Editorial | The charade of George Santos: thoughts on where it all went wrong

Congress began the month of December with quite a stir by expelling George Santos, former Republican congressman from New York’s 3rd District. While he may have fooled over 50% of the north shore of Long Island, he failed to fool all of America with his antics. When leaving the House Chamber on Dec. 1, Santos went out with a bang, saying, “to hell with this place.”

Santos has proven to be one of the more absurd congresspeople in recent years, with lie after lie and scandal after scandal catching up with him post-induction into the House of Representatives. It is hard to pinpoint just one instance where his lies crumbled his political career. Maybe it was his insistence that he was on an episode of the famous Disney TV show “Hannah Montana” or that he helped produce the ill-fated Spider-Man musical. Perhaps it was when he walked out of his office in the Capitol carrying a child, and when asked if it was his child, he simply said “not yet.” Or perhaps it is his history as a drag queen in Brazil, where he went by the name Anthony Devolder. In response to a photo of him in a red dress resurfacing, Santos merely said “sue me for having a life.”

Admittedly, all of the above things don’t necessarily sound like the GOP’s cup of tea, especially the drag queen allegation. But this alone is not what did Santos in. He has committed arguably much worse lies and fraud against his supporters and even the American people. He lied about his Jewish heritage, claiming to be “Jew-ish,” and was subsequently banned from the Republican Jewish Coalition’s future events. He claimed his mother was a victim of the 9/11 terrorist attack despite records showing that his mother was in Brazil at the time. He used campaign funds for things like OnlyFans subscriptions and Botox, which are very clearly not what those funds were meant for. He set up a GoFundMe for a surgery for a veteran’s dog and took the money for himself. Rather than getting the money for the lifesaving surgery, the veteran had to scrape together money for euthanization.

While we can certainly look back at the bizarreness of these events, we can also wonder how someone as clearly out-of-pocket as Santos made it to Congress in the first place. It is important to note that despite all of the above nonsense and more, he was an elected member of Congress voting on our lives and rights each and every day. While it may not feel like politics and government affect your everyday livelihood, they do. In his most recent bout of problematic charades on Dec. 4, Santos claimed on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he is not transphobic and that his best friend is a trans woman, telling State Senator Megan Hunt from Nebraska who called him out, “Gurlll take several seats and try again.”

Twitter user @MichaelDrummey quickly quote-tweeted a photo of Santos allegedly next to a sign stating that there are two genders. Santos, who claims to not be transphobic, can clearly be seen holding up the number two with his fingers. The photo was claimed to be taken only four days prior to the X exchange.

Currently, Santos is earning a quick penny making Cameo videos for willing customers, and he appears to be making more money than he ever did in Congress. He can be seen on the internet giving people advice and telling them to keep their heads up. TikTok user @jackbowers01 posted a video of Santos saying “Don’t let the haters get to you. Haters are gonna hate.” In another video from TikTok user @fake.housewife, he says “Just wanted to stop by and say chin up, fuck the douchebag.” Most notably, our very own Senator John Fetterman bought a Cameo from Santos to troll indicted senator Bob Menendez where he says “Don’t get bogged down by all the haters out there.”

There is a never-ending list of nonsense surrounding the life and career of George Santos, and it is hard to ignore how funny it all is. But while we are having a laugh and enjoying the outrageous Cameo videos, remember to think critically on what he has done and remember the real damage he has caused to the American people.