I suppose it would be stretching things if I were to claim for George Santos direct descent from Baron Munchausen. But I have heard it said that perhaps he is one of Donald Trump’s unacknowledged sons. Santos claims Trump as his model in the politics of mendacity, and if one considers his behavior and contempt for the public, Santos does seem to be a con off the old grift.

I suppose theorists might describe Santos’ campaign of lies as just another manifestation of Americans’ drive to re-invent themselves, in the old song from westward expansion: 

What was your name in the States?
Was it Murphy, MacDonald or Gates?
Did you hold up a bank as a juvenile prank
And pack up the money in crates, my friend,
What was your name in the States?

But in the case of Trump and Santos it is not a matter of escaping a former identity, but of polishing it up, or, “embellishing” it. Brazen liars of the past tried to conceal a history of crime, these politicians are trying to conceal a history of hum-drum and failure.