George Santos and Election Fraud

United States Representative George Santos of New York, a Republican who was elected in the November 2022 General Election and sworn into office earlier this month, has been accused of falsifying his background in several ways, among other possible scandalous behavior. Although he was sworn in assigned to committees, he was not assigned to any of the major ones. Santos has admitted to some of the allegations. In addition to calls for him to be investigated by the House Ethics Committee, there have been numerous calls for his resignation, including from GOP leaders in his district and some Republican members of the House. The basis for urging Santos to be investigated or resign is that he deceived the voters. Deception is the heart of fraud. As I have made the point on this blog and elsewhere, there is far more election fraud than many liberals and Democrats admit, which should be defined much more broadly than only certain criminal acts involving registering to vote or casting votes. One of the ways I have mentioned is deception. Republicans and conservatives rightly pointed out how President Barack Obama, a liberal Democrat, had deceived voters in 2012 by falsely claiming that the killing of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya was by Muslims protesting a video when it was actually the work of the Islamist al-Qaeda terrorists. Obama had been campaigning for reelection at the time by claiming that he had diminished the threat from al-Qaeda. Therefore, he had deceived the voters and was reelected through fraud. I have posted about how Donald Trump and his American and foreign supporters engaged in numerous deceptions for his nomination and election to the presidency, some of which he or his supporters have admitted or have been proven beyond dispute. Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign also benefited from deception. As I have noted, conservative and Republican claims of election fraud are undermined by the fraud that they deny, minimize or accept on their own side, as well as by making baseless allegations of fraud, instead of focusing on real examples. Just as it is obvious to most observers across the political spectrum that Santos should resign for election fraud and poor character, Republicans and conservatives should admit that Trump was a fraud and disavow him completely. Truth and consistency are essential principles and politically appealing when practiced, especially when they are difficult for a particular party.