It's outrageous that any of us were holding our breath to see if a liar, thief, and conman such as Long Island fabulist Rep. George Santos would keep his seat in Congress. On the other hand, Republicans have had a lot of experience warming up to the likes of Donald J. Trump, so this isn't a new experience for them.
Cementing the fact that the vote to expel would go down in history as a massive shitshow, all of the top House GOP leadership, including newly minted House Speaker Mike Johnson announced they would vote against his expulsion.
The New York Times reports:
Representative George Santos, the New York Republican whose tapestry of lies and schemes made him a figure of national ridicule and the subject of a 23-count federal indictment, was expelled from Congress on Friday after a bipartisan vote by his peers.
The move consigned Mr. Santos, who over the course of his short political career invented ties to the Holocaust, Sept. 11 and the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, to a genuine place in history: He is the first person to be expelled from the House without first being convicted of a federal crime or supporting the Confederacy.
"It shouldn't have come to this," Representative Anthony D'Esposito, a Long Island Republican who pushed for Santos's expulsion, said as he left the chamber. "George Santos should have held himself accountable. He should have resigned."
"Now we're going to actually allow the Third Congressional District to elect a representative — someone that they can trust, someone that they know and someone who's going to do the right thing for the district," he added.
Asked if he would return to use his House privileges, Santos said no. "Why would I want to stay here?"
Well, now they've done it. They've hurt George's feels. Three hundred ten voted to expel. One hundred fourteen voted to stay BFFs with George. And two voted present.
Santos's last words were: “To hell with this place.”
