Newly elected Rep. 34-year-old, Brazilian-born George Santos (R-N.Y.) shocked voters and the press when they found out he misrepresented large parts of his resume en route to one on the most unlikely feats seen recently in U.S. politics. Republicans were desperate to run anyone in New York’s Third Congressional district in Queens, finding an energetic 34-year-old gay man, the perfect woke candidate to run against Robert Zimmerman, a longstanding Democratic National Committee [DNC] member and political commentator on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. When Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) decided to run for governor, it opened up his seat, something the Republican National Committee [RNC] jumped on. Who could be a more woke candidate than flamboyant George Santos? Few could figure out that Santos was a fraud, a person suffering from a clinical condition called “the imposter syndrome.”
Former President Donald Trump, 76, epitomized through his long real estate and reality TV career that everyone has to “fake it, till you make,” part of the America’s history of highly competitive entrepreneurial capitalistic society. No one in recent American history personified the entrepreneurial class more than Trump, who built his brand over 50 years based on his embellished best-selling autobiography co-written with Tony Schawartz the Nov. 1, 1987 “Trump: The Art of the Deal.” Unlike Santos, Trump really did graduate from Penn’s Wharton School, working closely with his millionaire father Fred Trump in Queens before breaking into Manhattan real estate, building skyscrapers. Parallels to Santos break down because Trump was actually the real deal when it came to building a real estate empire. Santos, from descriptions of him from different sources, was a fraud.
Trump’s rise from real estate tycoon to TV reality star to President of the United State was a remarkable path to the White House. Trump ran in 2016, against all odds, taking on Democrat political dynasty career politician, 75-year-old Hillary Rodham Clinton. Trump’s Electoral College victory Nov. 3, 2016 was a remarkable feat considering the institutional advantage Hillary enjoyed in a long political career backed by nearly every newspaper and broadcast outlet in the country. Trump pulled off a nearly impossible feat because the public, Democrats, Republicans and independents, all admire American success stories. So on that basis, on a more modest scale, lowly George Santos, without a normal high school degree, pulled off another stunning feat, winning a seat in U.S. Congress, defeating Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8, 2022 with the help of the RNC.
Santos grew up after immigrating in a basement apartment in Queens with his mother, Fatima Devolder, who died in 2016. Santos described her as an American Dream who worked her way up from the bottom to become “the first female executive at a major financial institution,” the kind of embellishment typical of individuals suffering from an imposter syndrome. Santos said his mother was in the World Trade Tower on Sept. 11, 2001, dying a few years later. More accurate reports had Santos mother working as a domestic worker, speaking speaking in her native tongue, Portuguese. No mention was made in Santo’s biography his father, most likely out of wedlock. Court records shows Santos, age 20, and his mother living in a slum area outside Rio de Janiero in 2008, contradicting his biography saying he attended Horace Mann School in the Bronx in 2006, before dropping out.
All the discrepancies in Santos background, including his openly gay relationship with Pedro Vilarva, 18, when he was 26. Vilarva said they dated for about two months before he broke it off because Santos didn’t pay his bills. “He used to say he would get money from Citigroup, he was an investor,” Vilarva said. “One day it’s one thing, one it’s another thing. He never actually went to work,” knowing that Santos said he worked on Wall Street. Whatever embellishments in work history, Samtps readily told Queens voters in his campaign that he had Jewish background, when there was no evidence for his claims. All in all, when Santos gets sworn into Congress Jan. 3, House leadership will have to evaluate what to do. Santos rival, Zimmerman, said he wants Santos to resign do to all the obvious lies. Incoming House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y) said Santos was “unfit to serve.”
When Santos is worn in tomorrow as a member of Congress, Democrats will no doubt ask for an ethics investigation over his misstatememts. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) said she warned her colleagues about Santos, saying that things didn’t add up in his background. With Santos meager background, House leaders will have to decide whether he crossed a line misrepresenting himself to voters. Many politicians misrepresent their backgrounds and experience, including 80-year-old President Joe Biden. So, before House leaders decide what to do with Santos, they need to look at their own embellishments. Santos, due to his sketchy background, made up stories about himself to preserve his self-esteem and dignity. Imposter syndromes are not criminal acts but attempts to compete in a brutal system demanding that every rival has something special to talk about.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
