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Experts say partys tough-on-crime approach for 2024 could spark rise in violence and worsen US mass incarceration

Republican and rightwing rhetoric over the state of crime in the US could spark a rise in violent incidents and worsen the countrys mass incarceration problem, experts say, as tough-on-crime political ads and messaging seem set to play a large role in the 2024 election.

Violent crime was a huge focus for Republican candidates during the 2022 midterm elections. Republicans spent about $50m on crime ads in the two months leading up to those elections, the ads pushing a dystopian vision of cities ridden by murder, robbery and assault, and of Democratic politicians unwilling to act.

As the 2024 contest heaves into view, it is clear that Republicans plan to follow the same playbook.

Joe Biden and the defund-the-police Democrats have turned our once-great cities into cesspools of bloodshed and crime, Trump said in a recent campaign video.

Trump said if elected president he would order police forces to reinstate stop and frisk a police tactic which has been shown to disproportionately target young Black men and said he wanted to introduce the death penalty for drug dealers.

Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor who is expected to be Trumps closest rival for the Republican presidential nomination, has also leaned into tough-on-crime rhetoric and policy. Last month, DeSantis signed a law lowering the death penalty threshold in Florida, allowing people convicted of certain crimes to be sentenced to death if eight or more jury members recommend it.

They think thats the way to score political victories, said Udi Ofer, a professor at Princeton University and the former deputy national political director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

I think theres a bit of a kneejerk, and, quite frankly, lazy attitude that tough-on-crime is the only way to win an election, despite the fact that we have so much evidence today that shows there are other ways.

There is also an element of Republicans, and, Ofer said, some Democrats, pouncing on an increase in violent crime during the Covid pandemic.

The Brennan Center for Justice found that the number of murders per 100,000 people rose by nearly 30% nationwide in 2020, while aggravated assault rose by 11.4%. The rate of murder rose in big cities, which tend to vote Democratic and which are repeatedly demonized by Republicans and the rightwing media. But it also rose across the rest of the country.

So-called red states actually saw some of the highest murder rates of all, the Brennan Center said.

Since that peak, most types of violent crime have now dropped. Crime declined in 35 large cities in 2022, according to the Council on Criminal Justice, although rates remain higher than pre-pandemic levels. Still, the rate of homicide in major cities was about half that of historic peaks in the 1980s and early 1990s.

The 1980s was when tough-on-crime rhetoric exploded, Ofer said. It culminated in the election of prosecutors who promised more convictions and longer sentences.

The impact, Ofer said, was an exponential growth in incarceration in the US. About 300,000 people were in prisons and jails in 1973, but by 2009 that number had grown to 2.2m making the US the largest incarcerator in the world.

This was a result of hundreds of new laws and practices at the local level, at the state level, at the federal level, including new mandatory minimum laws, more cash bail and pre-trial detention, and more aggressive prosecutorial and policing practices, Ofer said.

In this crime crackdown, not everyone was treated equally. Black people have been historically more likely to be arrested than white people, which led to higher rates of incarceration. A 2003 report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that in 2001 an estimated 16.6% of adult black males were current or former State or Federal prisoners. Just 2.6% of adult white males had been incarcerated.

Some progress has been made in the last two decades. By 2020 the number of people in jail or prison was down to 1.2 million meaning the US still has the fifth highest incarceration rate in the world but the obsession with tackling crime, through measures including more arrests, more prosecutions and more imprisonments, could see a reversal.

We are on the verge again of seeing the types of policies that devastated particularly low-income communities of color grow again as it did in the 1980s and 1990s.

Republicans have led the charge on crime rhetoric, Ofer said. But now Democrats are getting in on the act we are seeing a growing movement within the Democratic party pushing for more tough-on-crime policies, Ofer said.

The rhetoric and fearmongering over crime has led, in part, to an expansion of stand-your-ground laws in the US. In the past 10 years, 14 states in the US have added some form of the law, which can rule that people determined to have acted in self-defense can escape prosecution for actions up to and including murder.

A 2022 investigation by Reveal found that 38 states now have some version of stand your ground and the laws have proved devastating: a study published in 2022 found that the legislation was linked with an 8-11% increase in homicides.

