Feature Photo: Licensed from lev radin / Shutterstock.com
Oh George, just how did you get away with conning all these New Yorkers? I’m a New Yorker, and even though I didn’t vote for you, I do feel ashamed that so many New Yorkers would fall for your long list of lies that helped you get elected in 2022. New Yorkers are supposed to be smarter than that. We are so used to con men and women in our everyday lives, you think we would have seen through it all. Disinformation can be a powerful tool used online in news stories and various website articles. It’s used all the time on major networks and cable TV news shows. Its role in shaping political news stories in order to increase viewership and partisan politics has grown faster than Reginald Franklin’s A-Train character in Amazon’s The Boy’s television series.
Like a speeding locomotive able to leap tall buildings, wait! wrong character. Well, anyway you get the point. Disinformation is a growing trend sailing out of control across an audience of people who simply hear what they want to hear and disregard the rest, to quote Paul Simon’s “The Boxer.” However, no one has ever seen a single disinformation case like the saga of George Santos. Not even the man with his own plane, golf courses, and hotels could compete on the runway of lies fueled by the talents of George Santos.
The saddest part about the story of George Santos is that his real story, the story of being a son born of immigrants who moved to the United States in quest of The American Deam is a story that resonates with so many Americans. It is the American Story. The streets may not have been paved with gold as so many people have been told, but they are paved with opportunity for anyone who wants to work hard in search of that dream. Of course, it doesn’t always work out for everyone, but there is still is shot.
Geoge Santos became the first non-incumbent openly-gay Republican to have been elected to the US House Of Representatives. (1 ) That story is now what the man celebrates as his real history. It’s what is written on the US Government website. Why wasn’t that true story good enough for him to utilize when he ran for Congress in the first place? Why wasn’t that enough? This is where the questions of disinformation begin.
U.S. House Office of Photography, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The first question is simple, what did George Santos achieve that would fuel the investigations into his life that would eventually reveal what may be a pathological liar?
1. At 1.23: AM on November 9th, 2022, the AP called George Santos the winner in New York’s 3rd Congressional district. Republican George Devolder-Santos had defeated Democrat runner Robert Zimmerman. The seat had been vacated by incumbent Democrat Rep. Tom Suozzi who had left the seats to challenge for the Democratic Nomination to become New York’s Governor which was won by Kathleen Hochul.
2. How did George Santos a Republican win against a Democrat in a State that leans heavily blue?
A. New York’s 3rd congressional district represents the North Shore Of Long Island in Nassau County. It includes the towns of Oyster Bay Cove, Old Brookville, Levittown, Glen Cove, Roslyn, Manhasset, Plainview, Bethpage, Port Washington, Hicksville, Jericho, Syosset, Mineola, Farmingdale, Massapequa Park, and Great Neck in Nassau County. It also includes a few towns in Queens including Little Neck, Whitestone, Glen Oaks, Floral Park, and Queens Village.
B. The median income for the district is $119,185. It is considered the wealthiest district in New York which some would argue would make it a Republican stronghold. However………..
C. The District has been served for the past ten years by two Democrats. Steve Israel from 2013 to 2017 and Thomas Suozzi from 2017 to 2022. However, it was also served by the very popular Peter King for twenty straight years from 1993 to 2013. In the end, the district was up for grabs for any smooth politician that could convince the voting public that they were the perfect pick to represent all of the people. Someone just like George Devolder-Santos.
How did George Santos do it? Well, the man campaigned on a boatload of lies and false stories that he thought would appeal to the widest audience possible. His goal was to connect with sensitive issues of race and persecution that many of the voters had faced in their own lives or those of their ancestors. At the same time while he sought to prove that while he and his family had suffered the same persecution as so many of his voters, he was strong enough to fight his way out of it and earn a prestigious education that would help him serve the people and make their lives better. In the end, pretty much the same exact dog and pony show as a snake oil salesperson from the Wild West.
Here is a collection of his greatest hits that helped him get into office.
George Santos’ Greatest Hits Of Disinformation
# 1 – George Santos claimed to be Jewish and that his grandparents had survived the Holocaust” as Ukrainian Jewish refugees from Belgium
This was an early lie that George Santos had told that was eventually rebuked by CNN and The New York Times who had found no records of George Santos’s claimed Jewish heritage. The Holocaust Museum and the International Center on Nazi Persecution showed no records of George Santos’ grandparents.
Why did Geoge Santos make up this lie? The heroics of perseverance that seemed to fuel a major part of his campaign can be seen in this George Santos quote from the Jewish News Syndicate.
“I’m very proud of my Jewish heritage.” “I’m very proud of my grandparents’ story. My grandfather fleeing, Ukraine, fleeing Stalin’s persecution, going to Belgium, finding refuge there, marrying my grandmother, then fleeing Hitler going to Brazil. That’s a story of perseverance. I’m so proud. I mean, I wish I could have met my grandfather.”
