(OPINION) Behind the fibs, fabrications and falsehoods of George Santos rests an uncomfortable truth: Santos and the Republicans on Long Island cheated the Democrats at the tournament of religious tribalism, intersectionality and group identity politics.

A writer at the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal, Richard J. Shinder, noted that Santos won the “Intersectionality Olympics.” And religion pulled up at some of the stoplights at the intersection so Santos could ascend the podium and receive the gold medal for being of one the most imaginarily diverse politicians ever.

“Leaving nothing to chance, Santos sought to medal in the intersectionality Olympics, checking boxes by asserting at various times (with questions arising as to the veracity of each) to be multiracial (part black), gay, Jewish, and poor,” Shinder wrote. “In today’s America, victimhood serves as a sort of protective armor, shielding the wearer from all judgment.” 

Santos claimed his mother was in the South Tower on 9/11 and survived (false). He claimed he worked for bulge bracket Wall Street firms such as Citigroup and Goldman Sachs (false). He claimed he was a producer of the Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark” (false). Those were just a few of his numerous lies.

Santos’ intersectionality worked perfectly in a congressional district that is itself exceedingly diverse and arguably somewhat tribal. I write from experience as I lived in that district for several years and understand the dynamics firsthand. 

By the numbers

Roughly 10.6% of New York’s 3rd Congressional District is Hispanic, many of whom probably appreciate Santos’ background from Latin America. His lie of being part Black perhaps appealed to the 3.1% of voters who are Black. His status and lies about immigration and false claims of rising from poverty and working at powerful institutions like Goldman Sachs appealed to upwardly mobile immigrants, including the foreign-born population constituting 22.6% of his district and the Asian community constituting 14.6%. Santos’ murky claims about being gay — though he was once married to a woman — helped him outdo his Democrat opponent, Robert Zimmerman, who is openly gay. For the White voters making up 70% of his district, Santos catered to the Catholic community with his Brazilian roots and to the diverse Jewish communities on Long Island with his lies about being Jewish.

He claimed his Jewish grandparents fled Europe during World War II. In reality, his grandparents were not Jewish but rather Brazilian-born Catholics. He did that because while the diverse Jewish communities in his district may have their own internal feuds, they appreciate a candidate who relates to them and the tight-knit synagogues’ and communities’ vote.

“Even though I’ve always said I’m Catholic, I grew up Catholic, I’ve always loved and had a deep respect for my Jewish heritage and I will continue to,” Santos told a reporter from the politics publication City & State. In similar comments to the New York Post, he said, “I never claimed to be Jewish. I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background, I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’”

Jeffrey Salkin, writing at Religion News Service, notes that the wealthy suburb of Great Neck is a diverse Jewish community on Long Island with dozens of synagogues. “Great Neck was the home of ‘red diaper babies,’ the children of the old and new Left. It was wall to wall upper middle class Jewish liberals — the sort of place that the term ‘limousine liberals’ was coined to describe,” Salkin writes. He notes that Iranian Jews moved to Great Neck after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, and they tend to vote Republican. He also notes that Orthodox Jewish communities grew on Long Island and tend to vote Republican.

Salkin notes that Santos’ “reverso converso” was a political maneuver and a nasty one that dishonored the Holocaust and fueled Holocaust deniers.

Not a joke

Late-night comedians couldn’t have invented a better joke machine than Santos. A lying liar who lies about everything is inherently fun to make jokes about. “Recusing himself will allow him to spend more time with his husband, Chris Hemsworth,” quipped late night host Jimmy Kimmel.

While it’s now clear that Santos was a pathological liar, it’s also troubling that Democrat’s opposition research and journalism in the NYC metro area’s congressional districts were not robust enough to spot a liar until it was too late. A small newspaper on Long Island, The North Shore Leader, was largely alone in raising questions about Santos’ veracity before the election. The mighty New York Times only spotted the fraud in Santos’ bio after the election was over and an expose was too late.

Some people and pundits also blame the Republican Party on Long Island and in New York for not vetting Santos better. But one wonders if he actually was vetted - or even groomed - to be an intersectional con artist?

“By his account, he catapulted himself from a New York City public college to become a “seasoned Wall Street financier and investor” with a family-owned real estate portfolio of 13 properties and an animal rescue charity that saved more than 2,500 dogs and cats,” The New York Times reported. The Times found no evidence he graduated from Baruch College. It found little evidence of his animal rescue efforts. It found lies and discrepancies about his career biography. It could not find records of his real estate holdings.

In the 21st century lexicon, we increasingly hear that we must respect others “lived experiences” and that personal experience should carry weight equal to data and facts. Perhaps this notion is worth reconsidering?

Punking identity politics

Santos made a mockery of people believing his imaginary lived experiences rather than verifying those experiences. He also seemed to realize that he could con an entire district of largely educated and wealthy voters by weaving a patchwork quilt of intersectionality.

When I was moving out of my apartment in Great Neck, Long Island, and moving to a house in New Jersey in 2019, a pastor at a church I attended on Long Island asked me why my family and I were moving. Among the many factors for our move, I told him I was tired of the tribalism that I felt existed in many Long Island towns. I was tired of people asking me my last name to see what ethnic group I might fit and then realizing I didn’t fit their ethnic group. I was tired of hearing negative comments by people about other races and groups.

Tribalism excludes. It separates. It limits.

“That’s totally understandable,” the pastor told me, acknowledging he grew up on Long Island and understands my criticism of the place. “Tribalism is in the soil here. It’s always been part of Long Island.”

Instead of getting tired of tribalism, Santos became a chameleon, a master of his own imagined intersectional tribalism. He pretended to embody almost every race, religion, narrative and identity he could weave into his story.

And it worked.

He might be the liar. But that makes us — or at least the people in New York’s 3rd Congressional District of Queens and Long Island — the suckers.

Paul Glader is executive editor of ReligionUnplugged.com and a professor of journalism at The King’s College NYC. He has reported from dozens of countries for outlets ranging from The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Der Spiegel Online and others. He’s on Twitter @PaulGlader.