Bill Maher says Democrats are partly responsible for electing George Santos

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Comedian and political commentator Bill Maher says Democrats are partly responsible for electing Rep. George Santos (RN.Y.) in that he appealed to the party’s love of ‘victimity’ and “identity politics”.

Maher said during the first episode of the new season of his HBO show “Real Time” on Friday that Santos claimed to be among the first people in New York to be hospitalized with COVID-19, was Jewish and lost four of his employees in the the 2016 shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. His claims that he was Jewish and losing employees have been shown to be false, and his account of his experience with COVID-19 appears to have multiple inconsistencies.

“Everyone keeps asking ‘How did a guy like that get elected?’ I’ll tell you how. ‘Cause no one cares about substance anymore. It’s all tribalism. The only thing that matters is ‘Is he on our team? our shtick?” Maher said.

He said Santos is the first person to realize that she can appeal to both sides of the political aisle and “get away with it” because people on both sides have “completely cut out everything that does not already match their narrative”.

Maher said Santos appealed to Republicans to discuss his attendance at former President Trump’s rally at the Ellipse that preceded the Jan. 6, 2021, uprising and appealed to Democrats through his identity, including that he is a person of color and has said he is gay.

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Maher noted that the district where Santos won was one that voted for President Biden by eight points and leaned toward the Democrats in recent years.

“Everyone saw in George Santos what they wanted to see,” he said.

Santos has faced calls from members of both parties to resign following numerous false statements he has made about himself. He is also the subject of a federal and local investigation into the claims he made during his candidacy.

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