Congress and the Santos Charade

Santos Only Stole Credit Cards, While Many Republicans Tried to Steal Our Country

On its face, the successful effort to expel Rep. George Santos from Congress is a farce. I’m not arguing he’s undeserving of comeuppance, but his misdeeds pale in comparison to the unpatriotic actions of treasonous Members of Congress who tried to overthrow America following Trump’s defeat.

Even after the January 6 insurrection that traumatized our nation, 139 representatives voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. This was a mugging of American democracy in broad daylight – yet Santos suffered the ultimate punishment while these scoundrels will receive lifelong pensions. How is this fair?

What concerns me is how this vote minimizes the severity of January 6 and the continued, ongoing, unrelenting efforts to spread the Big Lie and install a right-wing dictatorship. If we think Santos’ sins are worse than the skullduggery of the seditionists, our priorities are hopelessly skewed. The focus on Santos, which included these national backstabbers cynically voting on his fate, minimized their inexcusable and unforgivable crimes against our country.

My point isn’t to defend Santos, who is a moral degenerate and a lowlife of epic proportions. He’s underserving of a seat in Congress and is an unusually accomplished con artist. While Anna Sorokin (aka Anna Delvey) deceived her way into New York’s A-List parties, Santos conned and swindled his way to a seat in Congress.  

His prodigious exploits include lying about his “successful” Wall Street career, having a Jewish background, achieving academic credentials he did not possess and athletic prowess he did not enjoy, non-existent animal rescue work, and fake real estate holdings. He also allegedly engaged in credit card schemes to rip off donors.  

Santos’ reprehensible resume is odious, but as the Associated Press reminds us, these numerous accusations “do not render him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes of which he has been accused.” (Although I think we all know his next address is likely Attica.)

While Santos disgusts me, my greater ire is reserved for a system that makes an example of a comedic crook, while letting the wolves baying at democracy’s door off the hook. Santos’ crimes are the equivalent of shoplifting compared to the Members who committed felonies against our basic freedoms. Santos is a flimflam man who stole a few dollars, while these seditionists attempted a heist on our political system.

Had these unpatriotic conspirators succeeded—and they came shockingly close—they would have revoked our right to vote or installed a Russia-style version of fixed elections. They intended to use violence to install a dictator who ruled by authoritarian decree. Our individual rights and freedoms would have been greatly curtailed, if not outright eliminated.

LGBTQ protections, that I’ve fought for my entire life, would have been gutted overnight, while insurance likely would have no longer covered medicine for HIV prevention and treatment. Hard won liberties for racial and religious minorities, as well as women would have been imperiled. And, our nation likely would have been thrust into a state of bloody civil strife, or even war, that potentially could have slaughtered thousands of Americans.

This is what these monsters tried to do to us – yet they paid no price and today sit in Congress voting on Santos’ chicanery, as if their actions weren’t—and aren’t-- significantly more perilous.

It’s worth noting that the MAGA-coup is ongoing, with Donald Trump the likely GOP presidential nominee in 2024. The Republican turncoats are more determined than ever to destroy our country. This is why 71 of the 139 representatives who voted to overturn election results in 2020 voted against expelling Santos, while 4 voted “present”.

They understand that in the five previous congressional expulsions, three had taken up arms against the United States in the Civil War. These homophobic Christian nationalists voted in support of a gay thief because they realized they have committed far graver crimes by a gaping magnitude.

Worse, they are currently in the act of conceiving and executing the next phase of their sedition should Trump lose the election. If he wins, they will quickly move to destabilize America and rapidly install loyalists and lackeys to dismantle our system of government.

These 71 turncoats stood by Santos this week, because they don’t want to face expulsion for future actions perpetrated against our democracy. Let that sink in.

We should all know the names of the Republicans who voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election yet voted against expelling Santos. They are against setting precedent for purging abhorrent members of Congress who break the law. They intuitively understand that if their next coup fails (and they will try), it could be them expelled for treachery. That is why they supported Santos – so remember these names because they are coming for your country.  

No (71)

Andrew Clyde (GA), Jodey Arrington (TX), Brian Babin (TX), Jim Baird (IN), Jim Banks (IN), Andy Biggs (AZ), Dan Bishop (NC), Lauren Boebert (NC), Mike Bost (IL), Tim Burchett (TN), Jerry Carl (AL), John R. Carter (TX), Ben Cline (VA), Michael Cloud (TX), Andrew Clyde (GA), Warren Davidson (OH), Byron Donalds (FL), Jeff Duncan (SC), Michelle Fischbach (MN), Scott Fitzgerald (WI), Chuck Fleischmann (TN), Russ Fulcher (ID), Matt Gaetz (FL), Bob Good (VA), Lance Gooden (TX), Paul Gosar (AZ), Sam Graves (MO), Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA), Morgan Griffith (VA), Andy Harris (MD), Diana Harshbarger (TN), Kevin Hern (OK), Clay Higgins, (LA), Darrell Issa (CA), Ronny Jackson (TX), Mike Johnson (LA), Jim Jordan (OH), Trent Kelly (MS), David Kustoff (TN), Doug LaMalfa (CA), Doug Lamborn (CO), Debbie Lesko (AZ), Barry Loudermilk (GA), Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO), Brian Mast (FL), Mary Miller (IL), Carol Miller (WV), Alexander X. Mooney (WV), Barry Moore (AL), Troy Nehls (TX), Ralph Norman (SC), Gary Palmer (AL), Scott Perry (PA), Bill Posey (FL), Guy Reschenthaler (PA), Mike Rogers (AL), Matt Rosendale (MT), Steve Scalise (LA), Pete Sessions (TX), Jason Smith (MO), Adrian Smith (NE), Elise Stefanik (NY), Greg Steube (FL), Tom Tiffany (WI), William Timmons (SC), Beth Van Duyne (TX), Tim Walberg (MI), Randy Weber (TX), Roger Williams (TX), Joe Wilson (SC), Robert J. Wittman (VA)

Present (4)

Rick Crawford (AR), Bill Johnson (OH), Mike Kelly (PA), Kevin McCarthy (CA)

Yes, Santos deserved his expulsion. However, he should have been sent to the back of the line. There were 139 treasonous members who deserved to be booted from Congress before Santos’ unseemly, cartoon-villain behavior was addressed.   

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