Ironically, given the accusation from the right that Democrats are too soft on crime, it appears to be traditionally red states that have the more serious crime problem.

The murder rate in the 25 states that voted for Donald Trump has exceeded the murder rate in the 25 states that voted for Joe Biden in every year from 2000 to 2020, Third Way, a US thinktank, reported in January. Third Way also found that in 2020 murder rates were 40% higher in Trump-voting states than Biden-voting states.

Although Republicans harangued Democrats over crime in the 2020 midterms, the strategy seems to have had mixed success. Republicans largely underperformed in those elections, and Ofer pointed to the success of progressive prosecutors across the country as evidence that a tough-on-crime message is not always a successful route to take.

As well as the impact on incarceration and violent offenses, the tough-on-crime approach can also lead to the demonization of certain communities, said Stephen Piggott, a researcher at Western States Center, a non-profit organization which works to strengthen democracy.

Republican talking points about the danger of immigrants and people who live in inner cities could be behind an increase in attacks on minority groups. In recent years, theres been a real mainstreaming of both violent and dehumanizing rhetoric, and its espoused by elected officials and media personalities, Piggott said.

And its really served to kind of normalize this political violence. When you have individuals with large platforms, like elected officials and media personalities, and theyre talking about things like an impending civil war, it could lead to folks kind of taking that to heart and then acting on it.

The number of hate crimes in the US increased by 12% in 2021, according to the FBI, although the true number is likely to be much higher, given data from some of Americas largest cities was not included in the FBIs report.

About 65% of the hate-crime victims were targeted because of their race, according to the report, while 16% were targeted over their sexual orientation and 14% of cases involved religious bias.

So there are direct consequences on the ground for people of color, immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, Piggott said.

Theres a lot of impact going on right now.

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Stark warning over Republicans dehumanizing rhetoric on crime - The Guardian US

Governmentagencies haveproposed dozens of major regulations so far this year. One specifies the kinds of operating cords that can be used on custom window coverings, and another would effectively require carmakers to transition two-thirds of all new passenger cars to electric technology.

Under a little-noticed provision in a House bill that passed this month, all of those regulations would need to come before Congress for a vote before they could go into effect.

It may seem like its in the weeds, but it really affects all of us, said Susan Dudley, the director of the regulatory studies center at George Washington University, who was the top regulatory official in the George W. Bush administration. She was one of several leading experts who were unaware that the bill contained this provision.

The Republican legislation, which is not expected to become law in its current form, has mostly attracted attention for its part in the debate about raising the countrys borrowing limit, and for its proposals to reduce federal deficits over the next decade. But its effort to reshape the federal regulatory process could arguably have a deeper impact on the future functioning of government.

While Congress passes laws every year, federal agencies tend to roll out many, many more regulations. Those long, often technical rules help business understand how the government works, by setting standards for allowable pollution, establishing how much doctors and hospitals will be paid for medical care, and explaining what numerous technical or vague terms and processes in legislation really mean. The process of rule making often takes years, and requires a period of public comment before a regulation becomes final.

Regulations are not apolitical. As Congress has become more polarized and gridlocked, presidents have become more aggressive about enacting major policies through them. Barack Obama tried to use rule making to limit carbon emissions from power plants. Donald J. Trump used rule making to deny green cards to immigrants who had used certain social benefit programs. And President Biden is hoping to use regulation to forgive hundreds of billions of dollars in student loans.

But many major regulations make fewer headlines, and most rely on technical expertise by federal agencies that Congress would be hard-pressed to replicate. This years list includes one updating technical standards for mammography equipment, and one clarifying when a guns features mean it is designed to be fired from the shoulder. A recent payment rule for Medicare Advantage changed the formula meant to pay private insurers for covering customers with vascular disease, based on a detailed review of medical data.

The legislation would require Congress to approve each of those actions before they go into effect, under a fast-tracked legislative process that would force up-or-down votes on the rules without any possibility of amendment. Any major rule that failed to pass both houses of Congress could not be proposed again for at least a year. Current law allows Congress to upend a regulation it does not like, but the process requires majority votes by both houses of Congress, and a signature by the president, meaning nearly all regulations go into effect.

