Is George Santos Really A Person or purely a Fiction?

[PeterRS]

US politics continues to amaze me. I gave up on UK politics years ago and nothing there amazes me. But the whole fiction spun around George Santos and the people who refuse to condemn him has me - well - staggered! This man - I assume he's actually a male - has made up so much of his persona that he must surely be a work of total fiction. He doesn't exist. He's not just a phoney, he's a kermit-like figure with someone's hand up his ass making his mouth move. (Yes, I know. Kermit was not a glove puppet, but you get my drift.)

Every day brings new revelations about this impostor's life and totally fake existence. Yet all but a handful of the Republican Party refuse to condemn him. The awful Kevin McCarthy, the one whose head was up Trumps' ass most of the time (can anyone imagine the utter disaster if he becomes the third in line for the Presidency?) clearly sits around waiting for Santos' vote as Speaker and then hoping he will somehow magically just disappear. His party colleagues sit in waiting to grab the power they believe they are entitled to all ready to set the dogs on Hunter Biden, seemingly perhaps a more difficult task if they condemn one of their own for far more serious crimes/misdemeanours - call them what you will.

Politics has become a joke - literally. Ever since John McCain (wasn't he supposed to have more than an ounce of common sense?) annointed the frightful Sarah Palin as his Presidential running mate, an even greater number of frightful ghouls has found Congress the way to promote their idiotic platforms. That good ordinary folk actually believe their lies seems to indicates that someone sooner rather than later will become the next Dr. Strangelove. A real one! And then God help not just the USA but the world.

[TotallyOz]

It is sad for sure. And, really sad he got elected and then that no one in his party will speak up. (some will but few)

America is a shit show for politics now. It was before Trump but he multiplied the insanity by hundreds.

[reader]

Republicans are taking a page from Ronald Reagan's famous 1966  “eleventh commandment”: “Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.”

It's no wonder you--and many Americans--are flummoxed by the emergence of openly gay George Santos onto the disastrous political scene.

From Wikipedia:

Santos has made numerous false claims about his biography, work history and financial status, in public and private. Questions about his finances emerged in September 2022 in The North Shore Leader, a local Long Island publication.^[2] Six weeks after the election, numerous news outlets began reporting that large parts of his self-reported biography appear to be fabricated, including claims about his ancestry, education, employment, charity work, property ownership^[3] and crimes he claimed to be the victim of. Santos has admitted to lying and, as of late December 2022, is under investigation by federal, state, and county authorities.^[3][4]

Santos claimed that his mother's parents were Ukrainian Jews who fled from the Holocaust to Brazil, but records obtained by several sources showed that his mother's parents were born in Brazil and none of her ancestors were Ukrainian or Jewish. Despite originally claiming to have "Jewish background beliefs" and calling himself a "a proud American Jew", Santos later said that "I never claimed to be Jewish...I said I was 'Jew-ish'."

There have been several judgments against Santos in eviction and personal debt cases in the United States, involving thousands of dollars. In 2008, he confessed to check fraud charges in Brazil, but did not appear in court, leaving the case unresolved. Santos denied committing a crime and said, "I'm not a wanted criminal in any jurisdiction";^] Brazilian authorities revived the case after his other falsehoods were discovered.

In October 2022, Santos told the media: "I am openly gay, have never had an issue with my sexual identity in the past decade".^[46] In 2014, Santos began dating Pedro Vilarva; the two lived together until Vilarva moved out early the next year after having had enough of Santos's prevarications.^[25]

In December 2022, The Daily Beast reported that Santos married a woman in 2012 and that they divorced in 2019. Santos did not publicly acknowledge this marriage until after it was reported; he told the Post in December 2022: "I dated women in the past. I married a woman", adding that he was "OK with my sexuality. People change."

[TotallyOz]

Republicans and Democrats are different. Remember Al Franken?

Democrats are wussies. Always have been and always will be. They don't have the balls for a big fight. It is sad. I would love to see a scrapper rise up (think Cuomo without the sexual harassment).

[Mavica]

Firstly, this is an example that not all gay's are good people.  Santos certainly is not.  Secondly, neither Santos' opposition in the Congressional election nor the "media" vetted the guy as is typically done in US elections.  I blame those entities and many voters for not asking important questions.  It doesn't surprise me that the Republican leadership, nor most of the rank and file elected officials in that party have condemned him for the depth and breath of his lies.  the antics and misdeeds of Donald Trump and his cadre of America-haters have desensitized so many people and made lies and dishonesty the norm.

I'm not ready to accept that politics and behaviors of politicians in the USA are very different than what we see in some or many other countries.  Brazil is the easy example of that.  The UK's politics is screwed-up, too.  

I'll agree that the Democratic Party and its elected officials, generally, are reluctant to engage in the type of aggressive fighting the extremist Republican Party is.  It's fine to say you're taking the 'high road' and don't want to get down in the 'gutter' with the opposition ... but the stakes are often too high to sit on the sidelines and whine about the other team.  Voters like to see their advocates fight for what they think is right.

