My Local Newspaper Exposed George Santos While the National Media Napped

The tawdry and extraordinary chapter of “Congressman” George Anthony Devolder Santos is at an end—with the United States House of Representatives expelling the New York Republican.

For many, it is a funny story. The conman became a congressman. Another lurch downward in America’s political deterioration. But the deeper lessons of the Santos story haven’t been learned—and they speak to America’s relationship with itself, our media, and the truth in the public square.

It was nearly four years ago that I was called to meet this unlikely person. As a former Republican congressional candidate myself and the publisher of the North Shore Leader—an established weekly newspaper on Long Island’s north shore, aka, the “Gold Coast”—it wasn’t unusual for would-be candidates to seek me out for political advice or support. But right from the start, I sensed this guy was a fraud.

Read more at The Daily Beast.