The legislation to change this default was first written more than a decade ago by Geoffrey Davis, then a Republican congressman from Kentucky. Mr. Davis, who came from a business background, was concerned about the number of high-cost regulations he saw approved while he was in government.

One day he received a visit in his district office, and this gentleman asked me one question, and this was my turning point: Why cant you just vote on this? Mr. Davis said. And it just clicked.

Supporters of Mr. Daviss idea, known as the REINS Act for Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny say it would force Congress to take more responsibility for being clear about what its laws mean. Mr. Davis said he felt that Congress had too often written vague laws that delegated too many important decisions to executive agencies to decide.

It would increase the incentives for Congress to be more proactive, said Jonathan Adler, a professor of law at Case Western Reserve University, who wrote an article supporting the idea in 2011. We need legislators to legislate, and part of legislating is taking accountability for the big policy decisions that are being made.

Others, of course, like the idea because it would make it harder for the government to enact any regulations at all the same reason that many regulatory experts are less enthusiastic about the REINS Act.

The practical impact of this in a time of divided government like we have now is that I think no major rule would ever get done, said Jonathan Siegel, a law professor at George Washington, who has written about the bill at length.

If the Republican House wanted to deny the Biden administration policy wins, it could simply vote no on every regulation it proposed. Those might include rules that explain how major portions of last years Inflation Reduction Act are meant to work. In a REINS Act world, the Republican House could just block those rules, effectively thwarting legislation passed by a previous Congress.

If you starve the beast by never allowing the implementing regulations to issue, then you have in effect nullified the legislation, said Sally Katzen, a co-director of the legislative and regulatory process clinic at N.Y.U., who was the top regulatory official in the Clinton administration. She pointed out that Republicans tend to schedule votes on the REINS Act when there is a Democratic president, but not when a Republican holds the office.

What they want to do is to make it impossible to regulate, said Nicholas Bagley, a law professor at the University of Michigan.

The obstruction can work both ways. Imagine how the Democratic House might have voted on Trump-era rules that had the effect of cutting all family planning funding for Planned Parenthood, limiting civil rights protections for transgender Americans, or rolling back controls on power plant emissions.

Mr. Davis said blocking rules wholesale was not his intention. His hope was to improve Congresss process. I want to make the legislation specific enough to force a bipartisan dialogue, he said.

But Congress already has problems writing legislation in technical and contested areas. Many Republicans dislike environmental regulations interpreting the Clean Water Act, which asks the E.P.A. to limit pollution that is harmful to human health. But Congress has not made major revisions to that lawin decades. Simply voting on rules about how those old laws apply to new scientific findings may not be enough to prompt robust new legislating.

Its hard to get anything through Congress, even in the best of times, and now is not the best of times, Mr. Bagley said. Its a recipe for stasis.

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From Electric Cars to Windows, Republican Bill Could Limit Regulation - The New York Times

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.) said she doesnt know whether her fellow home-state senator will run for reelection and hasnt asked him about it. But a presidential bid? He might hes talking about it, she said.

Theres no sugar-coating the dire position in which Manchin finds himself. After Democrats dominated West Virginia for decades, the state has gone full-blown MAGA in recent years. Former President Donald Trump won it by nearly 40 percentage points in 2020, and there are only 14 Democrats left in West Virginias 134-member state legislature. Manchins approval rating has plummeted, with 55 percent of voters giving him a thumbs down, according to a recent Morning Consult poll.

But interviews with 18 elected officials, strategists and political observers in West Virginia and Washington, D.C. reveal that Manchin isnt quite being left for dead yet. Even Justices former pollster said it would be unwise to count Manchin out.

There is a reason that Joe Manchin is basically the last standing Democrat in a state that has had a red tsunami since 2014, said Mark Blankenship, a West Virginia-based GOP pollster who worked for Justices 2020 gubernatorial campaign. You cant say that its impossible for him to win because hes won so much.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) announces his Senate campaign.|Chris Jackson/AP Photo

Manchins GOP colleagues agreed with the sentiment: You cant take Joe for granted. Hes a formidable politician, said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who appeared as a featured speaker at Justices campaign kickoff last month.

