One of my favorite, so to speak, people in Washington D.C. is finally facing criminal charges. That’s right, congressman George Santos stands accused of violating campaign finance laws and other potential misdeeds, which are probably the tip of the iceberg, since the man’s history is like a carnival sideshow on ketamine.
I think the natural thing for Santos to do is to come out and say that he’s not really Santos at all. He’s gone by different names before, he’s had some practice. In a reality as completely subjective as Santos has created for himself, he could be anyone; he could be Joan of Arc or the Second Coming of Christ. And when the feds look at him, blank-faced as feds are supposed to be, he could accuse them of lacking imagination.
Jokes on the nature of political reality aside (let’s leave that manipulative crap to the Russian government), I’m really glad that Santos is facing the music for once. As I’ve previously written, I have known far too many people like him in my far-too-exciting life. Those people shouldn’t come within a mile of Congress. Congress is weird enough as it is.
One of the worst things about DC, a city and a metro area I generally love, is the pose of weary knowingness that people adopt around here in order to seem seasoned and mature. The truth is, it’s OK to be surprised every once in a while!
I don’t believe that politics should be a spectator sport. At least every once in a while, people should stop screaming for whatever team they are on and consider what must be done for the whole of society.
Santos is surprising in many ways. So surprising, in fact, that he has now managed to alienate people in his very own Republican Party, which is home to people like Marjorie Taylor-Greene, for God’s sake. I am pretty sure that MTG, as she is known, is more of a talking shovel than a politician, and yet she somehow appears almost like a stateswoman next to someone like Santos.
I don’t believe that politics should be a spectator sport. At least every once in a while, people should stop screaming for whatever team they are on and consider what must be done for the whole of society. Legal consequences for a fraud of Santos’ magnitude are a win for all of us, even if it feels trite to say it.
For gay conservatives — yes, they do exist — the saga of Santos has an interesting dimension. One person I spoke to before I sat down to write this column told me on the phone that he’d originally hoped that the accusations swirling around Santos were all a misunderstanding of some kind, especially because Santos had been a drag queen in the past, and drag queens are currently being demonized. Now my source just wants the entire scandal to fade away.
I could understand his point of view, even if I couldn’t agree with it. Among several other conservative gay men whose numbers I keep in my contacts list, everyone brushed me off when I wanted to discuss the criminal charges. To be honest, I don’t even blame them. Being gay in the United States is already a mindfuck, now try being gay AND Republican. Then, try being gay and Republican AND living in the Year of Our Lord 2023.
Some people will argue that the real con here is that a gay man like Santos could be loyal to the GOP. As someone who was raised in the South, I disagree. I’ve known gay men who love to shoot guns and shotgun beers, gay men who’ve inherited their parents’ wealth, gay men who consider transgender people their enemies — just to name a few apparent contradictions. Some of these men are bound to have a soft spot for the GOP.
Life is a rich tapestry. And sometimes, curious knots appear within it, if you forgive my crude metaphor. The knot that is George Santos is far from undone, but at the very least, maybe his example can again remind us of how vital opposition research and a robust local press — remember, it was the North Shore Leader that first broke the Santos story — are to our electoral process.
Image: U.S. House Office of Photography
