Abby Phillip Breaks Down Why George Santos’s ‘Poor Man’s Donald Trump Impression’ Didn’t Win Over His Fellow Republicans
Abby Phillip joined CNN’s Friday morning breaking news broadcast to discuss Rep. George Santos’s (R-NY) historic expulsion from Congress and offered her take on why Santos was unable to win over his fellow Republicans and keep his seat.
“It was really interesting, my ears perk up a little bit, when he [Adam Kinzinger] said that Santos was trying to use the Trump playbook, the politics of a victimhood here and that it didn’t work,” began anchor John Berman, referring to previous analysis from the former Republican congressman.
“Does that maybe say something about where politics might be headed or the limits, at least, of that kind of strategy? Abby, you first,” Berman then asked.
“Yeah, I mean, I think it’s certainly the limits of it. I mean, it was, it’s a poor man’s Donald Trump impression in some ways,” Phillip replied, adding:
He tried to just mimic it to a point where it was almost it was so transparent. And that is one of the reasons, I think that it probably didn’t work.
But the strategy wasn’t just about victimhood. It was also just about never stopping to talk. I mean, this morning, George Santos was on Fox News. Hours before this vote. It’s hard for me to understand how that would be seen as helpful. He’s he doubled down at exactly the wrong moment.
He in an interview with Manu Raju, just a couple of weeks ago, was found was caught basically in lies that were then laid out in the Ethics Committee report. This is part of the problem with Santos, part of the problem for those more than 100 Republican members who voted for this expulsion, he was a completely unhelpful distraction to the institution of the House of Representatives that could not be ignored. Santos was not going to repent and then quietly do the work of his district.
He was always interested in being in the spotlight, and that I think a lot of members thought was just completely untenable.
Watch the full clip above via CNN.