The early investment from McConnells allies at the group One Nation could save Republicans money next year if it nudges Manchin toward the exit. Otherwise, the GOP will have to spend millions convincing West Virginia voters to part ways with a man who has not lost an election since the 1990s. Without Manchin on the ballot, many operatives see the state as an automatic flip, and Republicans can redirect their money toward other crucial battleground states.

It would be nice if we didnt have to, said Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) when asked if his party would need to spend money if Manchin retires. Well see how it all plays out.

Manchin first joined the West Virginia state legislature in 1982 at the age of 35. He served in both chambers before departing to run an unsuccessful primary campaign for governor in 1996. It was the only race he ever lost. He ended up supporting the Republican nominee over the woman who beat him for the Democratic nomination.

Four years later he became West Virginias Secretary of State and won the governorship in 2004. In 2010, he made the jump to the Senate, campaigning in a special election seat left open by Democrat Robert Byrds death.

Democrats best hope of keeping Manchins seat in 2024 involves him seeking reelection and a brutally messy Republican primary that leaves the eventual nominee bruised and broke.

Justice, while wealthy and well-liked, does not have the GOP field to himself. Also in the race is Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.), a conservative hardliner who trounced a fellow member in a Republican primary for a House seat in 2022. He is planning on running to Justices right with the help of $10 million from the anti-tax Club for Growth super PAC.

Democrats and Republicans alike said Manchin has been able to hold onto elected office in the past in part due to his skills as a retail politician, a key advantage in a state of only 1.7 million people.

He is the best face-to-face politician Ive interacted with outside of Bill Clinton, said Patrick Hickey, a political scientist who previously worked at West Virginia University. He has that Clinton-esque ability to make everybody feel like hes your friend and hes listening to you and hes concerned about you.

In 2012, Hickey said he invited Manchins GOP opponent, John Raese, to class. Within a week, he said, Manchin came into his class to glad-hand students.

Manchin, a moderate, has benefited from distancing himself from national Democratic leaders for years. During his first Senate campaign, he fired at Democrats cap-and-trade bill in an ad. His vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 was credited with helping save him in that years Senate race. But Manchins favorability rating took a nosedive last year after he voted for and helped write President Joe Bidens Inflation Reduction Act. Thats left many of the few remaining Democrats in West Virginia feeling pessimistic about Manchins chances for holding on, regardless of his history.

I dont think he can pull it out, said Deirdre Purdy, chair of the Calhoun County Democratic Party. My county has so few Democrats in it, I cant even get a full committee together.

Manchin is now threatening to vote to repeal Bidens signature climate legislation with Republicans, arguing that Biden has extended electric vehicle tax credits beyond the laws specifications.

Given the states deep-MAGA hue, some in the GOP think it doesnt even matter whether Justice or Mooney wins the nomination because either will defeat Manchin. This states now solidly Republican, said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Manchin has given few clues about whether he will run for reelection except to say that he wont make a decision until the end of the year. Amid that vacuum of information, political insiders have desperately tried to read the tea leaves.

When a political operative who has served as an adviser to both Manchin and Justice attended Justices campaign launch, it set off speculation among Republicans that Manchin may not run. Larry Puccio, Manchins former chief-of-staff and longtime friend, would only go to the event, the thinking went, if he had gotten a signal from the senator that hes bowing out. A GOP strategist close to Justice said Puccio will not have an official role on Justices Senate team, but the governor will talk to him about the race and campaign.

Some Democrats cautioned against reading into it, however. According to a person close to Manchin, Puccio will support Manchin for any office he seeks.

Puccio did not respond to a request for comment.

Jonathan Kott, a former senior adviser to Manchin, said he believes Manchin is truly undecided on another Senate run. In the 2018 election, Manchin waited until January days before the filing deadline to tell his colleagues that he was seeking reelection.

This is just who he is, he said. He just doesnt focus on the campaign till he has to. Hes busy being a senator for West Virginia and legislating. Hell sit down with his family, I would guess sometime in like December, and thats when theyll make a decision. Im pretty sure thats what he did last time.

