The Liar and the Dunce
/By Don Varyu
Jan. 18, 2023
George Santos, even by modern day standards, is a world class liar. Solomon Pena, even by modern day standards, is a deluded political terrorist. They have something in common.
Santos was elected to Congress from a New York district despite building a monument of lies to convince voters of his worthiness. There’s no reason to document them all here, but note that he hit the deceiver’s trifecta when he claimed he required two knee replacements after being injured playing volleyball in college. In fact, he had no replacements, he didn’t play volleyball, and never attended the college. You can’t get much more brazen than that.
Solomon Pena ran for the state legislature in New Mexico—even though he’d spent seven years in prison for robbery. He lost by 48 points. Nevertheless, owing to his intense MAGA loyalty, he screamed that the election had been ‘stolen’. He seems to believe that. When no one listened, he allegedly hired four men to fire bullets into the homes of four different election officials. Fortunately, no one was injured. But at least one of the rounds rifled through the bedroom of a ten-year-old girl.
The knee-jerk reaction was predictable. Where could people get these kinds of ideas…that lies and violence are the way to seize political power? Hmm…that sounds a lot like Donald Trump, doesn’t it?
While that’s not untrue, it’s too easy.
Next came the second and third order deflections. Why didn’t their opponents call them out? Why didn’t the media uncover this? That’s just lazy. (And in fact, Pena’s opponent did point out his criminal record—repeatedly.)
The commonality between these two criminals is the full support of the Republican party. They are the responsible actors. GOP officials in New Mexico could have deep-sixed Pena’s candidacy—but they didn’t. In D.C., since election the GOP has had ample opportunity to send Santos packing--but they haven’t. With rare exception, his Republican colleagues have had nothing to say about him.
There is no law that requires lawmakers to talk to the media; no law that requires them to interact with their constituents. In fact, for Republicans, there is no punishment anymore—as long as you pledge full allegiance solely to the GOP.
Republican party officials and elected officials are craven cowards. They are the enablers. They are the last people you’d want alongside you on the battlefield. They would push you from behind out of the foxhole and into the line of fire…and then run for their lives. Later, they’d have no comment on what happened.
This is no longer only about Trump…or even bad actors like Santos and Pena. It is about the frightened souls who allow them. They believe they can have jobs without responsibilities.
When you call 9-1-1, you expect someone to answer. When you rush into an emergency room with an injured child, you don’t expect the nurses and doctors to just sit in a back room drinking coffee. People need to do their jobs.
Unless you’re a Republican. In which case you can just hide--even if the 9-1-1 call is for America…and the injured kid is democracy.
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