New York Rep. George Santos is now the punchline to a joke you no longer even need to tell—and yet the laughs keep coming. In the past month or so, he’s caused more bellies to shake uncontrollably than the dollar menu at Arby’s. (Just kidding. Arby’s doesn’t have a dollar menu.) The guy just can’t stop lying—and getting publicly pantsed over those lies.
RELATED: George Santos was accused of writing more than $15,000 in bad checks for puppies back in 2017
So you’d think you’d be a touch circumspect when inviting him on your show to give you the latest funhouse mirror tour of his brain. And yet Newsmax, which is already being sued for beaucoup bucks over its 2020 election lies, isn’t all that concerned about propping up a proven prevaricator like George “I Cut Down the Cherry Tree—WITH MY PENIS” Santos.
After Santos and Utah Sen. Mitt Romney got into what appeared to be a heated exchange on the House floor prior to Tuesday’s State of the Union address, Santos responded with a tweet saying, “Hey @MittRomney just a reminder that you will NEVER be PRESIDENT!” This was after Romney confronted Santos, who was sitting in the center aisle, by saying, “You don’t belong here.” He either meant that center-aisle seat, the House chamber, Congress itself, or maybe just this plane of reality.
So what did Santos do the moment he hopped on Newsmax to defend himself? Oh, the usual.
From Newsmax’s Greg Kelly Reports:
Transcript!
GREG KELLY: “Mitt Romney, yesterday. You know, Mitt Romney was mobbed because he had a conversation with you. I think we have footage, there are about 15 reporters following him around because he talked to you. Maybe you heard, I was annoyed with Mitt Romney. I think he could have offered you some generosity, maybe some advice. There are a million places to meet on Capitol Hill. He claimed not to hear what you said. You said something back to him. He claimed not to hear it. No. 1, is he telling the truth, and No. 2, what did you say?”
GEORGE SANTOS: “I’ll put it this way, it’s not meant for television what I said back to him. [laughs] But I can tell you one thing: He did hear me, and Kyrsten Sinema, as she was walking by, the senator from Arizona, she said something to the effect of ‘hang in there, buddy’ or something like that. I said, ‘Thank you, Madam Senator.’ She was very polite and very kindhearted, as I’ve learned to see her. She’s a good person, unlike Mr. Romney, who thinks he’s above it all and is … an almighty white horse trying to talk to us down on morality. The reality is, he’s always had prejudice towards minority. He had it in his 2012 election, and that is why he didn’t become president when he absolutely had the opportunity to become president. And that’s why I was very clear when I said on Twitter, ‘you will never be presiden’t because you would never represent all Americans.”
And now the chaser, courtesy of MSNBC producer Brian Kosciesza:
For the nontweeters:
A Sinema spokesperson says this exchange never happened and Santos' comments here are "a lie."
Well, how do you like that? “A lie.” Knock me over with a feather. Preferably the cool Quetzalcoatl feather Santos found in his dusty old bar mitzvah guest book last week.
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Why oh why do these awful people continually force me to take the side of marginally less awful people? Unfortunately, in this he said/she said, he said something else/she-murdered-a-Teletubby-for-its-pelt-and-wore-it-to-a-black-tie-state-dinner dispute, I kind of have to take Sinema’s word. Because she’s clearly less revolting and disingenuous than he is.
Similarly, Donald Trump keeps forcing us to defend Mitch McConnell. Democrats don’t want to defend Mitch McConnell. Ever. It transforms our organs into a thin slurry of pungent regret. Please, please stop this, marginally less awful people.
RELATED: New Arizona poll shows Gallego can win even if Sinema runs, but senator can still hinder his chances
There was a time when a character like Santos would have slinked away after being unmasked as a fraud and never returned. But we live in a post-Trump world, where you can lie as much as you want, so long as you don’t make up stories—or tell the discomfiting truth—about Republicans.
And so Santos stays in Congress, and we all get to enjoy at least two more years of rollicking laughter at his expense. Granted, it’s not the same as having a functioning representative democracy, but we’ll take it. For now, at least.
RELATED: When lying liar George Santos finally gets the heave-ho, here's what'll happen next
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