Rep. George Santos (R-NY) is not happy about the House Ethics Committee’s report detailing a laundry list of allegations of shady behavior against him. Yes, this sounds like a “water is wet” statement, but in a profanity-laced diatribe the congressman recently gave, he might have spoken a truth the public needs to hear regardless of his motivations.
On Friday, Santos held a Spaces session on X, formerly known as Twitter, in which he savaged his fellow, congressional lawmakers for engaging in conduct on par with that of which he has been accused.
Embattled New York Republican Rep. George Santos delivered a tirade Friday night blasting his congressional colleagues, accusing them of trying to force him out of Congress because he’s different.
The New York congressman accused the House Ethics Committee of attacking him while letting other unethical behavior in the House go unchecked.
“Within the ranks of the United States Congress, there’s felons galore, there’s people with all sorts of sheisty backgrounds,” Santos said in a nearly three-hour conversation broadcast on X, formerly Twitter.
The lawmaker even suggested that some lawmakers are voting while drunk, and participating in inappropriate relationships with lobbyists.
“I have colleagues who are more worried about getting drunk every night with the next lobbyists that they’re going to screw and pretend like none of us know what’s going on and sell off the American people,” he said, adding that some do not “show up to vote because they’re too hungover or whatever the reason is, or not show up to vote at all and just give their card out like f—ing candy for someone else to vote for them.”
“This s— happens every single week. Where are the ethics investigations?” he said.
Santos’ main gripe with the ethics committee is that he believes it specifically targeted him with its report while ignoring wrongdoing with other members of Congress. The committee was quite damning, noting that it found “substantial evidence” of his false campaign finance reports, personal use of campaign funds, fraudulent business connections, and knowingly violating ethics laws.
Santos is currently facing a slew of federal charges, including conspiracy, wire fraud, false statements, falsification of records, aggravated identity theft, and credit card fraud. As a result, several members of Congress have expressed their intent to expel him from the lower chamber. They already tried this in October, but the vote failed due to lawmakers wishing to wait until the ethics committee report was published. Now, it appears Santos’ days may be numbered.
The lawmaker’s tirade against the ethics committee and his colleagues was clearly an effort to downplay, and deflect from, his alleged conduct before and after he took office. But, can we really say he is wrong?
There is a reason why they call Washington D.C. the “Swamp.” It is rife with corruption, misconduct, and all sorts of ill behavior. It is the Mos Eisley Cantina of American politics – and everyone knows it. In the immortal words of Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, “you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.” Yet, the elements of the Swamp are somehow able to cover it up just enough to keep from raising eyebrows. If one of them speaks up, they face consequences. Remember former Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who called this out before getting a talking-to from former Speaker Kevin McCarthy? His political career was ruined soon thereafter.
So, it does raise a valid question. Most can agree that the ethics committee should be going after Santos if he is corrupt. But why shouldn’t it address the rest of the “scum and villainy” in Congress?