Why Didn’t The Major Mainstream Media Vet Santos Before Election Day?

Rep. George Santos (R.NY) is a masterful liar. He has told baldfaced lies about nearly everything — from being Jewish to (for some reason) leading the Baruch College volleyball team to wins over Harvard and Yale.

But as his world continues to unravel — with official investigations into his fundraising and campaign expenditures — one question remains: How did he Even win?

Santos wasn’t a complete unknown. He ran for the 2020 election but was defeated by the Democrat, 55.9% to 43.4%. His opponent, incumbent Rep. Tom Suozzi dismissed Santos, and conducted no opposition to the New York Times reported This was earlier in the month.

The Times wrote in his campaign last spring, “Democrats!” “labored unsuccessfully to convince the news media, which had been weakened by years of staff cuts and consumed by higher-profile races, to dig into the troubling leads they did unearth.”

But one newspaper, The North Shore Leader — a small weekly newspaper on Long Island that says it “typically won’t endorse a Democratic candidate” — was way ahead of the curve. The Leader wrote Santos was a “fake” Months before Election Day

The Leader, for instance, wrote in September about his Santos’ “inexplicable rise” In reported net worth, it ranged from almost nothing in 2020 to $11 million two years later.

The Washington Post published its last week of business, many years after Santos was elected. reported Some campaign donations were made by Andrew Intrater who is the cousin of Viktor Vekselberg (a sanctioned Russian billionaire) and has close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Santos was unaware of this little fact, and no one else did.

Perusing a Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, the Post reported that a company linked to Intrater donated a $625,000 deposit to Santos’ former employer, Harbor City, which regulators have accused of being nothing more than a Ponzi scheme.

The Leader reported that $6 million had been stolen from investors to buy luxury items like Mercedes cars, waterfront homes, and large credit card debts.

“Santos’ campaign raises similar concerns. On paper Santos has raised over $2 million,” The Leader wrote. “But the money seems to have vanished – or never been there. Huge sums are listed with the FEC for personal expenses – like Brooks Brothers, Florida beach resorts, lavish restaurants and limo services – but many hundreds of thousands more disappear into a black hole of dubious ‘consulting fees.’”

Dan Kennedy, a professor at Northeastern University’s School of Journalism, has some interesting theories Why Santos was not under scrutiny by the mainstream media

“What most likely happened is something I’ve seen during my own career: the media didn’t bother to vet Santos before the election because they believed he had no chance of winning, even though he’d run before,” Kennedy wrote in an article.

“The political press is also dependent on opposition research as well. If Zimmerman didn’t think Santos warranted investigating then it’s difficult for the media to know that, of all the people running for office, Santos deserved a closer look,” He wrote.

The Leader, which has just 5,000 circulation, celebrated the big win in a piece Headline “The Leader Told You So: US Rep-Elect George Santos is a Fraud — and Wanted Criminal.”

Grant Lally, the owner of The Leader, stated that the Santos story never reached critical mass.

“There are a lot of phenomena here,” He told The Hill. “Number one is that people are far more credulous than they used to be. Everything is filtered through electronic media. They’ll believe something online but won’t believe it if it happens right in front of them.”

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Joseph Curl is a 35-year veteran of politics, having served 12 years as White House correspondent in a national newspaper. For four years, he was the Drudge Report’s a.m. editor. Send tips to [email protected] Follow him @josephcurl on Twitter