Republicans join Democrats to boot Rep. George Santos from the House
Here’s what Republicans are bad at: Representing the American people. Here’s what Republicans are good at: A suicidal form of virtue signaling that sees them destroy what little power they have. Nothing more perfectly illustrates that than today’s vote to boot George Santos from the House. I can’t help but hope that Santos gets his revenge by letting the American people learn what really goes on in the House.
I’m not a fan of George Santos, who is a fabulist and, if one trusts the federal prosecutors (which I don’t), financially corrupt. But in that regard, he’s no different from a significant portion of D.C., starting with Joe Biden.
What’s important about Santos in a city where Republicans have the barest of holds on the House is that…he’s a Republican. However, that didn’t stop 105 Republican House members from joining Democrats to kick him out:
The House voted 311-114 to oust the 35-year-old Republican, with 105 of his fellow GOP lawmakers supporting his removal.
All but seven House Democrats voted to boot Santos, with Bobby Scott of Virginia and Nikema Williams of Georgia opposing the measure and Al Green of Texas and Jonathan Jackson of Illinois voting present.
Eight members, including former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and far-left Bronx and Queens Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, did not vote.
With that vote, the Republicans, who had a 221 to 213 majority, now have a 220 to 213 majority. If seven of them get the flu, the House, at least temporarily, belongs to the Democrats.
Image: George Santos. YouTube screen grab.
As a reminder, Rep. Jamaal Bowman pulled a fire alarm to stop an official House proceeding, which is both a felony (punishable by up to five years in prison) and an “insurrection.” The House ethics committee, however, won’t even bother to investigate him.
Only Republicans are dumb enough when holding a squeaker majority in the House to make the majority even smaller. They do it hoping that the mainstream media will respect them. They seem incapable of understanding that the media will never respect them but will always despise them. If you’re going to be damned if you do and damned if you don’t, you may as well do, but Republicans can’t grasp that principle.
It's also entirely possible that those Republicans who chose to weaken their majority are scared that, if they don’t, the same DOJ that slammed Santos with 23 federal charges will come after them. The one thing we’ve learned since Trump left office is that Democrats are happy to use their power to criminalize their opposition.
Nor do Republicans understand that voters, watching America creep ever closer to an abyss from which there is no return, are no longer concerned with a politician’s personal purity. If they had been, they wouldn’t have elected Trump twice. As it was, they were able to overlook Trump’s multiple marriages and long history of partying in favor of his promise to save America. The Republicans should have given Santos to the voters next November rather than letting the Democrats chew up another Republican now.
My vicious hope is that Santos, a gay man, does what gay men so often do: Go full bee-atch! Indeed, he started to do so even before the expulsion vote:
“I have colleagues who are more worried about getting drunk every night with the next lobbyist that they’re gonna screw and pretend like none of us know what’s going on, and sell off the American people, not show up to vote because they’re too hungover or whatever the reason is, or not show up to vote at all and just give their card out like f–king candy for someone else to vote for them,” Santos thundered in a lengthy interview on X Space Friday evening.
It's time for Republicans to start fighting for America instead of acting like Stockholm Syndrome sufferers as they try desperately to curry favor with Democrats, whether in or outside of the media. Perhaps being forced to drop the “holier than thou” act will help focus their minds.