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Republicans want Manchin to bow out, fearful that he may have one ... - POLITICO

Sen. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, and Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the Senate floor in Jefferson City. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

JEFFERSON CITY Missourians hoping to place bets on sporting events will have to wait at least another year after Republican infighting in the Missouri Senate left a handful of high-profile issues unresolved as the Legislature adjourned for the year Friday.

Along with a furious, last-minute failed push to tax and regulate wagering on sports, a chaotic final day in the upper chamber meant the demise of a bid to reduce the states personal property tax on vehicles. The Senate also failed to sign off on a proposal to make it harder to alter the state constitution before the final gavel sounded.

The House had a higher success rate as it chugged toward adjournment. Among a flurry of bills that moved to Gov. Mike Parsons desk is a proposal designed to provide more access to banks for companies involved in the marijuana business.

Pot businesses have had trouble finding banking options because many financial institutions dont want to handle accounts for companies selling a product federal officials consider illegal.

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While the GOP-majority House moved smoothly to wrap up its work Friday, the Senate was the scene of parliamentary sparring between Senate Majority Leader Cindy OLaughlin, R-Shelbina, and Sen. Bill Eigel, a Weldon Spring Republican who is considering a run for governor in 2024.

OLaughlin attempted to run a tight ship in her first year as floor leader, sticking to a schedule that had most senators out of the building at dinner time rather than enduring lengthy overnight debates.

Hoping to end an impasse that had tied up the Senate on Thursday, OLaughlin used a series of procedural motions to push a sports betting bill to the forefront of the days action.

But, the sponsor of the measure, Sen. Denny Hoskins, an ally of Eigel, set the bill aside without debate, ending an effort to bring Missouri in line with nearly all of its surrounding states when it comes to gambling on sports.

Sports gambling has passed easily out of the House for the past two years. But Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, has blocked its advance, saying the expansion of gambling must also address illegal slot machines that have flooded the state.

Eigel attempted to position his personal property tax reduction legislation on the floor, but was defeated on a 26-8 procedural vote, leading him to resume a filibuster he had started Thursday by reading a book about former President Ronald Reagan.

Political theater

OLaughlin, in her first year as the floor leader in the chamber, soon adjourned the chamber, decrying what she called political theater that resembles mud wrestling.

She accused Eigel of tying the Senate in knots when he doesnt get his way.

People bring legislation to the floor that they cannot get passed and then, in retaliation for that, they hang up the business of the Senate for hour after hour after hour, OLaughlin said. Were not all running for governor. We just want to do the work of the Senate. We need cooperation from everyone to get that done.

Eigel scoffed at his colleagues, saying they chose to debate sports betting, which would financially benefit Missouri sports teams, rather than his plan to reduce personal property taxes, which would help everyone who owns a vehicle.

The theater of Jefferson City will go on long after we gavel out today, Eigel said. Nobody got into politics because they were intent on being nice.

After taking a nearly four-hour break to let tempers cool, the Senate returned to more gridlock from Sen. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, who has burned up hours of time this session filibustering various bills in order to push his initiatives.

In this case, he bemoaned the Senates failure to approve legislation restricting the foreign ownership of farmland. Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, joined Moon in stalling action in the Senate.

Freshman Sen. Travis Fitzwater, R-Holts Summit, said he questioned running for the Senate last year after serving in the House for eight years.

I didnt want to be here for this very reason, Fitzwater said, adding that his colleagues who gummed up the session were selfish.

The people of Missouri deserve better, Fitzwater said.

Republican egos

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, decried the grievance politics in the Senate, saying Republican egos are standing in the way of progress on issues that affect Missourians.

House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, said the Senates failure on reforming the initiative petition process could lead to the restoration of abortion rights via the ballot.

If the Senate fails to take action on IP reform, I think the Senate should be held accountable for allowing abortion to return to Missouri, Plocher said.

Senate President Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, said he is embarrassed Missouri doesnt have sports betting when nearly all surrounding states allow it and are generating tax revenue when people place bets.

Rowden suggested that Eigel and Hoskins had a problem with OLaughlin deciding which bills get to be debated.

Maybe they dont like a woman being in charge, he told the Post-Dispatch.

Eigels tax legislation, which is likely to be a centerpiece of his gubernatorial run, would exempt vehicles at least 10 years old from the personal property tax.

