Matt Gaetz Suggests Punishing George Santos Is UNFAIR To His Voters

Matt Gaetz told CNN over the weekend that he doesn't believe that lawmakers should "shun" George Santos because that is unfair to the people in his district. A few days before this, Gaetz tried to defend Santos by claiming that embellishing a resume isn't a crime. What's happening is that Gaetz, and many other Republicans, are trying to both dismiss and normalize Santos' behavior, as Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins explains.

Check out our merch by visiting our store

Subscribe to our podcast

Become a member today!

Support us by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon, and help keep progressive media alive!

Spread the word! LIKE and SHARE this video or leave a comment to help direct attention to the stories that matter. And SUBSCRIBE to stay connected with Ring of Fire's video content!

Support Ring of Fire by subscribing to our YouTube channel

Be sociable! Follow us on:

*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz thinks that at this point everybody's just being too gosh darn mean to poor little representative George Santos. Now, last week, Matt Gaetz brought Santos onto his own podcast and he said that, Hey, you know, uh, uh, uh, embellishing your resume is, is not a crime. Okay? That's, that's I guess technically true, but he didn't just lie to get a job at a corporation. He lied to the people whose job it was to hire him or choose someone else, right? His constituents, he lied to them about his past. He lied about most aspects of his life, and they voted for something that doesn't actually exist. And while that may not be a crime, technically it is sure unethical and proves that he is unfit for office. So after Matt Gaetz did that little fluff interview with Santos last week, he came out this week and had this to say, I don't think that George Santos should be subject to shunning because the Americans, he serves deserve representation and they have real challenges, and we ought to work together to solve their challenges and meet their needs. He also said he doesn't want to quote prejudge that process, but I think he deserves the chance to at least make his case. There are requirements members of Congress have to meet when it comes to the money that they donate to their own campaigns.

Gates, of course, referring to the $700,000 loan that George Santos was somehow able to give his own campaign, but sure, okay, yeah, he has money of questionable origin with his personal finances that he gave to his campaign. Yeah, that's one thing, and that is one thing, by the way, investigators currently looking at. But what I wanna know more about is the illegal campaign contribution he accepted from a foreign national, right? There's no gray area on that one. It is illegal for a candidate to accept money from a non-US citizen living abroad like black and white. Clear his day. If you accept the money, that's illegal. And we know that he accepted the money. So this isn't about pre-judging someone. This is about why the hell has the hammer of justice not come down on this guy yet? Why are Brazilian authorities still trying to work with the DOJ to get Santos extradited down to their country? Why is he not already down there? Like, why is the DOJ dragging their feet on this? He admitted to the police in Brazil that he did the crime that they're accusing him of. He admitted it. They have that confession in their records. All that's left to do now is put the guy on trial so you can talk and whine and cry about prejudging all you want. We already know he did some of these things.

It's in paper, it's in writing. And as for his constituents, that's where I think we kind of get into a little bit of a gray area, right? A lot of times people want to say, you know what? Screw 'em. They get what they deserve. But at the same time, they are American citizens. They are human beings, and they do deserve help. And honestly, at any given point, I'm, I'm, I'm the pendulum. I'm swinging back and forth between those things personally and I shouldn't be. What I should say is that they deserve the help. They deserve the representation. But I'm not gonna lie and say that there isn't part of me that says, you get what you deserve.