It Was Right to Expel Rep. Santos

By Norman Franklin

There is not a lot of accolades we can give to the 118th Congress, there is nothing they have done to make America great again. They are a blotch on the image of the party of Reagan. The self-assessment of some within their ranks is that the party is an international embarrassment.

That assessment aligns with the sentiments of sensible Americans. We have been entertained by the exploits of conservative extremists jostling for positions of power. That has been the focus of their governing: power. This congress holds the seats of a governing body that has been the most inactive legislature in decades. A lot of infighting, and minimal legislation.

McCarthy coveted the Speaker’s gavel; sold his credibility to the devil, and eleven months later was ousted by the maneuvering of a colleague with no moral turpitude. The machinations of Matt Gaetz, R.Fla, left the government paralyzed and without congressional leadership at a crucial time; a government shutdown loomed, millions of American would have been devastated.

Norman Franklin

Out of that vacuous black hole of conservative leadership emerges Mike Johnson, R.La, as the second in the line of secession to Commander-in-Chief.

Speaker Johnson has made his pilgrimage to Mar-aLago to kiss the ring of the ‘don’ of the Republican Party. This is beyond the credibility gap; it is a great gulf between integrity and House leadership.

We live in an era of cult personalities that masquerade as leaders with a heart for the country and its people. This ambience of superficiality invites all who can hoodwink their political districts into sending them to congress; it speaks volumes about the constituents starved for credible leadership; it begs the question, why George Santos, R. NY.

Santos added more chaos to an already toxic atmosphere.

It stretches the imagination to believe that the character and nefarious deeds of candidate Santos were hidden from the voters of New York’s 3rd congressional district. His charismatic garment of honor became soiled midway through his tenure of service, and threadbare as he neared the end. Dishonor became his garment in less than a year.

Time revealed that Santos was not a self-made man, but rather a made-up man. But as details about his manufactured life began to surface, his celebrity status increased among the personality adherents of the Republican party. The party of law and order tolerated the freshmen congressman amid increased reveals of evidence of lawbreaking, questionable campaign spending and fleecing donors.

Only after overwhelming evidence of his devious character were the Republican caucus push to take action to remove the festering cancer. It was for political expediency, not for moral ethics. Holding on to his seat would prove too costly. The party’s leadership were not all in favor of expulsion.

Rep. George Santos was ex pelled from the House by vote on Friday December 2, 2023. “He was not fit to serve,” the resolution stated. The vote count was 311 to 114 in favor of expulsion. He made history; no member of congress, charged but not convicted, has been expelled since the Civil War.

Santos’s parting words, “I came in here as a mad as-hell activist who was just disenfranchised, I leave with no regrets.”

I couldn’t muster any sympathy. It was insulting. My ancestors, and the generation removed, experienced true disenfranchisement. African Americans are fighting off attempts to roll back the clock on social and political gains as state legislatures move to enact policies in semblance to that era.

It was the right thing to boot George Santos out of the halls of Congress. He was an embarrassment to his party, an embarrassment to his district, and an embarrassment to his country.