New York Republican Rep. George Santos’ short and dazzling political career came to an end on Friday as a supermajority of his colleagues executed a maneuver as rare as the man they’re poised to evict from the House.
No less than two-thirds of the chamber voted for a resolution from Ethics Committee Chair Michael Guest, a fellow Republican from Mississippi, that made Santos only the third person to be booted from Congress since the Civil War – a dishonorable distinction previously reserved for convicted felons.
Santos is not one – at least, not yet. He’s been charged with a litany of wrongdoing, from fraud and money laundering to theft and stealing donors’ identities. His list of offenses, some alleged and others confirmed (often by him), runs much longer and places him comfortably among the foremost rogues and reprobates to make a cameo on America’s nearly 250-year-old political scene.
In less sweeping terms, Santos’ many transgressions are sure to endanger the GOP House majority, thin before and now looking downright bony after his number was taken off the board.
I think the American government wants to turn their politics into as much of a joke as possible because even more stupid and insane stuff is on the way in about a year.
Insanity is becoming the norm and in a year George Santos will look like a reasonable controversy compared to what’s coming.
Interesting thought. I keep thinking that we are rapidly approacing a “snapback” moment wherein folks will see the abyss below and edge away fom the cliff and towards functional politics. Then I think of Brexit and the like and feel just a bit ill.
That’s called hope … I lost mine a good while ago
As of 30 minutes ago, he’s officially kicked out.
Thanks. Updated the title.
Someone gets caught with a few grams of weed? Toss ‘em in jail seems to be the common punishment. Defraud companies and regular folks? Slap on the wrist, if that. A fine, the cost of doing business.
It’s sick. Folks like George Santos should be rotting in a jail cell for what they’ve done.
He has a bunch of federal charges, the trial will be fun!
FTA:
“described himself as the “Mary Magdalene of United States Congress””
Now more like the Mary Queen of Scots of Congress…
How about “Typhoid Mary”?
I am sympathetic to the ‘precedent’ argument but I think Santos is unique in his level of fraud and the amount of proof that is available. We know he did at least some fraud for sure, and it’s with his campaign funds.
That’s just a little different than a congressman getting caught being a domestic abuser or something where it’s definitely worth kicking them out but it’s not related to their job and the Ethics Committee isn’t going to find proof the same way.
If your employer discovers you lied on your resume, you’re going to get fired. He not only blatantly falsified his biography in order to make himself a viable candidate, he then used his campaign as a grift for his personal enrichment.
Just like with Trump, I don’t think “precedent” applies here, because the actions they took were without precedent. At any other time, these people would have resigned in shame or been pushed out by their party. Nixon only left office when it became obvious he would be removed from office in a bipartisan vote. The current gop is going to make sure that never happens again.
Precedent would have seen Santos (and others) resign. I don’t think we realized how much of our government’s power was built around the idea of good faith, but since Trump that’s been completely destroyed. The new precedent needs to recognize that the entire game has changed.
Assuming the Santos seat flips Democrat, the house goes from 222-213 to 221-214.
So a 9 vote margin to a 7 vote margin.
It is mighty thin indeed…
For comparison, in the previous Congress the Democratic majority mostly ranged from 218 to 222 (for the last couple of weeks of 2022 it was as low as 216-213 due to resignations etc). See
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/117th_United_States_Congress
This is the best summary I could come up with:
New York Republican Rep. George Santos’ short and dazzling political career may come to an end on Friday as a supermajority of his colleagues prepares to execute a maneuver as rare as the man they’re poised to evict from the House.
No less than two-thirds of the chamber is expected to vote for a resolution from Ethics Committee Chair Michael Guest, a fellow Republican from Mississippi, that would make Santos only the third person to be booted from Congress since the Civil War – a dishonorable distinction previously reserved for convicted felons.
The 56-page ethics report that ultimately appears to have doomed Santos, who recently described himself as the “Mary Magdalene of United States Congress” and dared members to kick him out, does a thorough – and, befitting its subject – colorful job ticking off his “constant series of lies,” misrepresentations and, most seriously, fraudulent spending.
“Santos’ congressional campaigns were built around his backstory as a successful man of means,” they wrote, “a grandson of Holocaust survivors and graduate from Baruch College with a Master’s in Business Administration from New York University, who went on to work at Citi Group and Goldman Sachs, owned multiple properties, and was the beneficiary of a family trust worth millions of dollars left by his mother, who passed years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks as a result of long-term health effects related to being at one of the towers.”
What is clear now is that the tens of thousands of donor dollars Santos allegedly spent on Botox, Hermès and OnlyFans is a drop in the bucket compared to what he may cost Republicans, who are already on the backfoot in attempting to keep their House majority ahead of next year’s elections.
The county and state GOP, along with fellow Republican House members from New York, have all condemned Santos – and all are expected to vote for his expulsion – but Democrats have spent the year since the scandal cracked the headlines doing their best to link them all back to the freshman congressman.
The original article contains 1,248 words, the summary contains 340 words. Saved 73%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
I thought it was expelled. Didn’t know expulsed was a word. Cuz otherwise it implies that expelled has a noun form counterpart too, and expellation doesn’t seem right.
I believe when I see it. I doubt all Republicans will vote to remove him I doubt he will be removed.
Well, this was a dumb comment cos not every Republican needed to vote to expel him, and they got the votes and he’s expelled anyway.
