George Santos was isolated by an obvious cloud of political toxicity on Tuesday as the embattled congressman-elect appeared on the House floor to vote in the election for speaker of the House.
Videos and photos showed the New York Republican sitting alone, in sharp contrast to his fellow lawmakers who were conversing with other members as well as some who even brought their children to the House floor to witness the spectacle of the speaker’s election.
Video showing Mr Santos sitting alone rocketed around social media, racking up around 1.7m views.
Mr Santos was seen texting on his phone and only spoke when his name was called to vote — his first words on the House floor were met with a jeer from the Democratic section, according to reporters at the scene.
He remains politically untouchable thanks to a wide array of lies about his background which he has admitted to in the past several days; the fictions encompass not only his work and educational background but also his religous beliefs and ethnic background. As a result, Mr Santos faces condemnation from a major Republican Jewish group and many others, while Democrats are openly calling for his expulsion.
But Mr Santos has vowed to serve a full term in Congress even as he was met with scorn and derision from his colleagues on Tuesday and swarmed by hungry reporters outside of his new office.
A top aide for his neighbor in the House office building, Rep Don Beyer of Virginia, joined in on the mockery of the GOP newcomer on Tuesday and tweeted about alerting reporters to Mr Santos’s attempt to exit his office via a side door, which caused a large group of reporters to chase after him.
