signalmankenneth
Verified User
He’s the low-rent con artist everyone’s talking about, and for Republicans, he’s the one we deserve.
I refer, of course, to George Santos, the Republican congressman-elect who recently was forced to admit to “embellishing” facts on his resume, including (but not limited to) his ancestry (he claimed to be Jewish…then later, “Jew-ish”), his job history (he claimed that he “worked directly" for Goldman Sachs), and his education (he claimed to have graduated from Baruch College and New York University).
Others have pointed out similarities to the 1999 movie, The Talented Mr. Ripley, in which Tom Ripley (played by Matt Damon) assumes a false identity abroad. The film was set in 1958, long before Google made sussing out imposters dramatically easier. It’s worth contemplating why Santos got away with his ruse for so long.
Congressman-Elect George Santos Admits to Astounding Series of Lies
One theory is that we wanted to believe in him. As a buddy of mine observed, “A Republican pretending to be openly gay and Jewish is, in a weird way, a sign of progress.”
In all fairness, we don’t know if he pretended to be gay; we do know he was married to a woman until September 2019. Still, my friend has a point about the new trend of posing as a member of a marginalized or victimized group. In a world where progressives have adopted identities such as Native American or Black to advance professionally, a Republican politician posing as a gay Jewish Latino is simply a lagging indicator.
As usual, Donald Trump explains much of this. Santos’ victory represents a Republican Party that is simultaneously more diverse and welcoming (in terms of race and sexual identity) and less devoutly religious and moral—while also being more accepting of corruption and lying.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/george-santos-low-rent-con-093003235.html
I refer, of course, to George Santos, the Republican congressman-elect who recently was forced to admit to “embellishing” facts on his resume, including (but not limited to) his ancestry (he claimed to be Jewish…then later, “Jew-ish”), his job history (he claimed that he “worked directly" for Goldman Sachs), and his education (he claimed to have graduated from Baruch College and New York University).
Others have pointed out similarities to the 1999 movie, The Talented Mr. Ripley, in which Tom Ripley (played by Matt Damon) assumes a false identity abroad. The film was set in 1958, long before Google made sussing out imposters dramatically easier. It’s worth contemplating why Santos got away with his ruse for so long.
Congressman-Elect George Santos Admits to Astounding Series of Lies
One theory is that we wanted to believe in him. As a buddy of mine observed, “A Republican pretending to be openly gay and Jewish is, in a weird way, a sign of progress.”
In all fairness, we don’t know if he pretended to be gay; we do know he was married to a woman until September 2019. Still, my friend has a point about the new trend of posing as a member of a marginalized or victimized group. In a world where progressives have adopted identities such as Native American or Black to advance professionally, a Republican politician posing as a gay Jewish Latino is simply a lagging indicator.
As usual, Donald Trump explains much of this. Santos’ victory represents a Republican Party that is simultaneously more diverse and welcoming (in terms of race and sexual identity) and less devoutly religious and moral—while also being more accepting of corruption and lying.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/george-santos-low-rent-con-093003235.html
