Integrity and ethics should always matter and not just when it is convenient. They should be front and center when determining whether somebody deserves to continue serving in elected office. They matter whether you are a Democrat or a Republican or an Independent. If it is revealed that someone is a liar, a fraud, a racist, or an antisemite they should be called out by their colleagues, held to long-established standards of conduct, and forced to resign. And Despite what cowardly Kevin McCarthy is saying and his not acting, he could do what every other Speaker of the House has done from Nancy Pelosi to John Boehner and on down the line. He could and should, as leader, do the easy and right thing and sit Santos down and tell him he must resign, for the sake of the Party and for institutional credibility.
As it stands right now, George Santos has easily met that threshold by blatantly defrauding the voters of his New York district. They voted for him based upon the assumption that he was who he was claiming to be; that his resume was sound and authentic. That was not the case and now most of his fellow lawmakers in Congress (most, but not all) and most of his constituents and fellow Republicans back in his district are calling for him to resign and step down. In fact, the members and leaders of his local GOP back home are downright pissed. Oddly enough Republicans in Congress are staying silent.
Throughout history, there have been corrupt politicians from the far left, the far right, and everywhere in between. So this is not about whether one party or the other, one side or the other has a more inherent claim to stand on the moral high ground. Simply put, in a law-abiding, civilized society we should generally all expect some standard rules of conduct for public officials. The issue is whether when presented with glaring obvious evidence of malfeasance, obvious ethical violations, and blatant lack of veracity you expect your representatives to take a stand and call it out. Or, on the other hand, do they fail to denounce what is staring them in the face and slink cowardly away from the moment because of unprincipled motivations?
It is just about the easiest decision one could make while serving as a lawmaker, to stand up and declare, “that kind of bold-faced lying and disingenuous accounting of your past and resume is not acceptable and becoming of someone holding public office in the United States of America. Your behavior does not meet the standards required of members of this chamber and I am calling on you to resign”. Should be a slam dunk for any principled lawmaker, Democrat or Republican. Especially, if you are the newly elected Speaker of the House and Republican leader you definitely don’t shrink from the opportunity to reaffirm and define your or your party’s ethical expectations and standards. Well, that is unless you are Kevin McCarthy.
This is not about whether we should all be held to a standard of perfection because after all, we are all imperfect, and we all make mistakes. Blatantly and intentionally lying about numerous fundamental aspects of your personal and public history in a brazen effort to craft a fictitious, compelling narrative to sell to voters is not an example of making honest mistakes and just being imperfect. It is sleazy, it is alarming, it is behavior indicating sociopathic tendencies, and oftentimes correlates with outright criminal behavior. Criminal accountability may be just around the corner for Santos, by the way. But Kevin McCarthy is fine with the lies and phony bill of goods Santos sold his constituents. George Santos is predictably the poster boy for the Trump Republican Party now. Where is their shame and outrage at this person’s disturbing behavior?
They could denounce him and run him out of town in about five minutes if they wanted to. Kevin could end this in a New York minute, but he won’t, because he is spineless. It’s not that surprising, considering how McCarthy and almost the entire roster of GOP House members and party leaders decided long ago to turn a blind eye to Trump’s plethora of lies, his normalization of fraud & misrepresentation, and his embrace of conspiracies over the last six years. That’s their playbook now and it is pathetic to watch. Their standard now is to have no standards.