The Santos Clause
This is a small matter. It did get a little attention the other day, albeit just a very little, but events over the weekend, most notably the No Kings rallies across the country, swamped it. But it's so emblematic of Trump and today's MAGOP that it can't go without mention
George Santos was kicked out of Congress by a huge bipartisan vote of 311-114, seen as so breathtakingly crooked and reprehensible that he was viewed even by Republicans as an embarrassing stain on the Republican Party by Republicans.
He was then indicted and convicted of wire fraud and "aggravated identity theft, which included defrauding his donors -- and pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to 87 months in prison, over seven years.
On Friday, he had his sentence commuted by Trump.
This should come as a shock to no one. My sense is that this should be consider professional courtesy among fraudsters and grifters. I suspect too that Trump in his dementia projected a bit of himself into Santos.
To be clear, this is not a pardon. Santos remains a convicted felon. He just gets to home after only three months, seven years short of his full sentence, and start thinking of ways to scam others sooner than he expected.
The question I have is not about Trump. It's about the MAGOPs in Congress. It's if people who were so utterly mortified by the crimes committed by Santos that they viewed him as such a galling embarrassment to the party that he should actually be expelled from the House of Representatives will be bothered by Trump's action and say so.
My guess is that they won't. My guess is that they'll say (if they say anything...) that it was Trump's right to do what he did.
By the way, a person has the right to empty his 401K to buy a bulldozer and use it just one time to crack open a peanut, and then discard it -- and the peanut. But most people would consider that a bizarre and irresponsible thing to do.
It's a story that doesn't affect much. But it's like shining a klieg light on a massive billboard. Trump's action speaks so loudly about who he is -- a lifelong swindler protecting a fellow con. And the likely lack of response by most (if not all) MAGOPs in Congress speaks just as loudly about who they are -- craven toadies for their convicted felon cult leader.
And that commuting the sentence of someone expelled from Congress and guilty of seven years in prison for fraud and "aggravated identity theft" comes on the heels of Trump pushing the indictment of a former FBI Director and current New York state Attorney General out of pure retribution sends an even bigger sign to the public about Trump, MAGOPs and their disdain for the rule of law.
Comments