U.S. House expels George Santos

I concluded Video tributes to George Zingali for his birthday on World AIDS Day by telegraphing today's topic.

Maybe the House will finally expel George Santos. We should be so lucky, although the talk show hosts will miss him.

We were so lucky.

Watch PBS NewsHour report Santos expelled from House in wake of his many lies and scandals.

For the first time in more than two decades, Congress has expelled one of its own. Rep. George Santos is out of a job in the wake of his many lies and scandals. Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins reports on the historic development.

That was the serious report analyzing the reasons for the expulsion, only the sixth in House history and the only one since the Civil War in which a conviction didn't come first (the three expulsions during the Civil War were of Representatives who took up arms for the Confederacy). Now for a more sensationalistic report from Inside Edition, George Santos Expelled From Congress, which shows the reactions to the expulsion.

Reporters mobbed George Santos as he was kicked out of Congress. He stormed out even before the vote to expel him was officially confirmed. The vote tally was decisive with Democrats and Republicans coming together to banish the congressman. He shook hands with a few representatives before walking out. Santos, who became a national figure of mockery for his endless lies, had to vacate his office immediately.

I'm outsourcing my reaction to Nelson Muntz.


With that expression of schadenfreude out of the way, I have to admit I got this wrong back in May and that I'm glad to be wrong.

Kevin "Pickled Tongue" McCarthy and Elise Stefanik aren't going to ask for Santos to resign. They care about his vote more than the dignity and integrity of the House of Representatives. We're stuck with Santos until he either loses re-election or resigns upon conviction (this includes a plea deal, which wouldn't surprise me in the least). Sigh.

Being expelled wasn't among the outcomes I foresaw and this vote shows I was right by not including it. It's not happening.

I would still have written that after the second expulsion attempt failed, but once George Santos declared he was not running for re-election after the Ethics Committee report, the situation changed enough that it was happening and did happen. MSNBC discussed some of the reasons that the political environment transformed to make expulsion successful in ‘To hell with this place:’ George Santos kicked out of Congress.

Indicted Republican George Santos was expelled from Congress on Friday, thus ending “one of the truly strangest chapters in the 234 year history of the U.S. House of Representatives." Rep. Dan Goldman and Mark Chiusano join to discuss.

Unlike McCarthy, Mike Johnson no longer needed Santos's vote for Speaker, although he voted no on expelling him. The rank-and-file GOP members of Congress, to say nothing of the Democrats, decided they had enough of Santos, so good riddance. The third time was a charm.

I expect to blog once or twice more about Santos being removed from Congress, once tomorrow when I anticipate Bowen Yang will make one last impersonation of him on Saturday Night Live and again on Tuesday when Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, and especially Jimmy Kimmel will run a victory lap as they dunk on his departure while mourning the loss of a great subject for comedy. Stay tuned.