It's possible, likely that Santos will be indicted and tried or fined for some of his lies and maybe for financial irregularities.  There are also reports that Brazil has been looking for him for a period of time on charges of financial fraud.  It's unlikely, though, that the House of Representatives will refuse to seat him, but I'm thinking it's unlikely he can be re-elected in 2 years.  

[JKane]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, isn't it amazing how the dramatic fight for the Speakership turned out exactly how expected but only after it kept the news's attention--instead of them really focusing on the Jan 6th anniversary or Santos's fraud?  

 

 

[JKane]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TotallyOz]

Now, Republicans are starting to worry as at first Santos said he would not run for a 2nd term and now he says he will. That scares them as they know he will be defeated. It also means that all the other seats they took in NY will have Santos in the minds of voters. IMHO, the best thing for them at this point is to get rid of him ASAP. To do otherwise, will spark issues in the next election cycle.

[NIrishGuy]

While the whole situation is a sad inditement for politics in general I have to say I'm finding the whole situation hilarious and i just wish that Santos would just cut to the bottom line and open up his full on drag queen persona to the House as THAT would make for some even more hilarious results I'm sure, but of course that probably wont happen.

In fact it's probably more likely that Santos will probably announce that he's actually a top Bishop of some church or other and soon to be Pope no less and / or is an Alien who has been sent by God ( or the flying spaghetti monster) to save us all from some terrible disaster!.

Where upon a ton of Americans will instantly start a new religion to follow him and start building large expensive temples to worship him - and then someone will then of course shoot him as seems to be the American way these days !

Either way GO SANTOS !!  He's the best weekly entertainment show to come out of Congress for years I say ! 🙂 

[stevenkesslar]

19 hours ago, TotallyOz said:

Now, Republicans are starting to worry as at first Santos said he would not run for a 2nd term and now he says he will. That scares them as they know he will be defeated. It also means that all the other seats they took in NY will have Santos in the minds of voters. IMHO, the best thing for them at this point is to get rid of him ASAP. To do otherwise, will spark issues in the next election cycle.

It's really not clear to me why New York state got the red wave most other blue states avoided.  Like Michigan, for example, where there was basically a blue wave.  There's inflation and all that.  But, again, didn't work in Michigan.  Maybe it was a backlash against gerrymandering itself.  Maybe it was the structure of the districts.  Maybe it was crime.  New York has a low murder rate, because they have stricter gun control.  But perception is reality, and regardless there has been a spike in crime.  Whatever it was, Santos was an accident that didn't really need to happen.

The ideal scenario for Republicans is they do what you said, and then win a special election to replace him with a Republican this Fall.  They keep the seat in a very close House.  And also they can argue it is a referendum against Biden in a blue state.  But there's a good chance a Republican would lose.  If only because it's a shit show and the R candidate has Santos' stench on them.  Then it is just one more nail in the coffin that the Republicans have gone to some looney tune extreme.  But, as you said, if Santos is on the ticket in 2024 they are going to have that, anyway.

One party's shit show is another's Schadenfreude, for sure.  😉

[TotallyOz]

7 hours ago, stevenkesslar said:

But there's a good chance a Republican would lose.

I think an excellent chance for sure. And, with all the nuts they have in the House, they don't want to risk one nut spoiling it for the whole bunch.

I am just shocked at what we now tolerate in American politics. Why was Al Franken forced out?  These people today are totally crazy and seem to get support regardless. How on earth could MTG get reelected? 

[njf]

8 hours ago, TotallyOz said:

I think an excellent chance for sure. And, with all the nuts they have in the House, they don't want to risk one nut spoiling it for the whole bunch.

I am just shocked at what we now tolerate in American politics. Why was Al Franken forced out?  These people today are totally crazy and seem to get support regardless. How on earth could MTG get reelected? 

You are from the south so it should not really be a surprise to you in a sense that MTG easily won reelection. She is one of them.

[TotallyOz]

3 hours ago, njf said:

You are from the south so it should not really be a surprise to you in a sense that MTG easily won reelection. She is one of them.

Yes, she is. But, she is the extreme. Most people from the south are  not that extreme. There are lots of moderates from most areas.

[stevenkesslar]

1 hour ago, TotallyOz said:

Yes, she is. But, she is the extreme. Most people from the south are  not that extreme. There are lots of moderates from most areas.

MTG is in many ways a perfect example of how a MAGA minority came to power.  And why they lost power in 2018 and 2020 and 2022.  And what they need to do to hold whatever power they have.

Her district is R+22 on the Cook Partisan Voter Index.  Which is even more ruby red than your lovely slippers, Oz.  She won in her first 2020 primary with 40 % of the vote.  Just like Trump won by simply cobbling together a plurality in 2016.  Which is my guess of how he'll win the R nomination again in 2024.  It's all about the base.  MTG's district may be one where the most inflammatory candidate wins the primary.  It may turn off the country as a whole.  But it works in that district.  In 2022 she won her primary with 70 % of the vote.

