George Santos is loving this
He's not resigning. Not ever.
Here’s embattled New York Rep. George Santos out at a karaoke night at a restaurant in DC on Wednesday:
Politico had more on Santos’ big night out:
“George Santos sitting with a mix of Hill staff, reporters, lobbyists and at least one former member, ex-Rep. Kevin Yoder, per two tipsters. A birdie tells us the group of D.C. acquaintances randomly decided to invite the Beltway’s biggest walking scandal — and that they were shocked when he agreed to show up. The group tried to get Santos to sing, and he briefly considered taking the stage to ‘I Will Survive.’ But, alas, we’re told he got cold feet.”
That near-miss karaoke opportunity comes in the days after Santos has taken to leaving treats for reporters who are staking out his congressional office.
On Tuesday, it was Dunkin’ Donuts. On Wednesday, Chick-Fil-A.
Add it all up and you get this: George Santos is actually enjoying all of this. The attention. The media horde. The being the big story in Washington — and nationally.
Heck, you can even see Santos sometime suppressing a grin when reporters flock around him to ask if he is going to resign amid a seemingly-unending cavalcade of falsehoods that have plagued him since winning a Long-Island House seat last fall.
Which, if you stop and think about it, makes some weird sense.
Santos is clearly a fabulist — someone who imagines a life for himself that is more successful, more high profile and just, well, cooler, than the facts (such as they are) about his actual life suggest he has lived.
He is, in his own telling, a millionaire. A college athlete. The victim of an assassination attempt.
This is someone who has been desperate for the spotlight — and been willing to say and do whatever it takes to get that spotlight. He now has that spotlight — and all evidence suggests that he is LOVING it.
Which means that he’s not going to willingly give up that spotlight — not for anything.
“I was elected to serve the people of #NY03 not the party & politicians, I remain committed to doing that and regret to hear that local officials refuse to work with my office to deliver results to keep our community safe and lower the cost of living,” Santos said in a statement earlier this month. “I will NOT resign!”
There’s a Trump comparison worth exploring here.
One of the strains of political analysis in the wake of Trump’s 2016 presidential victory was that he wouldn’t seek a second term.
The thinking went that Trump never really expected to win and didn’t want the job. And that, after four years of doing it, he would walk away back to his cushy life of playing golf and, um, talking on the phone — or something.
But that was a fundamental misread on Trump. He had spent his whole life trying to get people to pay attention to him. And now he had, somehow, won the most powerful office in the country — and EVERYONE was paying attention to him.
The idea that he would voluntarily walk away from being the center of attention — even if a lot of the attention he got was negative — was always an absolute fallacy.
So it is with Santos. He isn’t going to be shamed out of office. Other lawmakers calling on him to resign will have roughly ZERO impact on his thinking.
Santos’ only calculation is that he’s always wanted to be famous — and now he is! “Saturday Night Live” is doing an impersonation of him! And he is not-so-secretly thrilled!
Sure, he’s more infamous than famous. But, to Santos, there’s no difference. People know him! Everyone is talking about him! He matters!
Yes, it’s a sad state of affairs. But Santos has given every indication that not only is he tolerating all of the negative attention, he is absolutely reveling in it.
Which means he ain’t leaving unless or until his GOP colleagues — or New York voters — throw him out.
He'll be primaried and lose in 2024, but until then, we're stuck with him.
You called it with Trump way back in his first year in office... I thought he would resign but you were right ... the guy loved it and would have destroyed anything to stick around