Don’t you feel the excitement building as George Santos plays out another chapter in his bizarre— and sordid— life-story, coming soon in book, TV sitcom and movie versions? Tomorrow we get the promised press conference on the steps of the Capitol. Will the fat lady sing or will he force the House to expel him, making his colleagues take, for some of them, a very uncomfortable vote?
Yesterday former Republican Robert Garcia, an openly gay Latin American like Santos, made the move to force a vote within two days by filing a privileged resolution of expulsion. House Ethics Committee chair Michael Guest (R-MS) already has an expulsion resolution filed, albeit not privileged. I’m guessing Republicans would rather vote for Guest’s resolution than Garcia’s. Dan Goldman (D-NY) another freshman hothead, and Garcia’s partner in this, said “We waited for 11 months for the Republicans to act. I don’t have any faith that they will act as they say they want to.” Garcia said “He has clearly committed massive crimes. He has lied to his constituents, his whole life is a fabrication. He himself is prepared to be expelled.”
Also, Garcia should calm the hell down. The longer this drags out, the better it is for Democrats, especially since Santos’ actual trial is scheduled to begin next September and promises to be incredible and last right into early voting. Garcia was still a Republican when Mark Foley’s scandal broke right before the 2006 election, helping the Democrats win not just Foley’s red Florida district but to oust 25 Republican incumbents and pick up 5 seats from Republicans who retired. Among GOP incumbents defeated were powerful committee chairs and members of the GOP House leadership like Richard Pombo (CA), Jim Leach (IA), Nancy Johnson (CT), Charles Taylor (NC), Clay Shaw (FL), Cut Weldon (PA), Don Sherwood (PA), John Sweeney (NY), head of the NRCC, as well as both New Hampshire districts and even 3 from Indiana! The longer this nightmare draws out, the better it is for the Democrats’ electoral prospects, especially in New York, where— aside from from Santos’s own seat— there are 5 GOP-held seats that could flip red to blue.
Garcia is a freshman, not terribly bright, who doesn’t know what he’s doing and is letting his personal animus towards Santos— the two of them fight all the time— get in the way of a little critical thinking and strategy. Or maybe he just wants a scalp and a chance to have an actor play him in the sitcom or movie.
Meanwhile, the Republican most responsible for Santos getting GOP support and winning last year, their House Conference chair, Elise Stefanik, won’t answer any questions about Santos and has pretty much taken a “Santos? Santos who?” posture. She acts as though she never heard of him.
On Friday, Santos was interviewed on Twitter and said he won’t resign, but he’s anything but a reliable source of information. MAGA Mike was raising money for Vern Buchanan down in Florida over the break and, at a press conference, he announced that he spoke to Santos “at length” over the Thanksgiving break “about his options.” MM said that “it remains to be seen” whether the House will vote to expel Santos. At this point, there are certainly enough votes— two thirds of the House— to do so, something even Santos has admitted publicly. Marjorie Traitor Greene has been running around the Capitol with her hair on fire, screaming about impeaching Biden instead of expelling Santos. But no one pays any attention to her anymore.
Santos, claims he told MAGA Mike that he would “be standing for the expulsion vote” and tweeted “Expel me and set the precedent so we can see who the judge, jury and executioners in Congress are. The American people deserve to know!”
Former Ethics Chair Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), who voted against expulsion before the Ethics Committee had finished its report, announced yesterday that she’ll vote for expulsion next time it comes up “Precedents of the House are important guidelines to ensure proper, consistent actions. But every precedent had a first time, and precedents should not prevent the House from acting when prudence dictates the creation of a new precedent or a variation from precedent… In the matter of Rep. Santos, rigid adherence to the requirement of a felony conviction prior to expulsion would, in essence, delegate the responsibilities of the legislative branch to the executive and judicial branches.”
Santos claims the bipartisan, unanimous Ethics Committee report is “a smear.” It isn’t… but this 15 foot high ballon kind of is, courtesy of MoveOn. It’s hanging out above the National Mall.
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