollars in the scam
• And now the lowest of the low. Santos ingratiated himself with a disabled Navy vet suffering from PTSD and Bipolar disorder, whose beloved service dog that needed cancer treatment. Santos offered to set up and manage a GoFundMe page for the vet. The page netted more than $3000, which Santos promptly withdrew, and disappeared without a trace. The vet’s service dog died

I want to fix on that last one for a moment. You have a disabled US veteran, with a service dog that needs treatment. And Santos rips the guy off, leaving his service dog to die. Thankfully the veteran has gone public to NBC News, and the interview is heartbreaking. When confronted with these allegations Santos reportedly called them shocking and unbelievable. But what the slimy little shit never did was to flat out deny the claims. Ah, the wonders of a GoFundMe paper trail, huh?

Here’s the point. Everybody expects a certain amount of corruption in politics. That’s baked into the cake. But that kind of corruption normally encompasses simple personal greed and avarice. Everybody can at least accept and understand it, if not want to tolerate it.

But really? Stealing money and jewelry from a potential girlfriend? Stealing money, jewelry, and even a stupid designer shirt from your roommates. And worst of all, you rip off a disabled US veteran, who proudly wore the cloth of this country, of a lousy $3000 to save his beloved service animal? That isn’t corruption. It’s cheap, tawdry, sleazy, and puts a rancid pond scum on anybody who comes in contact with it.

And Kevin McCarthy hasn’t just been touched by it, he’s waist deep in the swamp. He’s carried Santos’s water, shrugged away his chicanery, and now legitimized him by giving him two committee assignments. McCarthy has validated Santos as a member in good standing in the GOP House caucus.

Which is possibly going to become an existential threat for McCarthy’s speakership. Because one of the cookies that McCarthy gave away in his desperate negotiations was a clause that any one member could call for a vote of no confidence in the Speaker. And right now he has 18 pissed off members of the moderate conservative caucus, who weren’t consulted, or even advised of the secret clauses of McCarthy’s negotiations. And none of those 18 Reps in vulnerable swing districts want to go home and have to defend George Santos.  Any one of them can make the motion, and if five of them side with unified Democrats, they can oust McCarthy, and start the nightmare scenario of a new Speaker floor fight.

But it’s just as bad, if not worse for the national GOP. Because Machine Gun Marjie is going to have an uber shit fit when she sees the Democrats elevate Santos over her as the public face of the GOP. Because he’s easier roadkill. Look, moderate GOP women and independents ran in horror from Trump and the GOP’s blatant sexism. Moderate and independents voted with their feet over Trump’s racism and homophobia. And the Democrats should make sure that Santos is the poster child of the national GOP. Hell, this guy is as sleazy that slugs pour salt on him. But there are some things that voters just won’t tolerate, and George Santos is rapidly becoming one of them. 

I wrote a couple of days ago that if I was running for congress in 2024, the first thing I would do was to put a staffer full time on the George Santos desk. And at least NBC News was listening. They now have a reporter working full time on the Santos Desk. And reaping benefits. And you can bet that most other media organizations are doing the same thing. because George Santos has been nothing but a 3rd rate hustler, con man, and thief for close to 20 years now. Only now everybody is looking. And for Kreepy Kevin McCarthy, George Santos is going to become, to quote Barney the Dinosaur, This is the song that never ends. It just goes on and on my friends. Don’t touch that dial.