In the 234 year history of the U.S. House of Representatives (Congress) only five members have ever been expelled. That is until December 1, when the former Congressman George Anthony Devolder Santos, (aka Anthony Devolder; Anthony Zabrovsky; drag queen Kitara Ravache) was expelled by the final vote of 311 to 114. And yes, in defending himself, furious George snapped at pushy reporters, “I can walk gum and chew at the same time, you know.”
105 Republicans voted to kick him out and 112 voted against doing so. Among Democrats 206 said he should be ousted in a seemingly “don’t let the door hit your big butt on the way out” attitude) while 2 voted against expulsion. I’m assuming they did so because if nothing else Anthony Devolder Zabrovsky Ravache was good for some laughs.
Even though my parents were lifelong fans of FDR, growing up in my house there was respect for some GOP presidents and legislators. I can’t help but imagine what many of these folks from the past would think of Trump, Santos’ and MAGA. A few former presidents who are likely spinning in their graves could include: Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, along with war heroes Bob Dole, John McCain and George H.W. Bush who at 20 was the youngest fighter pilot in the Naval Reserve to be shot down and dramatically rescued at sea.
William Howard Taft was a former GOP President, but the only former POTUS to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. I can only speculate what Taft would have thought of Clarence Thomas accepting lavish vacations and gifts from wealthy donors not to mention his wife Ginni’s small lobbying firm given the Court appears likely to secure victories for her allies in cases on abortion, affirmative action, and gun rights. And yet good old Clarence never recuses himself. No wonder the popularity of the Supreme Court is at its lowest in history.
Back to Georgie Porgie. Apparently in the less than one year Santos was in office he fibbed a little, or maybe told some whoppers, or more likely, is just a pathological liar. His expulsion puts him in the history books with the 5 others but I ran across a fact that he’s also the only openly gay, non-incumbent Republican to be tossed out of the Lower House.
But let’s switch to some of Georgie’s many falsehoods which are so great in number he’s referred to as a “fabulist” which at first I thought was a term applying to his drag queen days.
Allegations about the 35-year-old Republican’s checkered past were brought to light by damning New York Times articles published shortly after he was elected to represent New York’s 3rd Congressional District in November 2022 (on the heels of an article by The North Shore Leader, a small Long Island paper that broke the scandal — local news matters).
That Dec. 19 exposé, which called into question nearly every claim Santos made about his personal and professional history including being a soccer star at a college he now admits he never attended, kicked off a chain of events ultimately leading to his historic expulsion.
Santos faces 13 federal charges including fraud and lying to Congress, seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public and two counts of lying to Congress, along with charges of stealing the identities of donors to his campaign and then using their credit cards to ring up tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges allegedly used for trips to casinos, shopping at high-end retailers, Botox treatments and OnlyFans payments.
Among the most heinous allegations against Santos involved Richard Osthoff, a homeless disabled Navy veteran who lived with his sick pit bull in a tent on the side of a road in Howell, NJ. Santos apparently opened a GoFundMe page to raise the $3,000 needed for the dog’s surgery but it seems he kept the money for himself. The dog died and Osthoff rhetorically asks of Santos, “Do you have a soul?” (Obviously not but he has pretty smooth skin thanks to the Botox.)
It’s estimated that Santos could face up to 20 years of incarceration so he’s open to a plea but no jail, saying, “Prison is not pretty.” Otherwise he’s continuing to live a lavish night life. He’s signed with Cameo app videos and brags, “I’m making more with them than I did as a member of Congress.” If we’re to believe him, a big if, he’s receiving $599 for every Cameo he sends out, whereas it’s joked that Rudy Giuliani’s fee is down to $50 and a bottle of scotch.
Eventually Santos will likely wind up in court. As adept as he is in fabrication, I can imagine him pleading, “Guilty your honor, but with an explanation.”
+++News Flash+++ If you buy $4,000 of Donald Trump’s latest trading cards, “The Mug Shot Collection,” he will send you a framed portion of the suit he wore that day. Folks, I couldn’t make this up.
