The life and lies of George Santos

by Kate Hedrick

Arts, Style, & Beauty Editor

George Santos’ official portrait. Photo by the U.S. House Office of Photography.

George Santos is a United States Representative currently holding office in New York’s 3rd congressional district. He is a Republican who was elected to Congress in 2022, the first LGBT Republican elected to federal office as a non-incumbent, and is currently embroiled in a massive scandal concerning lies he’s told about his life, his finances, and his personal background. The scandal has completely overshadowed the accomplishments of his political career, and caused both Democrats and Republicans to urge Santos to resign. Thus far, Santos has refused.

What exactly has Santos said and done to damage his career and reputation? The better question would be what he hasn’t done. Many Bradley students know vaguely of Santos’ numerous lies and the scandals surrounding them, with politics buff Tommy Kitchen (12) stating that “it’s crazy that someone like that can get elected by spouting nonsense.” But what sort of nonsense? Santos has lied and misled the public about many aspects of his life, including but not limited to…

Family- Santos has claimed on numerous occasions that his mother, Fatima Devolder, was killed in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center. In truth, Devolder passed away in December of 2017 after a battle with cancer. There is no evidence that Devolder suffered from the long-term complications of inhaling toxic debris from the fallen towers, nor that she was at the World Trade Center on that day.

Religion- One of Santos’ most long standing lies is that of his family’s Jewish heritage. In fact, he was chosen to deliver remarks on Holocaust Remembrance Day in January of 2023. He claims that his maternal grandparents were Ukrainian Jews that fled to America during World War II, and that his grandmother perished in the Holocaust. In reality, his maternal grandparents were both born in Brazil. Santos has no traceable Jewish heritage.

Education- Santos claimed that he attended the prestigious Horace Mann School, a private high school in the Bronx, but that he had to leave his Senior year due to his family ‘falling on hard times’ during the Great Recession of 2008. However, there is no evidence of this. He also claimed to have graduated from New York’s Baruch College with a finance degree, but he is not listed as a member of the Baruch class of 2010.

Employment- In Santos’ campaign biography, he stated that he had worked for two well-known banks, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. However, representatives from each company have stated that he was never an employee of either.

Marriage- While one of Santos’ main claims to fame is being an openly gay Republican politician, there is evidence that he has been in multiple marriages with women. From 2012 to 2019, he was married to a woman, allegedly as part of a scheme to acquire US citizenship for his then-wife.

With all of these lies laid out for the public to see, it is intensely ironic that Santos should accuse anyone else of lying. However, he is among the contingent of Americans who falsely believe that the 2020 election was stolen from incumbent candidate and former President Donald Trump. He has also branded President Joe Biden a pathological liar. Stones in glass houses, pot calling the kettle black, so on and so forth.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle have emphatically called for Santos to step down from his office. According to politico.com, 78% of his Republican constituents want him to resign- a damning statistic in such a divided political environment. While other politicians likely did not know the extent of Santos’ elaborate lies, Tommy remarks that “you would think the Republicans would have picked someone with a little common sense.” Faced with immense amounts of public outcry and pushback, Santos adamantly refuses to leave his position, broadcasting that exact sentiment in a tweet published on February 14th.

Santos states his refusal to resign. Screenshot by Kate Hedrick (12).Santos states his refusal to resign. Screenshot by Kate Hedrick (12).

The sheer scale of the lies told by George Santos is unlike almost anything seen in American politics up until this point. Having witnessed several election cycles and While Santos may refuse to resign, this scandal (scandals, rather) will haunt him for the rest of his political career and massively influence the public’s opinion of him.

In fact, he reminds some, like history teacher Mr. Dempsey, of conmen more than other politicians. Dempsey likens Santos to infamous con man and convicted felon Frank Abagnale, saying “he assumed all of these different identities, lives, he’s been a doctor, and airline pilot, but he never had any formal training, he did all those things as a con. That’s the most extreme example, but that rings true with this whole Santos situation.” We will likely never see another politician as brazenly facetious as Santos, and that is for the best.

It is highly unlikely that he would be re-elected if he were to run again. George Santos will go down in history as one of the most scandal-ridden in United States history, and will likely be remembered not for his contributions to politics, but for lying to and deceiving the American people.