The bill also cuts the personal property tax assessment rate from 33.3% to 31%. Currently, personal property is assessed at a third of its real value, which local governments then tax.

It faced an uphill climb to win support from Democrats and Republicans, including OLaughlin, who said local governments would lose big chunks of revenue that helps pay for road maintenance, nursing homes and public safety.

Republicans in the House sought to keep both the tax and betting issues alive. After 2:30 p.m. Friday, with less than four hours before their adjournment deadline, the House sent a measure to the Senate that would slash personal property taxes and legalize sports betting.

I think were showing once again to the people of our state that the House continues to work and continues to really go above and beyond in trying to negotiate with the other side of the building, said Rep. Ben Baker, R-Neosho.

The Missouri House of Representatives concludes its business on Friday, May 12, 2023. Lawmakers, as is tradition, throw papers in the air to mark the end of the session.

The measure did not surface on the Senate floor before the day ended.

As for the next step in the sports betting saga, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals have said they may begin collecting signatures to place a question on the 2024 statewide ballot asking if wagering on athletic events should be legalized.

Im sorry the session ended the way it did, OLaughlin said. We need to look forward to next year and we need to work hard on our relationships. I hope we come back with a renewed sense of collegiality.

Members of the Missouri House of Representatives throw papers into the air as part of the traditional paper toss marking the final moments on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the House floor in Jefferson City.

Members of the Missouri House of Representatives throw papers into the air as part of the traditional paper toss marking the final moments on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the House floor in Jefferson City.

Rep. Travis Wilson, R-St. Charles, gathers paper to throw into their air as part of the traditional paper toss marking the final moments on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the House floor in Jefferson City. Photo by Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

J.J. Hurlbert, 4, the son of Rep. Josh Hurlbert, R-Smithville, helps members of the House pick up papers flung into the air as part of the traditional paper toss marking the final moments on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the House floor in Jefferson City. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

Colleagues gather around Rep. Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City, center, on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the House floor in Jefferson City. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

Rep. Josh Hurlbert, R-Smithville, plays with his daughter 17-month-old Rebekah, as his daughter Rose, 7, and J.J. visit him at this desk on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the House floor in Jefferson City. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

Stella, 14, and Owen, 15, join their father House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres on the dais on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the House floor in Jefferson City. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

Rep. Brian Seitz, R-Branson, dons his Superman tie on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the House floor in Jefferson City. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

Rep. Lisa Thomas, R-Lake Ozark, right, joins her colleagues as they throw papers into their air as part of the traditional paper toss marking the final moments on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the House floor in Jefferson City. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

Rep. Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City, cools off on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the House floor in Jefferson City. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

Rep. Brad Christ, R-St. Louis County, laughs during the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the House floor in Jefferson City.

Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, speaks on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the Senate floor in Jefferson City.

Sen. Nick Schroer, R-Defiance, on the day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the Senate floor in Jefferson City. Photo by Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

Rep. Travis Wilson, R-St. Charles, bows to his colleagues after being called out on his "offensive" plaid jacket on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the House floor in Jefferson City.

Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the Senate floor in Jefferson City. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

Sen. Lauren Arthur, D-Kansas City, dons Princess Leia braids on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the Senate floor in Jefferson City. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

Senate Majority Leader Cindy OLaughlin, R-Shelbina, and Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, confer on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the Senate floor in Jefferson City.

Sen. Lauren Arthur, D-Kansas City, dons Princess Leia braids on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the Senate floor in Jefferson City. Photo by Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

Sen. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, and Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the Senate floor in Jefferson City. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, introduces a guest on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the House floor in Jefferson City. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, talks on the phone on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the House floor in Jefferson City. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

Rep. Jon Patterson, R-Lee's Summit, on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the House floor in Jefferson City. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

Rep. LaKeySha Bosley, D-St. Louis, speaks in support of an emergency clause on legislation that would support maternal health for low-income mothers on the last day of the legislative session on Friday, May 12, 2023, on the House floor in Jefferson City. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

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On final day, Missouri Republicans fail in bid to approve sports betting - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Opinion

Even where the technicalities of the apparent malfeasance are different, the Republican spirit is the same

When news broke on Tuesday afternoon that the justice department was indicting George Santos the disgraced Republican Long Island congressman whose election to the House of Representatives in 2022 was enabled by a series of lies about his background and elaborate, inventive frauds it was at first hard to think of just what he was being indicted for. George Santos, after all, is alleged to have been so prolifically criminal in his 34 years that one imagines law enforcement would have a hard time narrowing things down.

