Republicans Just Gave George Santos, a Mostly Fictional Character, 2 House Committee Seats

Have you heard? Newly elected Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) was once a star volleyball player on college scholarship who helped his team beat Harvard and Yale. He worked at Goldman Sachs, he’s a proud Jewish man whose grandparents fled the Nazis, and he is mourning the loss of several of his former employees in the Pulse Nightclub shooting.

Except absolutely none of that is true; Santos invented an entire fake resumé and persona to get elected. Nevertheless, he is ignoring the deafening chorus of calls for him to resign. And instead of shunning him, House Republicans have given him not one but two actual committee seats: on the Science, Space & Technology and Small Business committees, according to Axios.

“We will find a way to make him add value to [the committee],” Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas), chair of the Small Business Committee, told Axios.

The GOP is reportedly concerned that denying Santos his committee seats will come back to bite them in the ass if and when the press discovers that other congressmen have lied about things, too. True, I guess!

I’d been wondering all day, since embattled House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced Tuesday morning that Santos would in fact be getting committee seats, which committees Republicans would have the gall to put this widely mocked, essentially fictional character on. These two seats, I suppose, make sense: Having a pathological liar on the House Science Committee is well in line with the GOP’s general denial of science, and the Small Business Committee does seem like a perfectly ironic place for a career grifter who reportedly raised money for a Ponzi scheme.

Meanwhile, Santos’ colleague Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)—one of the only House Republicans shameless enough to be photographed yukking it up with Santos during the speaker votes—has won back the privilege of sitting on House committees after Democrats had stripped her of her assignments in 2021 for spreading racist conspiracy theories. Republicans unanimously confirmed Greene to the Homeland Security Committee, despite the fact that she once claimed 9/11 was staged. She’ll also sit on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

“Joe Biden, be prepared,” she wrote in a statement Tuesday night. “We are going to uncover every corrupt business dealing, every foreign entanglement, every abuse of power, and every check cut for The Big Guy.”

It’s time for us all to accept and process that these clowns are actually running a major legislative branch in this country now.