George Santos
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images//Steve Pfost/Newsday RM via Getty Images//Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
George Santos was expelled from Congress on Friday.His expulsion has become a meme among younger generations. Most of those looking back on his career are reminiscing about the absurdness of his tenure in office.
True diva representation in Congress is now back to zero after scandal-plagued representative George Santos was formally expelled by his colleagues on Friday.
However, if you’ve been reading online commentary from Gen Z (and some millennials, too) surrounding his expulsion, you might forget that Santos is now a pariah in Washington. Because, for Gen Z, Santos has become something of a star, a man worth having a shrine erected in his honor, per one post on X, “in memory of a Jew-ish icon.”
He’s lied about everything from holding a cushy job at Wall Street banks to being a volleyball star at a Manhattan college, though no one can say what a lie like this even does for one’s career in politics.
For a man who claimed for years he was wealthy, Santos, ironically, may have stolen a Burberry scarf. Now, the congressman is being accused of using campaign funds to buy himself Ferragamo sneakers and Botox shots and scamming his colleagues and their mothers out of their money. No one is doing it quite like him.
The absurdness in which Santos conducted himself in the face of his expulsion has sent my generation into a state unseen since the Lauren Boebert “Beetlejuice” scandal.
Some reminisced on his outlandish statements during the lead-up to the expulsion vote, like when he compared himself to the biblical figure Mary Magdalene and grumbled about how he was no longer the “It Girl” of political circles. It’s a dubious assertion considering that most people came to know him for his lying skills, not his slay factor — but that hasn’t stopped people from posting videos of him set to the TikTok viral song “IT GIRL” by Aliyah’s Interlude.
The glamour of his departure from his official duties and his determined fight until the end to stay in office — or at least take everyone down with him before he left — was like a dramatic exit interview on RuPaul’s Drag Race with a contestant who didn’t quite get why the judges asked her to sashay away.
Upon his exit, people began fan casting for the Santos biopic, dreaming about all the reality shows he can now participate in — like E! Network show “House of Villains” — and coming to the sad realization that we may never get someone as fun as Santos again in the House.
“Pathological liar. Former drag queen. Far-right reactionary. Devoted husband. Disgraced politician. Diva. Scoundrel. He should be in jail. His face should be printed on our money,” one clear-eyed post reads.
All this hype, however, is somewhat surprising considering all that the congressman has — or hasn’t — done.
A veteran alleged Santos pocketed money that was meant to go to his dying dog. Amish breeders accused him of writing bad checks and splitting. He lied about having former employees who died at the Pulse shooting, that his mother almost died as a result of the 9/11 attacks, and that his grandmother was a Holocaust survivor.
In contrast to many of Gen Z’s beliefs, he also has some gross policy positions: Just hours before his expulsion vote, Santos posted a transphobic video on X telling people to remember there are two genders.
Don’t get me wrong, there is still an acknowledgment that Santos is not a good person. However, in a world where much of the Republican establishment thrives on transphobia, racism, antisemitism, and a whole assortment of conspiracy theories, the consensus is that the head-scratching hilarity of some of the Long Island rep’s actions is something of a welcome reprieve from his dreary colleagues.
As Santos exits the halls of Congress with post-congressional gym membership perks in tow, Gen Z says, “Gone but never forgotten.”
Representatives for George Santos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.