RPT - George Santos' Case Demonstrates Republicans' Drift To Left On Social Issues - Experts

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th January, 2023) The case of Republican congressman George Santos shows the GOP's move to the left on social and cultural issues, despite the party's purported opposition to so-called identity politics, experts told Sputnik.

In December, Santos, a representative for New York's 3rd congressional district, admitted to lying on the campaign trail about parts of his biography, including his professional and educational experience. Among his various contested claims are having Ukrainian Jewish heritage and working at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. He also campaigned as an openly gay Republican in the general election for a seat in Congress while concealing a previous marriage to a woman, although the New York Times reports that some people familiar with findings about Santos wonder whether the wedding was for immigration purposes.

According to media reports, some of his fellow Republicans suspected Santos of fudging the truth before the public found out, but nevertheless he secured support from Representative Elise Stefanik and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy during the 2022 congressional campaign. Still, in light of Santos being less than perfectly truthful about his life, Republicans are starting to have second thoughts, with other New York representatives urging him to resign his seat. Last week, the Nassau County Republican Committee, which backed Santos' campaign, said the congressman disgraced the lower chamber and called on him to step down. Santos has repeatedly refused to do so.

While Santos has told many untruths about his background, it is his claims about ethnicity and sexuality that helped him curry favor with prominent Republicans, more specifically those close to former President Donald Trump, according to Pedro Gonzalez, a writer and associate editor at Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture.

"George Santos did not rise to prominence in the GOP because he lied about stints with Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

He was promoted by key allies of former President Donald Trump � in this case, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik � because Santos marketed himself as a pro-Trump gay Latino Jewish Ukrainian," Gonzalez said adding that "Trump has moved the Republican Party to the left on LGBT issues with the help of his proteges and hangers-on."

Gonzalez went on to criticize the Trump presidency for enabling "people like Santos, who is completely devoid of substance and principles, to claim to be 'America First' by simply parroting certain talking points when it suits him."

"That he ran as an openly gay candidate is a plus to these people, who, like Stefanik, are only tethered to Trump through opportunistic loyalty and ambition," Gonzalez stated.

Meanwhile, Adam Ellwanger, a commentator and professor of English at the University of Houston - Downtown, noted that Santos' actions were part of an American political tradition, citing among others President Joe Biden, who had been caught making false statements about his early life during his first presidential campaign in the late 1980s when reports about him plagiarizing a speech by UK Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock as well as embellishing his academic record made Biden withdraw from the race and nearly ended his career.

"My guess is that he (Santos) will ultimately resign. Republicans, sadly, have much more shame than their Democratic counterparts, and Santos' colleagues will gladly throw him overboard to signal their (dubious) virtue," Ellwanger said.

Gonzalez, on the other hand, is skeptical that Santos will resign, saying that too many in the GOP have something to lose if he steps down.

"It is true that Democrats do much worse and never resign. But the Democratic Party also never moves to the right, whereas the GOP is constantly drifting to the left," Gonzalez concluded.