Honestly, was there a better way to send out this godforsaken year than George Santos showing up on Ziwe? If you somehow missed the memo, the former congressman who lied about pretty much every single thing under the sun (a.k.a. his religion, his marital status, his use of campaign funds for botox and OnlyFans, and his status as a producer on doomed musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark for some reason) stopped by the iconic host’s studio for some hard-hitting questions like “how are you like Rosa Parks?” and “What excites you most about going to prison?”. Everyone on Twitter/X who called this interview our generation’s Frost/Nixon knew what they were talking about.
George Santos has always been ridiculous (remember when he roamed the halls of the capitol holding a mystery baby?) and he’s showing no signs of slowing down now that he’s left politics. (He did threaten to “be back” like a perfect approximation of a Disney villain, so... keep your guard up, we suppose.) This interview may make you feel like you’ve intermittently shifted into an alternate reality—even the famously unflappable Ziwe seemed to break at certain points, specifically in response to Santos’ incorrect definition of “slay the boots house down.” Regardless, here are some standout moments that really shed, well, something on the whole situation:
- Santos’ future (or lack thereof) in reality TV: Santos has no intention of appearing on Dancing With The Stars (he doesn’t want to be Sean Spicer), despite the fact that ABC has probably been blowing up his phone day and night. He’d “love to go read a bitch” on RuPaul’s Drag Race and thinks Bowen Yang deserves an EGOT for his impression of him on SNL. In other news, Santos has no idea who either James Baldwin or Harvey Milk are.
- Santos didn’t come to the capitol to make friends: Santos’ self-professed mission was to “expose the rot and corruption” in D.C. and he believes he did. He claims that if society put the rest of Congress under the same scrutiny he was subject to, they’d have to “vacate the whole goddamn building.” (He’s probably right on that one.) He also likes paying taxes, apparently.
- Santos doesn’t think he’s a politician: “I’m not a politician, never was, never will be.” Instead, he defines himself as “an elected public servant for 11 months.” He “hate[s] politicking.”
- But he will run again: When that day comes, he might run as an Independent because “the country needs more independent thinkers,” but not like Jill Stein, who’s a “Russian asset according to Hillary Clinton.” George Santos, on the other hand, is an asset to “no one.”
- Santos on empathy: The former congressman believes he’s “empathetic to causes to people to situations.” Can he define empathy? Not a chance!