George Santos, the human, has been around since 1988. But George Santos, the country’s most famous Republican congressman, who is notorious for lying, has only been around for about six weeks.
Most people are introduced to Santos in mid-December – a simpler and more boring time. The midterm elections are over. Congress is in a lame-duck session, preparing for new leadership thanks to a sliver of the GOP entering the majority. And the dominant GOP storyline is Kevin McCarthy’s bid to become House speaker.
A few weeks and several news cycles later, whatever Republicans had control of the resurgence narrative had been completely co-opted by a new lawmaker from New York.
There have been many incredible reports about Santos that have exposed the serial liars behind the fake resumes. But there are plenty of other members of Congress who deserve the obsessive scrutiny directed at men who use the media to boost their own celebrity — and have fun doing it.
The dead-of-winter news cycle only resulted in breathless coverage of Santos, who was caught lying about his education, career, finances, living arrangements, religion and name. Not only did Santos create an entire persona, he touched the triple rail on things he never faked: the Holocaust and 9/11. And just in case you thought it couldn’t get any worse, Santos literally stole money from a dying dog.
Since The New York Times came out with its initial investigation into Santos, the news cycle has been constantly releasing new revelations, ranging from the potentially criminal (Santos’ campaign recorded a statistically improbable amount of $199) to the merely entertaining (Santos has a drag Brazilian alter- ego and love a good bop!) to ridiculously speculative (Santos apparently wore a stolen $520 Burberry scarf to a “Stop the Steal” rally) to nauseatingly Beltway-centric (Santos has been spotted all over DC, including at a popular karaoke bar near Capitol Hill.)
Over the course of six weeks, it feels like we’ve learned a lot about Santos and nothing at all. Each round of the Santos saga is like a new episode of a show that you are forced to watch because of everyone – it’s like Tiger King, but it’s 2023 and there are no tigers, only fraud.
The product is a cartoon rendering of an allegedly corrupt congressman who is apparently so obsessed with money that he’ll sell your pet and lie to his mother for influence. Santos even blasted the journalist to do that job, when he’s not trolling with donuts and chicken sandwich, dirty ploy to string together people hunt him down for an answer, which is still not there.
Andrew Harnik/Associated Press
No wonder Santos has been eating up the attention. He has been impersonated by many comedians on late-night TV – a show Santos quickly called “terrible” in a tweet. At a recent fundraiser for McCarthy, Santos reported to the person who, not McCarthy, was the most famous person in the room. In what generally appears to be yet another trolling – his friends? journalist? human decency? — Santos, who lied about being Jewish and descended from Holocaust survivors, delivered a speech on the floor of the House commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Presiding over a tenuous GOP majority, McCarthy has strenuously refused to tell Santos to resign. A month into the new Congress, Santos has been the main voice that disturbs the fact that the House Republicans have not sent a substantive policy agenda to address all the things they talked about during the midterm election campaign, such as fixing the economy, un- indoctrinating “purple” schools and combating crime.
The crime issue was something Santos campaigned on successfully to swing the battleground seat in a race that is usually framed as a matchup between two out gay men, Santos and Democrat Robert Zimmerman. The race will go down as the biggest collective fumble of the media, political operations and vetting structures. “We know that this person is shady, that he is involved in some sketchy things and there are some elements of grifter fraud during the campaign – for what beyond, we don’t know,” one Democrat participating in the race told HuffPost. “But a lot of the coverage was ‘These are two gay candidates’ – what did anyone say?”
Appetite for another Santos drama has swept up even a small character in life. A few weeks ago, I spoke with Gregory Morey-Parker, a friend of Santos who was first cited by The New York Times as his former roommate. Morey-Parker, who now lives in Massachusetts, said the Times contacted her because she knew she had commented on one of Santos’ old Facebook posts. She said she and Santos first met to pursue a romantic relationship, and when that didn’t work out, they remained friendly. The two briefly lived together in the home Santos shared with his mother and sister in Jackson Heights, in the Queens borough of New York City. That was about ten years ago and just a few weeks ago when Morey-Parker was looking for an apartment. He could not remember the date or the exact address of Santos.
He says that something is not right about his friend “Anthony” (Santos already goes by the name Anthony Devolder). “It doesn’t make sense. They don’t improve,” he said, adding that Santos, who claims in his financial disclosure that he is wealthy, does not work.
Morey-Parker went on to give many, many, many more interviews. We keep in touch. Then five weeks into the Santos news cycle, I got one last text from him: “Thank you for reaching out. I have no further comment on Congressman Santos at this time. Best regards, GMP.”
At this point, I also spoke with Grant Lally, a former GOP congressional candidate and publisher of the North Shore Leader, a Long Island newspaper credited with being the only news outlet to sound the alarm about Santos before the election. Lally is another former acquaintance of Santos who has found himself in high demand recently. The two first met at a Long Island restaurant in 2020. Lally described Santos as “avoidant, boastful and very insecure.” For someone looking for political guidance and endorsement, Santos behaved strangely, Lally recalled, slouching back in his chair and “very happy” when “they had attention on him.”
Although Santos was considered a curious detachment by his friends in Washington, he was considered a pariah at home. The Long Island Republican has called for a replacement, in two years or sooner, if Santos resigns or faces indictment. The GOP seems to be taking its mission more seriously these days. “We just picked this guy and who is he?” Lally said, describing the initial stunned response to Santos’ unraveling. “The public perception is that he is not serious and Zimmerman is serious. But elections sometimes produce strange results.
If there is no revelation that Santos has found a cure for cancer, there is no hope that he will win another term, making him one of the most famous single congressmen in history. It might be what you want.