The surprising thing is that, according to one legislative tracker, she is among the most moderate House Republicans.  Not the most extreme.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

That chart isn't based on numbers.  But if you put numbers on the x axis, with 0 being most liberal and 10 being most conservative, she'd be at 5.5.  Not far from Josh Gottheimer, the least liberal "Wall Street" Democrat who is right in the middle.  They come up with those rankings based on legislation.  So it's not based on her QAnon-ish rants.  Or her taste in fur.  🤫  

Trump was also perceived in 2016 by many as a centrist/former Democrat/moderate type.  So that is part of the mystery of MAGA to me.  In theory, you could build a majority coalition combining White working class voters and Main Street capitalism.  There's a rich tradition of that kind of populism in Georgia.  Which didn't always work out so well for Blacks.  But it did produce results.  My biased answer is that the main result Trump and MTG are interested in is power for themselves.  MTG recently complained that she made a lot more than her $174,000 salary before being elected.  And the work her job requires leaves her "miserable."  Poor thing!  Maybe the voters will take that to heart next time and let her get back to CrossFit and QAnon.

Georgia today is a great example of how NOT being extreme works.  On the one hand, Gov. Brian Kemp's 2022 campaign hammered away at it's the inflation, stupid.  Instead of buying into QAnon, he took on Trump's lies.  And he won.  Meanwhile, Warnock - using the same legislative tracker - was one of the most moderate voting Democrats.  According to that tracker, Joe Manchin is the Senator who is smack dab in the middle.  Warnock is just slightly to his left.  Meaning more centrist than almost every other Senate Democrat.  He spent half his time playing the role of Georgia's pastor.  And the other half focusing on bipartisan deals to build roads in Georgia.  Yeah, he's really a liberal.  But he hides it well.  

[Suckrates]

I think I might have met Santos in the back room of gay sex/club the other night ?    He was raising, well it wasnt money !     Nonetheless, he claimed to be Lindsey Graham

jk

[stevenkesslar]

6 hours ago, Suckrates said:

I think I might have met Santos in the back room of gay sex/club the other night ?    He was raising, well it wasnt money !     Nonetheless, he claimed to be Lindsey Graham

jk

Bitch!  If you are going to tell all, you have to tell all.  How good is he on the job? 😋

[Suckrates]

15 hours ago, stevenkesslar said:

Bitch!  If you are going to tell all, you have to tell all.  How good is he on the job? 😋

VERY small meat, and real sloppy BJ's....😕

[Stormy]

On 2/16/2023 at 10:22 PM, stevenkesslar said:

It's really not clear to me why New York state got the red wave most other blue states avoided.  Like Michigan, for example, where there was basically a blue wave.  There's inflation and all that.  But, again, didn't work in Michigan.  Maybe it was a backlash against gerrymandering itself.  Maybe it was the structure of the districts.  Maybe it was crime.  New York has a low murder rate, because they have stricter gun control.  But perception is reality, and regardless there has been a spike in crime.  Whatever it was, Santos was an accident that didn't really need to happen.

The ideal scenario for Republicans is they do what you said, and then win a special election to replace him with a Republican this Fall.  They keep the seat in a very close House.  And also they can argue it is a referendum against Biden in a blue state.  But there's a good chance a Republican would lose.  If only because it's a shit show and the R candidate has Santos' stench on them.  Then it is just one more nail in the coffin that the Republicans have gone to some looney tune extreme.  But, as you said, if Santos is on the ticket in 2024 they are going to have that, anyway.

One party's shit show is another's Schadenfreude, for sure.  😉

The Republican candidate for Governor was very strong in Long Island and other suburban areas where Republicans for Congress won.  There were long coattails in New York which allowed Santos to win by a fairly sizable margin 

[JKane]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[unicorn]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CpLa8AoAsRN/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY%3D

[Suckrates]

Santos seems to be yesterdays news, or being swept under the closet carpet hoping people will forget or just get over it.....  Like everything else the politicians do.

You do not hear a word from them on the revelations from Ruppert Murdoch himself that Fox News knowingly assisted the GOP in spreading their FAKE NEWS Big Lie narrative..... Not a single word.   I guess McCarthy is too busy handing over Jan 6th surveillance tapes to Tucker so he can re-write THAT script ?   What a fucking pile of shit these people all are. 

[Pete1111]

Lately Santos is accused of being involved in an ATM skimming operation.

Yet, do all his lies, cheating and stealing compare to Trump and his Org?

[Suckrates]

10 hours ago, Pete1111 said:

Lately Santos is accused of being involved in an ATM skimming operation.

Yet, do all his lies, cheating and stealing compare to Trump and his Org?

 

The answer, NO, but they surely ARE different kinds of Crooks cut from the same cloth....

[JKane]

The current Republican base, ladies and gentlemen:

 

[Suckrates]

Seems all the Santos hoopla and outrage has died down, and it appears like nothing was done about him.   Afterall we are putting all our outrage energies into the impending but Never coming indictments of Trump.     Guess you cant be outraged about 2 things at the same time ?  

Its all just politics and headlines .  I dont really think anyone is concerned about accountability for anyone ?