It seems that time may be up for Congressman George Santos, who has publicly said he expects to be expelled from Congress at some point this week. Heavy is the head that does the (alleged) crimes.
Perhaps in a post-Trump presidency America, it seems that there are no repercussions for *gestures vaguely* any of this an elected, but apparently, the imaginary line that is so low it very well may be in the basement of hell has finally been crossed by George Santos. He has taken to the wild waters of social media to announce he does not expect to survive the week as a Congress member.
In a live feed on X Spaces (and really, it makes sense that Santos would be one of the few who uses that dumb feature on that terrible site I still can’t quite entirely quit), he remarked: “I know I’m going to get expelled when this expulsion resolution goes to the floor.”
“I have done the math over and over and it doesn’t look really good,” he continued. But he claimed that he would wear his expulsion “like a badge of honor”.
Personally, it is wild to me that the Republicans won’t rally around Santos the way they do for every other morally corrupt member of Congress. The GOP is so party-over-country that the only logical conclusion I can reach over this is that Santos must be a real a**hole to be around, and this is coming from a work environment that includes both Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz. Two legendary a**holes. Let that sink in for a second.
Santos already survived one attempt to expel him from the House for his myriad corruption charges, which include spending campaign funds to go on a shopping spree at Sephora of all places. (Like, how do you justify that to the FEC? Sorry guys, this foundation and perfume set was essential for my election campaign because politics? Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy crime-ing George!)
It does not appear he will survive another, and my friends, the wheels are already in motion. Today Rep. Robert Garcia introduced a resolution to expel Santos:
This obviously is coming to the surprise of no one. In fact, it’s the second in less than a week.
So what happens next? Let me tell you, via CNN:
The resolution from Garcia is privileged, which will require GOP leadership to take up the matter within two legislative days, though it could potentially be pre-empted if leadership calls up another expulsion resolution first. Before Thanksgiving, House GOP Rep. Michael Guest, a Republican from Mississippi and the Ethics Committee chair, introduced his own resolution to expel Santos.
According to the same article, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson hasn’t decided how he’ll want to proceed with the Resolution, but no matter what, per the rules of the House, he must bring it to the floor for a vote within two legislative days.
So how many votes is enough to oust Santos, you might be wondering. Or not, but you’re here so I’ll tell you regardless: two thirds of the body. That means that all but a third of the House, would have to say “yes, this guy is so terrible he’s got to go.” Again, we are talking about the Republicans here who are still, by and large, backing Donald Trump for president in 2024. A man who has also been accused of his own litany of crimes … and yet? Santos has crossed some invisible line for them and it’s too much. Again, I can only guess this is deeply personal for everyone and Santos is just one of the worst people you could ever encounter in life.
It’s not a party without a gigantic George Santos balloon
Relatedly, the MoveOn organization used their hard-earned donation money to create a massive George Santos balloon they’ve positioned near the Capitol, and, well, OK. I can’t imagine this is going to move the needle in one direction or the other, but it’s kind of funny so here you go:
It makes you wonder what they’ll do with it once Santos is gone from Congress one way or another. I doubt there’s a large resell market for a used George Santos balloon that has “full of lies” written on it.
Regardless, if Santos survives this latest attempt to get rid of him, I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ve heard of any of this. He still has his federal corruption charges to deal with, after all.
(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
