Kitara Ravache was a drag queen in Brazil who currently assumes the aliases of George Santos or Anthony Devolder. North Americans mostly know him as George Santos since he used this name to literally scam his way into the 118th Congress of his adopted nation. The people he pretends to represent are livid that he conned votes out them by becoming an imposter. But is there a silver lining to this sad tale? Indeed, Santos being exposed as a fraud is teaching more and more Americans a valuable lesson. They have learned of Kitara, the true face of the GOP.
Just what does Kitara represent? He embodies all of the qualities that every Trumpist politician must adhere to if they are to maintain good standing. If you’re Canadian you may not be aware of these Trumpist qualities yet; they are listed below.
Hypocrisy
The GOP is incapable of functioning as a political party without engaging in constant, bone-deep hypocrisy. The party ran on a platform of pushing fundamental (one might say fundamentalist) fears. Case in point, the overwhelming, crushing fear of drag queens as a major threat to the “American way of life”, which only the GOP is capable of defining.
When faced with the realization that George was Kitara, they found the strength to ignore a drag queen in their own party. Why? Because above all else, the GOP cares about power. Since Kitara’s vote matters, they will pretend he was never Kitara. They want you to ignore it too, because the GOP is personified by Kitara, the true face of the GOP.
False Equivalence, Incessant Lying
The “lying politician” is one of America’s favorite archetypes to gripe about. Closer examination in this 21st century reveals the “lying politician” to be more a stereotype or a trope. You simply can’t group together a politician who tells lies thrice annually — or even monthly — with one who lies dozens of times daily. Yet since the GOP got stuck with Mr. Trump in 2016, they had no choice but to find a way to neutralize all criticism of his copious, unending lying. Apparently the easiest out for them was to plaster right-wing American media with the false equivalence of “all politicians lie”. Trumpists predictably ate this propaganda like candy, thereby concluding that Dear Leader was no worse than any other politician on the topic of dishonesty.
Six years of Trumpism trained low IQ Americans to be perfectly comfortable with a compulsive liar like Kitara. Lying is now a required primary skill for every Trumpist politician, and Santos is the ultimate endpoint for a brand of Republicanism that has been festering for at least three decades. We all thought Mr. Trump would remain the most prolific liar, but George Santos / Kitara shows us that there’s always room for a new low within the GOP. Who would have guessed that Mr. Trump isn’t the best example of Trumpism? It’s Kitara, the true face of the GOP.
AI-generated image of a drag queen in front of the U.S. Capitol. Could be George Santos?
White supremacy
Any anthropologist who has carefully examined the rhetoric and actions of the GOP can tell you that it is very obviously a white nationalist party. Visible minorities are encouraged to join the Republican Party if they support its white nationalist vision, and the US of A has no shortage of non-Caucasians who, for whatever reason, buy into and support the continued hegemony of white money and power if they can personally benefit from it.
George Santos is one such man, and the best part for the GOP is that he is the weakest member of the 118th Congress. Because he is the most scandalous member of Congress, holding on by his fingernails, George will vote exactly how the most powerful [whites] of his party want him to vote. Yes, Kitara seems to be enjoying the power trip of being in the chamber, but never forget that he’s also a useful idiot for the overarching white supremacist vision of his party.
Contempt
Contempt for who? The GOP platforms on contempt for liberals, and some of the bills they introduce proudly display this contempt. Yet because the MAGAt masses live in a self-inflicted media bubble and have a superficial (at best) understanding of political cause and effect, they are largely unaware that the elites they hate are the ones who benefit most from landmark GOP bills that get pushed through when Republicans rule Congress and the Oval Office.
Some GOP voters are aware that they might be voting against their own interests, but their hatred of “the other” is so strong that they are completely willing to cut off their nose to spite their face. Whatever the case, Trumpist contempt for reality is an assault on every citizen of the nation. Since Kitara’s incessant lying proves that he has nothing but contempt for reality, he gleefully rubber stamps every GOP bill. Oh, there is one other reason: Kitara is, as of this writing, hanging on to his term on the Hill by a thread… he will do whatever his Speaker asks of him.
Criminality
Kitara Ravache is a fraud and a con artist; we wouldn’t expect anything less given that his role model (and de facto party leader) is one Donald J Trump. Both are in constant legal peril, and both might eventually end up paying the piper, despite a legal system that protects elites such as they. There’s no need to go into a laundry list of the criminal histories of both, as this has been covered in depth elsewhere. Concerning the role model, Mr. Trump, we can point you to a new book by the distinguished attorney Elie Honig titled Untouchable: How Powerful People Get Away with It.
The difference here between Kitara and Donald is that Kitara does not have the power, wealth, and connections of Donald. While Kitara is backed by the important Republicans in the House (for the time being), this is only because they want his vote on the floor. If he is convicted due to the mysterious millions appearing in his bank account, the GOP might need to cut him loose. White collar criminality is the lubrication that keeps the GOP machine humming; this criminality is generally above the law (not indictable) precisely because of power, wealth, connections. Quite ironically, elites who’ve fooled the rubes are now gaining support from the backlash of ignorant mobs.
A conviction is often a red line for the GOP. However, times are changing. If a GOP politician is indicted in 2023–24, he will be able to declare victimhood, and he will try to turn the tables on what the GOP formerly valued as “Law and Order”. A victimhood strategy is well within the theorems of Trumpism since it dovetails with hypocrisy, lying, and contempt for the American people. If any conviction of an elite does not have serious repercussions (and we have no reason to think that it would), the criminality will continue. As long as Trumpism is the basis of a political party, more and more Kitaras will scam their way into Congress.