Bamboozled

The man we know as George Santos, if that is indeed his name, is a work of fiction. The character may have been a runof-the-mill inspiring rags-to-riches story in some low-budget television drama, where it would have been a tad tedious but ultimately harmless; instead, it manifested in a much more nefarious fashion, having propped up the political campaign of the underlying man and carried him to victory in a congressional district straddling Queens and Nassau County.

To say politicians lie is no Earth-shattering statement, but that belies the sheer extent to which Santos manufactured everything. The New York Times and Forward and others have picked apart almost every aspect of his supposed journey.

He didn’t go to Baruch or work at Citigroup or Goldman Sachs; his animal charity seems not to exist; there’s no record of the gay politician’s marriage to a man, with reporters instead finding records of a prior marriage to a woman; and the harrowing story of his Jewish grandparents’ escape from Hitler looks like fiction. In fact, there are questions about whether he’s even Jewish. His mom was not in the South Tower on 9/11. Is he really 34 years old? Is he really a Republican?

What is true? We know that he’s wanted for check fraud in Brazil.

He now admits all the lies, so when Santos takes the oath of office on Jan. 3, there’s no reason to think it will be worth anything. After all, the trust of his constituents meant nothing to him. Not that he should take any such oath; if Santos has any shred of decency, he’ll step aside now that his con has been exposed, even if some of his voters are standing behind him. We’re not holding our breath.

If he doesn’t, there doesn’t seem to be much anyone can do. The lies got him elected, but he has been duly elected. All that’s left is for his future colleagues to box him out and investigate him themselves, and wait for the error to be corrected by the voters in two years’ time.