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.
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.