The resume of the applicant for a job usually contains lies seasoned with not always subtle inconsistencies and exaggerations, in addition to bizarre fabrications. This is how irrepressible the temptation to lie that we feel when we talk about ourselves, as is evident in social networks and reaching its maximum expression in flirting. But far from being the exception to this understandable but not recommendable trend, the political class is full of outright liars.
In Spain, in recent times, there have been several cases at the level of any self-respecting democratic power, perhaps being the gig and fugue of Luis Roldán the most amazing. When the cake was revealed, his bulging resume as a brilliant success man turned out to be little more than a pack of lies, some of them quite clever.
It is advisable to be very cautious when considering the presumed academic titles of politicians as good, if nothing else because of the amount of scams that have been invented to facilitate their acquisition. The scandal of the false master of Cristina Cifuentes, or that of Pablo Casado, are far from being isolated cases.
Chancellor Merkel's last years in power were dotted with scandalous revelations of the existence in her cabinet of ministers who posed as doctors without being doctors of any other academic subject, or of wholly or partially plagiarized doctoral theses. When it became known, there was scandal, derision and resignations. That in Germany, then.
The case of US Republican Congressman George Santos deserves a very prominent place in the annals of mendacious political cases. It may even be that his audacity when it comes to lying is unmatched, since not even Donlad Trump has gotten that far.
Where to start? Perhaps because of the name, which apparently is the only truth in the story of this 34-year-old man who has been branded by the press in his country as a "serial liar." He was elected to New York state congress last year, claiming that after graduating from Baruch College he had been employed by Citygroup and Goldman Sachs. he was lying.
He told a leader of his party, the Republican, that he had been a true volleyball champion, which is nothing more than a gratuitous, almost innocent lie. But already set and given that no one was going to question his bullshit, Santos began to tell stories in a more daring way, with increasingly elaborate details.
In the middle of the electoral campaign, as he passed through a district of Long Island, with a majority of Jewish origin, he released that he was "a member of the community", since he was a descendant of Ukrainian refugees, that his grandparents survived the Holocaust by a miracle or, so that no detail was missing, that his mother was a survivor of the 9/11 attack. All made up, of course.
He appeared in a working-class district saying that he was the son of Brazilian immigrants, that his childhood was very hard, but that based on effort and tenacity he became a successful broker devoted to philanthropic activities. Another district saw him become a homosexual, which was not true either. He also lied about his assets and investments. Still, he was elected, which was quite surprising in a heavily Democratic New York.
However, now that it is known that George Santos was lying rather than talking, he has not resigned or been expelled from the party he represents in Congress. Perhaps because they consider him an outstanding son of Donald Trump, the leader to emulate.
However, it is still curious that Santos claimed to be what many of his party's voters hate; namely: poor immigrant, Jew, homosexual, victim... And perhaps, for this very reason, a brilliant political career awaits this young congressman.
P.S. Finally, cornered, on January 31, Santos resigned from two committees to which he had been appointed in Congress even knowing that he was a serial liar. His seat is at the mercy of investigations to determine if he incurred in possible criminal activities. In other words, he has been set aside in a precautionary manner; Trump is still in his thirteen. Nothing is true.
