When George Santos was elected to the House of Representatives, a new low standard was set for a candidate. This will likely not end up well for this man.
Why is this relevant?
Short answer, because it affects us as a country. Even if you’re not “deep into U.S. Politics, you should be paying attention to this case. Like it or not, U.S. Representative George Antony Devolder Santos was sworn in the Republican Caucasus, representing New York’s 3rd congressional district earlier this month. For anybody unaware of this geographical area, this is Long Island, Nassau County and Queens. However, Santos is not up to a good start. Both people from the Republican party and Democratic party are urging him to resign. Why? Because he fabricated his record – he lied, a lot. There is plenty of controversy, and if you’re not following it, this article will tell you why you should.
There is a well-known trope about politicians being dishonest. And this trope is not only limited to the United States of America. And that is frankly sad. But did you know that in fact, in many other countries they even looked up to America as a higher standard when it came to politics, civility and checks & balances. I know this to be true when I was growing up in Ecuador. We had a lot of choice words for our own politicians, but we looked up to politicians in the first world nations, particularly USA.
And I know, most people do not want to talk of learn about politics. It seems boring, disconnected from what “they do,” and literally anything might seem more appealing. Such as watching grass grow or looking for a spider to descent from her butt rope. In lieu of politics, there are plenty of alternatives. Sports, movies, social media memes, comic books, video games, brunch with your buddies, etc. And that’s true, politics can be boring to the average citizen. But they are important. Why? Because THEY CONTROL YOUR LIFE and the lives of everybody else.
Normally, people who do not understand much about politics feel like this is a “they” problem. Somebody else deals with that. In the end, they (the politicians) will figure it out – and life goes on. Well, if you’re in that segment of the population, sorry to burst your bubble – that is not at all how it works. I will say though, that not understanding politics does give tacit consent to others who do understand it to manipulate the intricacies of the rules on their favor. And you should be aware that there is plenty of leverage when it comes to politics.
I was speaking today with a person in a relatively sizable position, and who is directly in charge of a group of people. This person, and those around him did not know who Rep. George Santos was, and why this name should be important to them at this point in our history. They were not just unaware of this person, but more importantly of the extensive amount of controversy surrounding falsehoods he used in his campaign. This newly appointed U.S. Representative is a compulsive liar. Some more cynical people would say, what’s that big deal, don’t all politicians lie? Well, that’s not a good comeback, let me explain why.
First off, because politicians should not be liars. This should not be a prerequisite to hold an office of influence in the most powerful country in the face of this planet. Just giving tacit consent and expect that our political representatives are liars will inevitably make the U.S. to lose the prestige of being the most powerful country in the world. We canoe afford to condone a faulty government. Government encompasses a whole lot of people; therefore, it needs to have checks and balances. And more importantly, all members of government need to live in reality. That goes both to people who are elected, and those who are permanent staff. So, right of the bat, that level of cynicism is a self-perpetuating problem.
Secondly, this Representative did not just “lie” about his resume. He made allegations that are so insanely deceitful that he’s been condemned by republicans and democrats alike. And yes, HIS CONSTITUENTS felt betrayed and want him to resign. Santos is refusing. Every day, there are more lies that he has added to the mix. And even if you’re a Republican, I would say… especially if you’re a Republican – why would you want a person with these many questionable down checks to his character in your team? Enabling this deception would just make you complicit on this bad behavior.
Congressional Representatives, they are the voice of constituents in different areas of the country. They are given a lot of power in order to introduce bills and vote on decisions that will affect the entire country. If a person has shown that he or she does not understand the difference between reality and lies, then anything else will become a moot point.
For example, when a person in the United States of America gets the privilege of a security clearance, they will be judged on their Trustworthiness, Loyalty and Character. If ANY of those gets impacted in any negative way, then the clearance will be revoked. Even low-level security clearances require a very strict level of personal integrity and judgement. So, that begs the question, if this metric is enforced onto every level of government employees to include the military; then how does it not apply to a Congressional Representative? I would assert that the higher your position, the higher your integrity and judgement should be… why? Because they are higher you are the more damage you can do if you don’t know what you’re doing. And showing bad integrity and judgement is not a good warm fuzzy for trust.
Do you see why I have a problem with this? It is obvious that all three categories, Trustworthiness, Loyalty and Character were put into question with this person, and there is plenty of evidence to demonstrate it. He even admitted that he was not being truthful. I also have a problem with the opposition research team. Santos won over the previous incumbent, likely because their campaign underestimated the levels people can swing their minds from one politician to another. But a sensible level of opposition research on the campaign would have been able to demonstrate all the lies this man was telling everybody – fairly easily, actually. Of course, according to Santos, he did not lie – he just “padded” is resume. His concept of “padding” shows a clear misjudgment and lack of integrity.
