Columnist can't understand why George Santos isn’t slinking away in shame
The beginning of the end of the embarrassing nightmare that was Sen. Joseph McCarthy's red scare was when lawyer and actor Joseph Welch infamously called out, "Have you no sense of decency." Nearly 70 years later, incoming Congressman George Santos (R-NY) is leading to that same question of shame.
Writing for CNN.com, lawyer and author Jill Filipovic asked where the sense of embarrassment disappears when someone is caught in lies like Santos'.
First, there was what he called "embellishing" on his resume, which declared he graduated from collage when he didn't and that he worked for Goldman Sachs when they'd never heard of him. Then it was revealed that his story of his grandparents fleeing Nazis was completely false. He's never been Jewish, but instead claimed that he was "Jew-ish."
Responding to the New York Times expose on him, Santos claimed that the media was trying to "smear my good name," assuming he had one.
"Now, more than a week later, Santos has admitted that the media outlets were mostly right, and he did indeed fudge his resume and much of his biography. Except he’s still being less than forthcoming, claiming in a WABC interview that 'a lot of people overstate in their resumes, or twist a little bit,'" Filipovic quoted.
She noted that on Santos’s campaign website, it claims he “began working at Citigroup as an associate and quickly advanced to become an associate asset manager in the real asset division of the firm” and “was then offered an exciting opportunity with Goldman Sachs but what he thought would be the pinnacle of his career was not as fulfilling as he had anticipated.”
It's all a lie.
He even lied about his criminal past in Brazil where he's wanted for fraud, reported the New York Times. The United States has an extradition treaty with Brazil and could take action to return him to face the fraud charges.
"The Santos saga is utterly fascinating, in the way stories of scammers and con men are often so captivating," wrote Filipovic. "What makes a person lie so often and so brazenly? What makes someone whose resume is largely false put themselves in the public eye and under a media microscope by running for office? How is it possible that when this person finally gets caught, they don’t slink away in shame, but rather lash out defiantly and simply refuse to face any consequences?"
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She went on to ask why his district should ever trust anything he ever says again.
The reason that so many are calling for his resignation is that he made the case "for his candidacy was based, at least in part, on his experience and his resume. And he has proven himself wholly untrustworthy, which is particularly salient given many of the outstanding questions about his finances and net worth," said Filipovic.
Republicans likely aren't happy about yet another scandal that represent one of their members as a fraud.
"Let’s be clear – Santos is exactly who you don’t want in office. He is a man who seemingly has no problem lying for self-aggrandizement and personal gain; a man who, even when caught, demonstrates little remorse or accountability; a man who still insists that he should be vested with significant political power," Filipovic explained.
It was a sentiment shared by former NAACP legal defense fund director Sherrilyn Ifill, who called it important because "it represents a part of Trumpism that still must be tackled: shamelessness. Trump’s invitation to shamelessness has been received by elected officials, parents who scream at kids who wear masks, or who threaten librarians, lawyers and judges.
"The only way to tackle this is to ensure that there are consequences for this conduct - not putting dishonest cops on a 'do not call' list, but prosecuting them or removing them from office," she continued. "Not saying 'let the voters decide,' but sanctioning, refusing to seat or censuring elected. Not simply lamenting the excesses of lawyers who made material misrepresentations to courts or who participated in intimidating election workers, but disciplining and where warranted, disbarring them. So long as there is impunity we cannot reset."
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