When George Santos was confronted about the lack of proof that his family was Jewish, he basically said that he had just heard the stories about his grandparents and admitted that he never claimed to be actually Jewish but rather just Jew-ish.
# 2 – George Santos Lied About His High School Education
During his campaign, George Santos claimed to have attended Horace Mann School in the Bronx. This is one of the most prestigious High Schools in the Nation. It is also one of the most difficult to get in from an academic standpoint. Recognizing that only a small percentage of applicants are accepted into the school based on a record of superior academic success, George Santos’s claim that he had gotten in and attended the school served as a disinformation campaign to the public that he owned an intellect that only a small percentage of people can claim. However, when recognizing that the school cost close to sixty thousand a year to attend, he quickly appended his story of attending the school for four years arguing that he had to drop out because his parents could not afford it. He actually went to PS 122 in Astoria Queens which is part of the New York City Public School system that is free to attend.
# 3 – George Santos Lied About His College Education
Hey, we all would love to say we graduated from Harvard or Stanford. However, most of us understand the basic concept that prospective employers will check up on college experience. What was George Santos thinking when he lied about going to Baruch College in 2010 and obtaining degrees in economics and finance? He also claimed to have earned an MBA At New York University. Hasn’t he ever heard of transcripts?
George Santos was asked why he lied about his college education in an interview with Piers Morgan. Below is his answer
# 4 – George Santos Lied About Working On Wall Street
Well, I guess if you’re going to lie about where you went to high school and college, you’re going to lie about the job you never really had that you gained from the college degrees you never obtained. Of course. if he was going to lie, why not claim to have worked at one of the biggest financial institutions in the world like Goldman Sach? Of course, why not add Citicorp to his resume? Hello? George, have you ever heard of pay stubs and taxes?
# 5 – Solicited At Least $50,000 In Donations For A Claimed Super PAC
Eventually lies and disinformation will get you into hot water. Sometimes, boiling water. In early May George Santos was indicted on thirteen charges. On one of those charges George Santos was accused of raising 50, 000 in donations for a Super Pac but instead spent the money on a personal shipping spree.
Licensed from lev radin /Shutterstock.com
# 6 – George Santos Fraudulently Applied for $24,000 in Pandemic Unemployment Benefits
One of the charges levied against George Santos was for charges of lying on federal disclosure forms. He had basically applied for $24,000 in pandemic money that was meant for people struggling and out of work during the pandemic while at the time he was working as Regional Director of a Florida-based investment firm making $120,ooo a year.
There are so many more cases and examples of lies that George Santos has been accused of. Many of them have nothing to do with the public and are more personal based. Still, it speaks volumes about his character and possibly his intent for running for office and what he sought to achieve in the world of politics. It’s pretty safe to say that it was all based on personal greed and gain. Of course, that’s just my opinion. Yet, there are many questions about the mental stability of the man and his intellect. In the end, he had demonstrated for a while one of the greatest political disinformation campaigns in New York politics.
Conclusion
How George Santos could not comprehend that he wouldn’t be caught lying about his college education, his job experience, his family history, and all the other lies is quite disturbing knowing that he is currently a member of Congress. Did he not realize he was running for office in New York? This is a state that is home to the New York Times. Did he not think that a prestigious new organization like the New York Times would not get suspicious?
How a man that lied without reservation and concern for his actions is now voting on bills that directly affect the American people and the Nation is incomprehensible. What’s even more unfathomable is the fact that he is still a member of Congress because his vote is more important to a certain set of politicians than the simple yet important concepts of basic human decency and morality. Of course, the meaning of trust which is inscribed on every denomination of our currency that represents us is a term that can no longer be used when dealing with certain people in this country. People who claim to be who someone they most definitely are not, and actually may be so good at lying that they even fool themselves. It is why organizations like The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, and many others hold this Nation together by calling out lies and deceit by simple fact-checking and reporting. Some don’t want to hear the truth, and others will raise some Hell to find it. Thank God for the hell-raisers.
Sources
1. https://santos.house.gov/
2. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/george-santos-congress-new-york/
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York%27s_3rd_congressional_district
4. https://www.fox5ny.com/election/george-santos-defeats-robert-zimmerman-ny3cd
5. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/guide-george-santos-lies.html
6. Blaine, Kyle; Steck, Em (December 29, 2022). “Santos’ claim about his mother and 9/11 faces scrutiny amid his other lies”. CNN
7. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/19/nyregion/george-santos-ny-republicans.html
8. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/10/nyregion/george-santos-indictment-arrest.html?searchResultPosition=19
9. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/congressman-george-santos-charged-fraud-money-laundering-theft-public-funds-and-false
