Over the weekend, President Donald Trump (R-FL) announced that he had commuted the prison sentence of former Congressman George Santos (R-Queens).
Santos needs no introduction. The sentence for his deception and fraud was seven years. He reported to prison in July and has sat mostly in solitary confinement, from what we know.
We’re certainly not on board with Santos getting off scot-free here. If anything, his sentence could have been made more in line with precedent for these types of crimes. We think, in some ways, he got overcharged. If anything, Trump should have advocated for some better prison terms. That move might have gotten him some criticism, certainly, but it’s nothing compared to what he’ll get from ending the nation’s most recent serial pathological liar’s seven-year sentence after just about four months served.
But Trump’s move to commute Santos is only another squeeze of lemon juice over the paper cut. There’s little doubt he’ll take flack from both sides of the aisle on this one, and in our opinion, rightfully so.
Santos was such a curveball, it’s almost as if no one was prepared for what to do with him. We still believe that he shouldn’t have been excommunicated from the House until a guilty conviction was produced, which only set up Santos to rally at least some support around his identity as a political martyr.
Now, Santos has more credence to that theory. To what benefit for Trump that will muster, we’re not exactly sure, but we can’t assume that he’ll be seen favorably for this decision.
