How Do GOP Leaders Solve A Problem Like George Santos?

They don't have a great track record for this.

During all the commotion over the House speaker vote, you might have missed that everyone's favorite fraud, George Santos, was officially sworn in as the representative for New York's Third Congressional District. Meanwhile, law enforcement officials in Brazil have reinstated fraud charges against him that they'd originally suspended because they couldn't find him. Turns out even this do-nothing Congress is not the best place to lay low.

 According to Politico, House Republicans are totally aware that Santos poses a problem for all the garbage they've said about their slim majority stepping up "accountability and transparency." Some members have suggested not seating Santos on committees until they can investigate his campaign finances and confirm basic biographical information, such as "Is he actually named George Santos?"

Rep. Dusty Johnson from South Dakota, chair of the Main Street Caucus, said, "In my mind, I wouldn’t seat the guy until we have an investigation done. I think there are enough legitimate concerns out there about his behavior.” Rep. Mike Gallagher from Wisconsin doesn't think Santos "should be on national security committees but that’s for leadership to decide." Rep. Nancy Mace from South Carolina told CBS that "it's very difficult to work with anyone who cannot be trusted." She realizes she's in the Republican caucus, right?

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Republican leadership has remained silent on the Santos question, especially Temp Speaker Kevin McCarthy, but while Majority Leader Steve Scalise has conceded that there are "concerns," he said leadership will manage the situation "internally."

Scalise said at a press conference, "Obviously there were concerns about what we had heard, and so we’re going to have to sit down and talk to him about it."

Talk to the recalcitrant, embarrassing freshman Republican and sort them out? Why does that sound so familiar? That's right. It's the same song McCarthy performed when QAnon caucus members Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert were elected in 2020. He claimed they represented the party's "diversity." Democrats might boast ethnic diversity, but they have an embarrassing dearth of outright kooks and crooks.

McCarthy gave a "you're a congresswoman now" pep talk to Boebert, who later pantsed him publicly during his speaker bid. He had a more serious "conservation" with Greene in January 2021 after CNN revealed that she'd "repeatedly indicated support for executing prominent Democratic politicians in 2018 and 2019."

We don’t know the details of that private "conversation." Maybe they just discussed their favorite rap songs and exchanged mix CDs. We do know that Greene didn't leave those talks a changed woman, and McCarthy would later vehemently defend her against any actual accountability for her past (and current) grossness. Just two years later, Greene is McCarthy's strong right arm.

So, given the precedent, any serious leadership "talk" with Santos could likely result in the guy running the show after the next election. That'll teach him.

[ Politico ]

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