Robert Reich: The Santos Question – OpEd
By Robert Reich
I want to draw your attention to an interview of newly-elected Republican congressman George Santos by former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (who left the Democratic Party, and was filling in for Tucker Carlson in what may be her trial run for Fox News).
Gabbard didn’t mince words. “All of these lies that you’ve told, not just one little lie, or one little embellishment — these are blatant lies,” Gabbard said on a split-screen shot with Santos. “My question is, do you have no shame?”
“Have you no shame?” The same question asked of Senate Joe McCarthy during his communist witch hunt. I doubt the question has ever been asked on Fox News before.
Another McCarthy — Kevin — has refused to repudiate Santos. That’s not surprising. McCarthy has always refused to repudiate Republicans mired in scandal, including Trump. With the vote for his speakership is less than a week away, McCarthy wants every vote he can get, including Santos’s.
But the Santos question brings out into sharp relief the reality of today’s Republican Party. It is little more than a tissue of lies. And it has no shame.
