Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) interviewed fellow attention-seeker Rep. George Santos (R-NY) on Steve Bannon’s conspiracy theory show “The War Room” on Thursday — a swampy cast of characters who deserve each other.
I watched the 8-minute disaster, so you wouldn’t have to. Let’s start at the beginning.
“One thing I know about this town, they come for the fighters. And they’re coming for George Santos like nothing I’ve seen in quite some time. I could ask you what it’s like to be an embattled congressman, but I kinda know a little bit about that scene,” Gaetz said to open up the interview, solidifying their kinship as performative victims of the lamestream media. Gaetz then turned to the news of the day, asking Santos about his reaction to the calls for him to resign that have come from some of his Republican colleagues in the last 24-hours.
“I came here to serve the people, not politicians and party leaders. And I’m gonna do just that. And I’ve been doing just that throughout this entire first two weeks,” Santos said. “I was elected by a hundred and forty-two thousand people and until those same hundred and forty-two thousand people tell me they don’t want me… we’ll find out in two years.”
Santos has been insisting that he will not resign for weeks. That’s despite him publicly admitting to “embellishing” his resume, a revived fraud investigation, questions about his campaign finances and calls from countless politicians — including New York state and local Republicans — for him to resign.
On Wednesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) pointedly refused to join the calls for Santos to resign and even gave him an out saying, “A lot of people here in the Senate and others” also fabricated part of their resumes.
As ridiculous as that sounds, the Republicans seem to be sticking with that non-defense defense, a dodge line from McCarthy who is far more concerned about clinging to power as speaker than holding one of his own accountable. During the interview, Gaetz jumped on that everyone-lies bandwagon. He repeated McCarthy’s sentiment, that it’s somehow normal to create a new identity in order to get elected, while asking Santos if he had a sense of what committees he would like to be a part of.
“If we didn’t seat people on committees who embellished their resume running for Congress, we probably wouldn’t be able to make quorum in any of those committees,” Gaetz said.
I can’t be the only one dying to know what other lawmakers made up an entire new personality as part of their campaign…
Anyways, it doesn’t seem Santos has much of a preference on his committee assignments, but, wait for it… “Whatever committee is thrown my way I will deliver 110% because that’s what I know how to do,” Santos promised. “I’m going to out work the pundits and talking heads that are out there saying that I should resign, that I’m unfit for office. The reality is… I’m a workhorse. I’ve worked my whole life. I’m a kid who came from a basement apartment.”
Is this a new backstory embellishment we haven’t heard yet? Help me, dear reader, it’s getting hard to keep track.
Let’s just hope he works harder on the committee he gets assigned to — if any — then he does at coming up with believable lies. A champion college volleyball player … Come on now!
“Embellishing one’s resume isn’t a crime,” Gaetz added. “It’s frankly how a lot of people get to Congress.”
Still waiting on those names by the way…
Right after mentioning all the imaginary resume-fakers in Congress, Gaetz asked Santos about one of the most contentious allegations he is facing.
“One of the principal critiques I’ve heard is that a lot of money was donated to your campaign by you, 700,000 I believe. Where did it come from?” Gaetz asked. He’s really grillin’ him now.
“Well I’ll tell you where it didn’t come from. It didn’t come from China, Ukraine or Burisma. How about that?” Santos said in his non-response response.
“Well, yes, that is an answer,” Gaetz replied.
Now it’s already hard to ignore that Gaetz — one of the most anti-media, right-wing, MAGA-infused members of Congress — is cosplaying as a journalist, but the least he could do is acknowledge a non-answer. But instead he gently stroked Santos’ ego and said he also put money into his own campaign.
And then: “Is there anything else you can say about the work you did that was the origin of those resources?”
“Look, I’ve worked my entire life. I’ve lived an honest life. I’ve never been accused of … any bad doings,” Santos replied, which is also a lie??
“So it’s the equity of my hard working self and I’ve invested inside of me,” he continued. “Like I said, it didn’t come from Burisma. It didn’t come from Ukraine, Russia, China unlike some folks that we all know that get money from those sources.
It would be off-brand if enemy No. 1 Hunter Biden didn’t come up at least once in this MAGAland dream conversation.
As the conversation kept going the pair made a tired leap, declaring that the New York Times report that made Santos admit to “embellishing” his resume was actually just a symptom of Democrat’s jealousy over Republicans’ victories in New York in the midterms.
“Democrats cannot stand that Republicans did so well in New York. They really can’t,” Gaetz said. “You have to wonder whether or not these other Republicans are just the next ones… Isn’t the New York Times gonna come for every one of these Republicans before it’s over?”
“Every last one of them,” Santos replied. “I just pray for all of you when they come for you that you have the same strength I have.”
So there you have it folks! May the liars targeted by the liberal media have strength.
