Santos’ House of Lies Collapses

April 28th, 2025

Arnav Goyal

George Santos. You've likely heard of him. In 2020, he was considered a rising star in the New York Republican Party. In 2022, he got elected to the US House of Representatives. He seemed like an unassuming businessman from Long Island who got elected to Congress on a platform to fix corruption and bring prosperity - and people bought into it. But underneath, Santos held a house of lies. A house of lies so severe, it makes Pinocchio look like a truth teller.

However, it has finally caught up to him. A few days ago, Santos was sentenced to more than 7 years in prison for his actions, defrauding other people.

Now, how did we get here? Santos is known for fabricating many details about his life. It all started on December 19, 2022. The New York Times published an article detailing the questionable history about Santos, and what they found was stunning:

He said he was a hotshot businessman, and worked at Goldman Sachs. In reality, all of his experience was just working at a Dish call center.
He stole thousands from unemployment funds, and lied about his mother dying during 9/11.
He claimed he was Jewish, however, when this was debunked, he called himself Jew-ish, all the while lying about his ancestors being survivors of the Holocaust.
There are many more fabrications of him such as running a fake animal shelter, embezzling money, being a criminal in Brazil, and more.

The ensuing chaos that erupted was mind-boggling. More and more allegations started to come out after this New York Times article, and the accusations couldn’t stop. By the time Santos got to Capitol Hill on January 3, almost everyone refused to exchange with him. His predecessor called him a con man. Worse, his own county's Republican Party blatantly disavowed him and called on him to quit his job for the sake of unity, as nearly 80% of his constituents wanted him to resign. Yet, Santos refused to and kept the fight going. Even after an ethics probe, and abandoning his committee assignments, he still was intent on running for re-election.

However, while the chaos ensued, the House Ethics Committee took a look into Santos. They found more evidence of Santos running one of the biggest deceit campaigns in modern American history. Seeing this, almost all of Congress was outraged. So on December 1, 2023, Santos was expelled, being only the 21st member ever to be expelled. He still kept the fight going, saying he was still running for Congress. Yet, it was too late.

He was indicted on things such as lying on financial reports, money embezzling, and lying on unemployment forms. Most expected a trial. But in a shocking move, Santos pled guilty, saying that his crimes were indefensible. It was a massive reversal of fortune for a Representative who was once heralded as the future of politics in his district, one that trusted him to be a good representative, and one that had a rags to riches story that many people believed to be authentic. Eventually, Santos' house of lies collapsed on April 25. He was sentenced to 87 months in prison and has finally been held accountable for his actions, according to a press release announcing the sentencing.

So, what are the takeaways? Santos upended politics and showed that corruption can be missed in some cases. However, it is similar to Watergate in the sense that detection for corruption and the power of checks and balances worked out, for both Santos and Nixon. Both were accused of heinous crimes, and both eventually had no choice but to succumb to the overwhelming pressure. It’s one thing to be like Pinocchio, a master of lying and deceit. It’s another thing to outpace Pinocchio, where lies about where you worked, money, organization, and crimes can be hidden under a disguise. This is exactly what Santos has done, and his actions have come back to bite him.

Extemp Analysis by Brogan Jones

For this one, we’ll go with a question that can connect George Santos’ situation to the state of politics in the U.S. as a whole currently, since this is likely to be how a lot of questions are worded. We’ll go with: Will the George Santos scandal have any lasting impacts on U.S. politics?

AGD: Obviously, I think the best route to go here is humorous. The whole situation is both deeply serious and wildly unserious at the same time. I would probably use one of Santos’ ridiculous quotes, like explaining the context behind the “Jew-ish” quote.

B: Here, you’ll probably want to just briefly run through the scandal. I would transition directly from your AGD of one wacky example into a plethora of other things Santos did or said that built onto the scandal, how the public responded, and what ultimately occurred (his sentencing, plea, etc.)

SOS: I would say that the George Santos scandal, however silly it may seem, has outlined something important in the U.S. political system, and possibly had several lasting impacts on the future of U.S. politics.

If I got this question, my answer would be yes, and then I would lean into how it has 1) renewed strength in the public to hold politicians accountable, 2) displayed an example of bipartisan unity working to accomplish change (even if that change is within the body of Congress itself), and 3) restored some semblance of trust in the rule of law.

Those would be my three key reasons to support my answer of yes, and there are several means to support these included within the article. For the first, I would point out the disapproval from 80% of Santos’ constituents and the public outrage following his continuous mishaps. For the second, I would mention how bipartisan compromise is reaching very low levels. Then, I would talk about how Santos’ own county Republican Party disavowed him and then bring up his expulsion from Congress, which proved that the disapproval for Santos ran deep on both sides of the political aisle. Finally, for the third, I would bring up how respect for the rule of law has been shaken up lately, with Presidents from both political parties issuing questionable pardons and a felon becoming President. Then, I would say that the successful indictment and conviction of Santos is a small step in the right direction for respecting the rule of law in America.

So, when returning to the question, will the George Santos scandal having any lasting impacts on U.S. politics, the answer is yes, because it will further encourage the public to hold their politicians accountable, lead to an increase in bipartisan compromise when it matters, and restore some trust in the rule of law in the United States. So, while George Santos once referred to himself as “Jew-ish”, thanks to his conviction, trust in democracy is no longer broken, just a little bruised-ish.