George Santos goes on TV and makes it even worse for himself

Given that Republican Congressman-elect George Santos has faked most of his life story on an almost cartoonish level, it’s not clear that there is a “right” way for him to handle the fallout (short of resigning and disappearing from the public eye). But suffice it to say that the path Santos has chosen thus far has not been a savvy one.

Santos keeps running to “friendly” right wing news outlets in the hope they’ll bail him out. But when he confessed to the New York Post that several of his lies about his life were indeed lies, it branded him a “liar” in its resulting headline. And of course Santos’ insistence that he actually said he was “Jew-ish” and not “Jewish” is precisely the kind of unintentional punchline that you never want to feed the media.

Now Santos has appeared on Fox News, where he was interviewed by right wing host Tulsi Gabbard (remember back when she used to pretend she was a progressive?). But Santos dug himself such a deep hole, insisting that everyone was merely trying to “nitpick” him, that even Gabbard ended up being harsh toward him:

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Of course when you’ve lied about everything from your employment history, to your education, to your charity, to your marital history, to your grandparents, to your religion, and you get caught just as you’re about to enter Congress, there’s really no way to make that work. Santos tried being vaguely contrite. Now he’s trying fighting back. But it’s all going to keep going poorly for him. The only way he can stop this from getting worse for himself is if he quits instead of taking office. He doesn’t yet seem to understand this. But with each day getting even worse for him, we’ll see if he eventually comes to grasp that resignation is his only way out.

Bill Palmer

Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report

www.palmerreport.com