SANTOS WATCH So Long, Farewell (For Now) Making time to turn away from the spectacle JANET BURNS

jburns@antonmediagroup.com

As this column has explored for the past few months, Representative George Santos (NY-03) quickly became far more visible this year in national news than most of us likely expected, regardless of political party, when we visited voting booths last fall.

Here in his congressional district, like the rest of the country, the name “George Santos” has gone from being an explosive prompt at the water cooler to a punchline so familiar that it’s nearly lost all meaning (except as a wink to audiences, whether on rightwing blogs or in a subway poster for the musical Shucked).

Regardless of what awaits Santos in the ongoing congressional investigation or in the ballot box come 2024, his story has in many ways passed on from the realm of informative news into the world of entertainment — or perhaps that’s where it always was, and was intended to be. Few of us would likely deny that, overall, it’s often been a theatrical affair.

As Liz Skalka put it for the Huffington Post back on January 28, a mere six weeks into the scandal: “[I]t feels like we’ve learned too much about Santos and also nothing at all. Every twist of the Santos saga is like a new episode of a show you’re being forced to watch because everybody else is ... The product is a cartoonish rendering of an allegedly corrupt congressman, one who is apparently so money-obsessed that he’ll sell out your pet and lie about his own mother for clout ... That [notoriety] might be exactly what he wants.”

As such, while the Rep. Santos fires are being kept burning by major media outlets and various federal investigative bodies, Anton Media Group will be taking a needed break from Santos Watch, at least for a while — stepping out to Switzerland for our own well-being a la The Sound of Music, if you will, carrying along the knowledge that we can always return someday.

In the meantime, we’ll also be waiting to see if this dramatic saga ultimately plays out like The Producers, with its timeless message that those who mess around with financial malfeasance and/or white supremacy will probably end up in jail.