Editor’s note: Jill Filipovic is a journalist andOkay, Boomer, let’s talk: How my generation was left behind.” Follow her twitter. The opinions expressed in this comment are solely her own.view more opinions On CNN.
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Disgraced former New York state congressman George Santos will never go away.
Provided by: Jill Filipovic
Jill Filipovic.
Mr. Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives last year for a series of ethics violations, including the discovery that he tried to “misappropriate” his campaign for financial gain, and then turned to federal prosecutors to avoid jail time on fraud charges. I’ve been negotiating. sell gossip on X (old Twitter) Promote the video with a cameo appearance.
Now he’s suing Jimmy Kimmel, claiming that Kimmel used a fake name and profile to buy 14 of his Cameo videos, including some of their content called “Will Santos Say It.” He claims to have broadcast it on TV in a corner in which he highlighted a video clip that said: Santos is saying something outrageous. The comedian infringed the copyright “for the sole purpose of exploiting and ridiculing Plaintiff’s outgoing personality,” according to the complaint. Santos is also suing ABC, which broadcasts “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” and parent company Disney. While this lawsuit may have merit, the irony is that the alleged fraudster, Santos, is suing Kimmel for fraud.
Given the accusations that got him expelled from the House of Representatives and made him the subject of an extensive media pursuit, Santos is accused of using campaign funds for things like beauty treatments and purchases at Sephora and Only Fans. He seems to be a serial fabricator. Santos lied about everything from his resume to the fact that his mother was killed on 9/11. He would think Santos would make him run away in shame. But that would require him to feel ashamed.
Instead, Santos appears to have learned from the greatest of all: former President Donald Trump. Mr. Santos is not as wealthy or charismatic as Mr. Trump, but he appears to be copying some of the former president’s strategies. Chief among them is dominating the attention economy.
Many of us who find ourselves hating Trump, myself included, have found that the more we hear about this man, the more we fear what anyone would want to hear from him. However, this is far from a universal reaction.
For many Americans, Trump’s control of the media seems to be a kind of exposure therapy, and as his shocking statements make the news over and over again, the shock begins to lessen and feel normal. And for many of these Americans, Trump made politics fun and interesting. The Republican Party did not even announce a new platform in the last presidential election. Loyalty to Trump, the entertainer’s chief executive, seemed to be the only rule.
Santos is acting kindly. He lacks the base of malice and political success that President Trump enjoys. But perhaps he understands that doing something outrageous will attract attention, and that in today’s Republican Party, attention, even negative attention, has some value. Even being accused of a serious crime is not a deal breaker for voters or party leaders.
He is not alone in understanding that shocking, disgusting, even illegal actions can be of benefit to Republican politicians. Not only has he not paid a price for his outrageous commentary and actions, but there is no shortage of Republicans and prominent commentators who have actually seen their star rise.
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It’s almost a cliché now to call the Republican Party a “clown show,” but stop and consider the fact that it’s a fitting term. The party is increasingly made up of unscrupulous, unqualified, and unethical people, and chaos appears to be the end goal.
American politics was never completely fixed until Trump descended the golden escalator and upended the entire system. But at no point in my life has any disruptive, attention-seeking, and offensive behavior been rewarded so thoroughly by either of this country’s two major political parties.
George Santos, whose House seat was filled last week by Democrat Tom Suozzi, is one of the few Republicans who appears to have finally gone too far, or at least gone too far in the unethical and possibly criminal part. But he’s not sneaking away. And why would he do that? Today’s Republican Party looks like it was custom-built, or more accurately, built by Trump, just for a man like him.