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George Santos, Symbol of Republican Lies, Goes on Trial [1]

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Date: 2023-05-10  

George Santos, the Republican congressman whose lies underpinned his election campaign, is set to face justice. Federal authorities announced that they were indicting him. The charges are sealed, so we do not have a clear idea of what he is being charged with. However, it is clear that in his brief career as a politician, this man has told so many lies that he has become emblematic of the Republican party.

The Lies

Santos made a mountain of lies about who he was, what he had done, his criminal record, his personal wealth, ethnicity, religion, and so many other things that at times, I have found myself wondering if we even know his real name! Santos managed to get elected to Congress last year, as U.S. representative for New York’s 3rd congressional district, after losing in 2020 against Thomas Suozzi. He became the first LGBT non-incumbent Republican elected to a federal office.

However, within six weeks of winning the election, voters learnt that this man had lied about much of who he was . Santos himself was forced to concede that he had lied about his education and employment . Since March 2023, he has been under U.S. federal, New York state, and Nassau County investigation. We have since learnt that, in 2008, he committed check fraud in Brazil, and skipped out on a court appearance in 2011. In 2022, during his run, Brazilian authorities revived the case, and he pleaded guilty. The man has numerous judgments against him for eviction and personal debt.

Symbol of Lies

It is true that many Republicans have come out to call on Santos to resign, but the irony of his election run is that it reflects the drift of the party toward lies, lies, and damned lies. We are all familiar with Trump’s Big Lie, but that lie is only one of many lies that the Republican party has told over the last decade. Trump’s emergence was a sea change in Republican politics, and opened the door for people like George Santos to emerge. Today, the party is a party so hell bent on the pursuit of power, and rolling back the rights of women and minorities, that it has become a comfortable home for liars. This is not a party in which liars are often called out for their lies. This is a party that sees lies as a tool of power, or an inconvenient part of how politics is fought.

it is hard to see how we regain our democracy when our opponent is so duplicitous and is so filled with liars like Santos. Santos has done what Republicans often do, which is to admit his lies, but see them as ultimately inconsequential, and seek to continue in office. In what other field of life would a man lie about his credentials to get a job, and refuse to resign, and have his boss and colleagues support him? Yet, this is the reality we are facing, a reality that has come from being a party of lies.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/10/2168623/-George-Santos-Symbol-of-Republican-Lies-Goes-on-Trial

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