Not only is it appalling and shocking that Rep. George Santos was elected and has remained in office, it’s even more egregious what continues to come out about who he is—the uncounted lies he’s told, the horrific things he’s done to innocent people, and now the latest: saying shitty stuff about his own LGBTQ+ community.
According to LGBTQ Nation, during a September 2020 interview on John Stubbins’ Indivisible show, Santos said because there were too few straight, cisgendered couples, the “family unit” was being destroyed. Santos is the first out LGBTQ Republican elected to the House.
“The family unit has been under attack for decades, decades!” Santos said.
RELATED STORY: Formerly homeless veteran confirms that Rep. George Santos stole $3,000 raised for his dying dog
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“The flavor of the decade is same-sex couples. ‘Oh, that’s so OK!’ Look, to each their own, I don’t have anything against that, but they’re teaching in school how kids that, you know, you don’t need a mommy and a daddy, you can have two mommies, you can have two daddies. I think that’s a little much for kids, right … That’s an attack on the family unit in the sense where they’re just making excuses and reasoning to explain to kids why there’s only one mommy or why there’s only daddy and no other person, that it’s okay to be like that, that that’s your unique family,” Santos said.
Santos’ rant stretched a few minutes:
“I want to go back in time and think, why would it be bad for minorities in general—and that includes me, right?—but why would it be bad for us to have a mom, a dad in the same household with your little brothers and sisters? But then I keep thinking, because that creates stability, and stability raises good individuals who are independent thinkers.
“And when we have instability in the family unit, you wreak havoc. One parent can’t parent two kids as well as two parents, and there’s always that feminine touch to boys from the mother and that masculine touch to boys from the father, the same thing goes for the daughters, and it creates equilibrium and balance.
“The scales are tipped and there’s nobody left there and you have just one side, you start creating troubled individuals. Troubled individuals are easier to manipulate and [inaudible], and they buy pretty much anything.”
I guess Santos was ahead of the fascist curve, because a year later, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made teaching about LGBTQ families against the law in his state with the “Don’t Say Gay Law.”
Last April, Santos voiced his full support for DeSantis’ bill.
"The Left is hellbent on creating a false narrative because they want to groom our kids ... As a gay man, I UNAPOLOGETICALLY support this law!" Santos wrote on his Facebook page, according to ABC News.
Then there are all the lies he’s told.
Thursday, Daily Kos wrote about a formerly homeless veteran who confirmed that in 2016, Santos raised $3,000 to help the man get surgery for his dying dog—but ended up running off with the money.
According to Law & Crime, District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Thursday she is currently looking into Santos with regard to the 2016 possible scam.
Katz’s spokesperson told Law & Crime, “While as a matter, of course, we don’t comment on open investigations, we are reviewing whether Queens County has jurisdiction over any potential criminal offenses.”
This month, a complaint was filed with the Federal Election Commission, accusing Santos of a plethora of campaign finance violations, The Washington Post reports. Filed by the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, the complaint could launch an investigation by the federal regulator.
CNBC reported that during the 2020 and 2022 election cycles, a member of Santos’ campaign team had a plan to dupe donors by impersonating Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s chief of staff, Dan Meyer.
The Santos staffer’s name was actually Sam Miele, according to CNBC.
Santos is also embroiled in an investigation by the Nassau County, New York, district attorney’s office and authorities in Brazil involving a fraud case dating back to 2008.
But as Daily Kos’ Kerry Eleveld succinctly wrote, the GOP does not want to lose another House seat.
“The reason Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his cronies would much rather chew glass followed by a saltwater gargle than aid the ouster of their own disgraced member is simple—they cannot afford to lose even one more seat,” Eleveld writes.
Pulitzer-winning Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan wrote about Santos Thursday that he “shouldn’t be in Congress.”
Noonan wrote in part:
“Like all professional hustlers, Mr. Santos seems to enjoy getting away with it. He thinks he’s getting away with it now, marching around Congress trailed by staff—this mamaluke has staff—conferring with whoever will confer with him.”
“I will not be distracted nor fazed,” Santos tweeted, adding denials that he “’performed’ as a drag Queen” in Brazil. “I am working to deliver results.” “I will NOT resign!”
Well, he should resign, but it seems more and more like to his party he’s the perfect candidate.
Friday, Politico reported that in the last few weeks, Santos has been reaching out to the New York Young Republican Club, known to include several far-right U.S. and European leaders.
Viswanag “Vish” Burra is Santo’s operations director. Burra once worked as executive secretary at the New York Young Republican Club and was its vice president for two years.
Whether the group still supports Santos is up for debate. But they endorsed him last year, writing in a press release that his “story is part of the fabric of New York City’s broader story of coming to America,” the organization wrote in a press release. ”He is a first-generation American whose parents immigrated from Brazil, seeking out the American Dream. They sought opportunities to work hard, to play by the rules, and to achieve success. Santos was schooled and educated in New York and got his start working in the financial services industry at a number of firms, including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup….”
I’d guess much of Santos’ “story” could easily be debunked, if it hasn’t been already.
