Believe It Or Not, There Are Some Republicans Embarrassed To Be Associated With George Santos

Late yesterday, The Atlantic published Tom Nichols’ latest column, Amazingly, George Santos Is A Member Of Congress. What Nichols finds amazing is that the GOP has so acclimated voters to deeply sub-par candidates, that even the worst of the worst— whether Herschel or George Santos— now seem vaguely plausible to their voters, if not to normal people.

Nichols termed Santos a “weird fabulist” who “has not, so far, been able to adequately explain where he got all the money that he poured into his campaign.” No one in the mainstream media wants to mention the Kremlin or FTX, which were tow of the big sources of his campaign funds. Nichols, in fact, is so unaware of the Kremlin connection that we went out of his way to write “I am not saying that George Santos is a spy or a plant. Deep-cover agents are far more competent than Santos is at… well, everything, but especially at lying.” True that Santos is incompetent; perhaps not true that he’s innocent of working for the Russians. Perhaps.

There was a time when congressional candidates generally had to tell at least some of the truth if they were caught lying. Santos is amazing: His double-downs and elisions tumble out effortlessly but pointlessly, even if he does manage to muster a certain amount of boyish charm while stepping on rake after rake. When did his mother die? Well, that depends on what when or die means. Did he work in high finance? Well, not really, but again, it might depend on what high means. Did he go to college? Well, he’s been near a college or two. Close enough. Is he gay or straight, Jewish or Catholic? Did his family die in the Holocaust in Europe? Are they from Brazil, or anywhere in this solar system on our side of the asteroid belt?

…Like Walker, Santos himself isn’t really the issue. The problem is a Republican Party that has come to expect its voters to put up with anything rather than lose one vote in Congress. And with rare exceptions, this gamble—that the party faithful are either too polarized, too numb, or too inattentive to care—has paid off. This is why Kevin McCarthy had to fight for his political life against the likes of Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert and Andy Biggs. Worse yet, it’s why he had to count on Taylor Greene and Donald Trump himself as his allies.

Santos, to his credit, sat there quietly and did as he was told during the speakership fight. (There is an accusation that he flashed a white-power sign when he voted, but even if true, that’s not even close to disqualifying in the GOP these days.) But now that most of the drama is over, no one cares that a complete fraud is sitting in the House. If he’s removed from Congress, it will likely be over money, not ethics; both U.S. and New York State officials are looking into his murky finances. It might have been nice to see the voters and a political party stand on principle, but the Republican project of telling us all to just get used to it is proceeding apace.

Olivia Beavers and Sarah Ferris reported that Republicans in Congress are currently debating Santos’ fate.There’s little doubt that if the GOP had a more robust majority— or if he represented a red district— he would be out on his ass. As is, the Republicans can’t afford to lose him and if they did, it isn’t likely another Republican is going to win NY-03 any time soon. Still, they don’t know how to move forward. The GOP— which just defanged the House Ethics apparatus— is trying to pretend they stand for accountability and transparency, particularly among government officials, a joke that Santos’ presence in putting the lie to.

Beavers and Ferris wrote that some members want him sidelined and kept all from all committee work for now. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), chair of the Republican Main Street Caucus, told them that he doesn’t “have any historical precedent about what’s appropriate here. And I do think that matters. In my mind, I wouldn’t seat the guy until we have an investigation done. I think there are enough legitimate concerns out there about his behavior.”

Johnson added that while he has not spoken to Speaker Kevin McCarthy about the matter directly, he has raised it with other members. It’s not yet clear how much of the GOP conference feels the same way about Santos’ admitted fabrications, with much of members’ attention still trained elsewhere. Before McCarthy’s speakership battle, though, some current and former House Republicans made clear they wanted him distanced— particularly as some feared he may have violated federal laws.

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), told reporters Santos shouldn’t be seated on committees that handle certain sensitive information.

“I don’t think he should be on national security committees but that’s for leadership to decide,” he said.

Santos told Politico on Monday that he hasn’t spoken to McCarthy about committee assignments yet, but that he expects to receive them like other members of the GOP conference.

Another member, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), told CBS on Sunday that it would be “very difficult to work with anyone who cannot be trusted.” She acknowledged: “It is a problem.”

…McCarthy has for weeks declined questions about how he plans to address Santos, whose support was crucial for the California Republican in a speakership election so tight that multiple Republicans needed to vote “present” to successfully hand him the gavel. And Majority Leader Steve Scalise acknowledged there are some “concerns,” but disclosed only that GOP leaders would tackle them “internally.”

“Obviously there were concerns about what we had heard, and so we’re going to have to sit down and talk to him about it,” Scalise said during a press conference on Tuesday. “And that’s something that we’re going to deal with.”

…More troubling for the GOP, Santos has also been accused of campaign finance misdeeds. A nonpartisan group, the Campaign Legal Center, recently filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that Santos had run a “straw donor campaign” that helped him evade campaign finance limits.

And two New York Democrats— Reps. Ritchie Torres and freshman Dan Goldman— filed their own ethics complaint against their Empire State colleague. The duo called on the House Ethics Committee to launch an investigation into whether Santos filed “complete and accurate” financial reports.

“The House of Representatives has an obligation to police itself, and this is just the start of our mission to hold George Santos accountable to his constituents and the American people,” Goldman said in a statement.

In addition, four Democrats who are military veterans argued in a letter to McCarthy obtained by Politico that Santos is a “direct threat to national security.” They pointed to Santos’ false statements about his background and concerns about campaign finances as cause for him to resign, though he has not done so.

“Mr. Santos has exhibited, time and time again, that the American people cannot trust him, and the voters who once placed their trust in him were deceived,” the lawmakers said. “We cannot put our nation at risk by allowing Mr. Santos to sustain access to classified information or appointment to any Congressional Committee that may require this information.”

The letter was signed by Reps. Pat Ryan of New York, Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania and freshman Jeff Jackson of North Carolina. Ryan, Moulton and Houlahan all serve on the Armed Services Committee.

Santos’ campaign was financed in part by two bad players, FTX (Sam Bankman-Fried) and the Kremlin (Putin-adjacent oligarch Viktor Vekselberg). Scalise said he’s going to sit him down and have a chat with him. (I'm not joking around; he said that.) And this press release from the Nassau County Republican Party came out this morning. We'll update this post after their announcement, which is expected to be another major blow against Santos and possibly a McCarthy-engineered step towards expulsion, using the local party the same way he did to help him get rid of Madison Cawthorn in North Carolina.

UPDATE:

The Nassau County GOP just called on Santos to resign immediately. County chair Joseph Cairo: “Today, on behalf of the Nassau County Republican Committee, I’m calling for his immediate resignation. He deceived voters. His lies were not mere fibs. He disgraced the House of Representatives… He’s not welcome here at Republican headquarters.”

State Senator Jack Martins would like to run for the seat if it becomes open. The Democrats would immediately name popular former incumbent Tom Suozzi as their candidate and Suozzi would almost certainly kick Martins ass (again).