It looks like George Santos can’t go a single day without facing mockery from the legions of social media users incensed by his long list of lies, falsehoods and fabrications.
The New York Republican posted a seemingly innocuous tweet on Sunday as the Kansas City Chiefs took on and defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl — a pair of emojis, one representing a football and another depicting a bowl of ice cream.
Like clockwork, Mr Santos was instantly set upon by a legion of trolls mockingly congratulating him for his performance in the NFL, a reference to his tall tales about his athletic prowess at Baruch College — which he did not actually attend — among other fictions.
It’s a sign that Mr Santos will not be escaping the flood of criticism that has come his way with his admission of lying about his background.
“Good luck in the game today! Amazing that you are the starting quarterback for both teams and performing in the halftime show,” wrote Marvel comics writer Ethan Sacks.
“Must be tough to not be out there. How many Super Bowl rings did you win again? I know it’s more than [Tom] Brady,” quipped Dan Hill, founder of PR firm Hill Impact. “Were you dating Rhianna when you wrote We Find Love?”
A professor of media studies at the University of Virginia even referenced Mr Santos’s history as a drag performer in Brazil, one of the more eyebrow-raising pieces of information uncovered about the freshman congressman as journalists have dug into his past.
“Is Kitara performing in halftime show?” wrote David Nemer.
Mr Santos continues to face a lot more than just mockery. The House Ethics Committee is set to investigate whether he his fabrications and outright lies have violated any rules of the House. Additionally, he’s apparently under investigation by several state and federal authorities, including the FBI.
There are also numerous members of the lower chamber calling for his resignation, including Republicans. Congresswoman Nancy Mace, a Republican, reiterated her belief that Mr Santos should resign in a recent interview with The Independent. Last week, the congressman was confronted face-to-face by Mitt Romney, GOP senator from Utah, during the president’s State of the Union address.
Mr Romney confirmed afterwards to reporters that he had told Mr Santos that he did not belong in Congress, and dismissed the freshman member’s explanation of his dishonesty as attempts to “embellish” his resume.
“He says he, you know, that he embellished his record. Look, embellishing is saying you got an A when you got an A-,” Mr Romney said. “Lying is saying you graduated from a college that you didn’t even attend and he shouldn’t be in Congress.”
