Grifter Rep. George Santos is still trying to brazen it out, despite his 23 criminal charges and ongoing ethics investigation. CNN is teasing an interview Santos did with Manu Raju in which Santos repeatedly laughs off the ideas that his lies played a role in his 2022 election and that he isn’t a viable candidate for 2024.
Santos said that he would “[a]bsolutely” run again in 2024, even if he were expelled this Congress. (A first expulsion attempt failed.)
Raju responded: “Can you win a primary given all these things that are lined up against you?”
“Yes,” Santos said firmly.
“And the general election?” Raju pressed. “This is a Biden-leaning district, and you have all these issues against you.”
“Could I have won the general election last time? Nobody said I could, but I still tried.”
Raju offered up a disbelieving tone for all of us as he answered, “It was a different situation!”
“No, I understand, but elections are tricky,” Santos said. “There’s no predetermined outcome.”
There may not be a predetermined outcome, but “Republican facing 23 criminal charges who lied about basically every facet of his background loses primary or general election in a district President Joe Biden won by 8.2 percentage points” seems like a safe bet.
At another point in the interview, Santos offered up a stirring explanation of why people voted for him in 2022:
As if “people didn’t care I played volleyball” and “people won’t care I lied about having played volleyball” are the same things. They are not.
Also, Santos speaks as if he did something special in winning over voters. In reality, he got more votes in his losing 2020 campaign than he did in his winning 2022 campaign—because 2022 was a midterm election in which specifically New York Democrats tanked. He got the voters who were going to turn out and vote for any Republican in any election, and he got lucky with an election where that was enough. In 2024, he’ll face a presidential-year electorate and, let’s hope, an energized state Democratic Party trying to avoid being a national laughingstock for a second cycle in a row.
This interview stands as a great example of what it takes to be a Santos-level grifter: the ability to sit there, criminally indicted, and laugh off the idea that this might be an electoral problem. Sure, he’s part of the party of Trump. They’re okay with indictments under certain circumstances. But he is not Donald Trump, and Republicans are not going to extend him that same grace. You almost have to feel for the guy. In the long run, it probably would have been better for him if he’d been a two-time losing congressional candidate who could continue his low-level frauds under the radar. Instead, his biggest payday has turned into a huge problem that he’s not going to shake easily.
Campaign Action
Santos said that he would “[a]bsolutely” run again in 2024, even if he were expelled this Congress. (A first expulsion attempt failed.)
Raju responded: “Can you win a primary given all these things that are lined up against you?”
“Yes,” Santos said firmly.
“And the general election?” Raju pressed. “This is a Biden-leaning district, and you have all these issues against you.”
“Could I have won the general election last time? Nobody said I could, but I still tried.”
Raju offered up a disbelieving tone for all of us as he answered, “It was a different situation!”
“No, I understand, but elections are tricky,” Santos said. “There’s no predetermined outcome.”
There may not be a predetermined outcome, but “Republican facing 23 criminal charges who lied about basically every facet of his background loses primary or general election in a district President Joe Biden won by 8.2 percentage points” seems like a safe bet.
At another point in the interview, Santos offered up a stirring explanation of why people voted for him in 2022:
As if “people didn’t care I played volleyball” and “people won’t care I lied about having played volleyball” are the same things. They are not.
Also, Santos speaks as if he did something special in winning over voters. In reality, he got more votes in his losing 2020 campaign than he did in his winning 2022 campaign—because 2022 was a midterm election in which specifically New York Democrats tanked. He got the voters who were going to turn out and vote for any Republican in any election, and he got lucky with an election where that was enough. In 2024, he’ll face a presidential-year electorate and, let’s hope, an energized state Democratic Party trying to avoid being a national laughingstock for a second cycle in a row.
This interview stands as a great example of what it takes to be a Santos-level grifter: the ability to sit there, criminally indicted, and laugh off the idea that this might be an electoral problem. Sure, he’s part of the party of Trump. They’re okay with indictments under certain circumstances. But he is not Donald Trump, and Republicans are not going to extend him that same grace. You almost have to feel for the guy. In the long run, it probably would have been better for him if he’d been a two-time losing congressional candidate who could continue his low-level frauds under the radar. Instead, his biggest payday has turned into a huge problem that he’s not going to shake easily.
Campaign Action