Here is a non-inclusive list of Santos lies, in no particular order:
- He lied about finishing High school, he got an equivalency diploma.
- He lied he had a master’s degree from prestigious schools in finance and economics. He never actually graduated college at all.
- He said he worked at Wall Street, then they said that it was a company that he worked hat had some ties to Wal Street, but even that was not true because that company in question was dissolved even when he was of high school age.
- He claimed that he had a lot of money, in reality he was not rich at all. And the sources of the money he put in his campaign is under investigation, and there are even possibilities of criminal inquires.
- He said he was gay, but he was also married before. Hey, that can happen… but why not even be upfront about it? Supposedly he’s married to another gentleman, but there have not been signs of this person appearing in the campaign. Also, apparently some news agencies were not able to find the marriage certificate.
- He lied about having an animal charity, apparently for a fundraiser. Charged $50.00 for attendance, and the charity did not see any money from it.
- He said his mother died in 9/11 – but then he changed the story a couple of times. I mean, who does that? Gawd!
- He said his grandmother was a holocaust survivor. Yet, she was not in Europe at all during World War II.
- He said he had employees who died during a shoot in a club in Orlando. That statement from Santos was not true.
- He said he was Jewish, then he said that he was “Jew-ish” – because he’s actually Catholic but he has Jewish heritage. According to genealogy records, that’s not true.
- He said he was a sports champion in Baruch college… he never even attended that place.
- One of his staffers was impersonating the new Speaker of the House, Chief of Staff – in order to raise money.
- He’s facing charges in Brazil for buying stuff with a false checkbook, or something like that. And yes, that case is under investigation, and there are criminal charges. AND there is extradition from USA to Brazil. Bottom line, he fled that country because of it.
- And stuff keeps coming up every day. So, I’m sure you can find more if you do a simple google search.
My point with this article is not to bash Rep. Santos. He did that all that discredit on his own. My concern is that if a person with such glaring, low hanging-fruit lies was able to sit in one of the most prestigious public offices in the country… then what does this mean to the future of the USA?
Personally, I don’t care if he’s republican of democrat… I would want the same level of scrutiny and accountability from ANY member of congress, no matter what their political leaning. What I care, is that even if we disagree in policy, at least I can trust that they have enough sense not to insult the intelligence of the entire country with such stupid lies. In fact, does he even believe these lies himself? I have trouble trusting anybody like that. Seems to me that people like Rep. Santos needs a lot of maturing to do, and that he’s not qualified to do the job he’s been appointed. Why? Because he lied about his record with such sophomoric lies that it is very hard for people to take anything he says seriously. His credibility of character was dead on arrival to Capitol Hill.
Let me give you an example. Let’s say that a person wants to be a Mount Everest coach to take people to the submit of the mountain. But this person has never climbed a mountain. Then that person is just not qualified for that job. Period. Now, if the person would be – for example – a climber who was an Alpinist, an Andinist (climber of the Andes), or even done an even more challenging climb such as K-2 then that would be a different story.
Will Santos recover? Maybe, but personally I don’t endorse that sitting in Congress is the place for on-the-job training. I expect a learning curve for sure, but being able to make believable statements should be step one. And the best way to make a believable statement is by not lying.
However, there is a problem that might very keep him in his current position. First off, because he refuses to leave. He states that the people of his district elected him. That’s not such a black and white statement. Yes, they technically elected the person he claimed to be. He’s not that person.
Let me give you another example, let’s say if I was going for a position on a hospital as a neurosurgeon. But I don’t have a medical degree, so I would not be able to take that job, no matter how much I lied in my resume, and I would convince a hospital to hire me. I would just not be able to perform any surgery, period. Same thing here. That’s why I don’t claim to be a doctor, let alone a neurosurgeon.
The sad part is that in politics, political games are played for reasons that witfully escape the scrutiny of a large segment of the population. Newly appointed Speaker of the House, Republican Representative Kevin McCarthy was finally selected after ~15 rounds of votes. Something unprecedented in the history of the United States of America. I’ll write more about that too sometime in the future. And also remember that the Republicans took the house by a very narrow margin, so it is very unlikely McCarthy would push for Santos to leave Congress, because McCarthy will need every vote. Also, if Santos leaves that means that additional special elections would likely need to occur, and this could swing his position. Then the logical question is, would he risk it?
In other words, Santo’s election became a de-facto liability for the Republican party. But then that begs the question, do we want what’s best for the party or what’s best for the country and the constituents? Food for thought. One last thing, I spoke about opposition research, but with that should also be accountability prior endorsing a candidate on their own party. That’s a failure on both sides, and now this crazy situation is part of our American History. How will the future generations look at this in the future history books? Let’s continue the conversation! HLC