Would Santos be charged over the fake pet charity he seems to have invented, collecting money for things like surgery for the beloved dog of a veteran, which was never turned over to the animals owner? Or would he face charges stemming from his lies about his professional background, like the claim he made during his most recent congressional campaign, wholly false, that he used to work for Goldman Sachs, or his bizarre story, also a fabrication, about having been a college volleyball star?

Would it be something like the check fraud he allegedly committed in Brazil as a teenager, or like the bad check he supposedly wrote to, of all people, a set of Amish dog breeders in Pennsylvania?

What George Santos has been indicted for is not one of his funnier or more colorful scandals, but something extremely typical in Washington: lying about money. On Wednesday, prosecutors at a federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York, charged Santos with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, two counts of making false statements to the House of Representatives, and one count of theft of public funds. He pleaded not guilty, and was released on a half-million dollar bond.

The indictment against Santos is sprawling and complicated, reflecting the expansiveness of the congressmans alleged frauds, but the allegations that federal prosecutors make fall essentially into three columns: first, they charge that Santos set up a fraudulent LLC, where he directed donors to give money that he claimed would be spent on his political campaign. Instead, he used the funds to make car payments, pay off his debts, and notably, to buy expensive clothes.

Second, the Department of Justice charges that Santos defrauded the government when he applied for and received special Covid unemployment benefits in New York, despite drawing a salary of approximately $120,000 from an investment firm in Florida. (That firm, Harbor City Capital, is itself alleged to be a classic Ponzi scheme.)

And third, the indictment claims that Santos falsified financial disclosure forms related to his congressional seat, falsely certifying to Congress that he drew a $750,000 salary and between $1m and $5m in dividends, and had between $100,000 and $250,000 in a checking account and between $1m and $5m in savings. It was often remarked upon with wonder, and not a small amount of alarm, that Santos, who had not long before his election to Congress struggled to pay rent and faced eviction, was suddenly in possession of so much income and such apparent good luck. How, exactly, had Santos come across all that money? Now, a federal indictment alleges that he simply didnt: he made it up, like so many college volleyball championships.

Maybe its for the best that Santos is being charged, ultimately, for the most typically white-collar of his crimes: it will help dispel the myth that he is not a typical Republican. Since the revelation of Santoss seemingly bottomless dishonesty and malfeasance, a number of House Republicans have tried to distance themselves from the congressman. Nancy Mace, a South Carolina congresswoman trying to style herself as a moderate, called for his resignation; so did Max Milner, of Ohio, over Santoss false claims of Jewish heritage and having lost relatives in the Holocaust. Reportedly, Senator Mitt Romney encountered Santos at the State of the Union address and told him, with his signature air of the put-upon patrician: You dont belong here.

But doesnt George Santos belong in the modern Republican party? After all, how different, really, is Santoss alleged scheme to defraud donors for his own enrichment from Donald Trumps insistence, in the aftermath of the 2020 election, that his supports should donate to him to fight the election fraud that didnt exist? How different is Santoss use of his congressional campaign to raise funds for fancy clothes from Clarence Thomass use of his seat on the supreme court to get fancy vacations on Harlan Crows dime? How different is George Santoss alleged falsification of his financial records to Congress from the conspicuous omissions on the financial disclosure forms required of justices of the supreme court?

Even where the technicalities of the malfeasance are different, the Republican spirit is the same, in everyone from George Santos to Clarence Thomas to Donald Trump: the use of public office for personal enrichment, the contempt for the public interest, the indignant declarations that any efforts to hold them accountable are partisan, illegitimate and conducted in bad faith. Outside the federal courthouse on Wednesday, George Santos channeled Trump, calling the indictment against him a witch-hunt. Id say he fits in with the Republican party just fine.

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George Santos, liar and fantasist, fits in with the Republican party just fine - The Guardian