George Santos’ State of the Union cameo was the cringefest no one asked for. How was it even allowed?

If the sight of Marjorie Taylor Greene in her Capitol Hill Karen ensemble complete with a red MAGA hat wasn’t a disturbing enough 2024 State of the Union cameo, seeing former U.S. Rep. George Santos giggling on the House floor felt like walking into the kitchen at 3am to make a quick sandwich and seeing a ghostly figure in the corner.

Prior to President Joe Biden delivering the SOTU address to the country for possibly the final time, it was publicly revealed during the broadcast that Santos was in attendance. After Santos was immediately spotted by cameras and highlighted on various networks, it didn’t take long before his unexpected and random presence was showcased all over X (formerly known as Twitter), with a plethora of eagle-eyed viewers scratching their heads and wondering exactly why Santos was even allowed on the House floor. 

Considering Santos was embarrassingly expelled by his own members of Congress just three months ago due to 23 counts against him ⏤ including credit card fraud and identity theft ⏤ one truly has to wonder why he thought showing his face at such a momentous occasion sounded like a good idea. Nevertheless, let’s dive in and explore how he was allowed to attend in the first place.

How was Santos allowed to attend the SOTU?

Despite how cringeworthy his appearance truly was, Santos did, in fact, have every right to sit on the House floor for the State of the Union. Until he is actually convicted of a crime, he is allowed in the chambers due to once being a member of Congress — even though his fabulist lifestyle has since tarnished his reputation. Santos even went as far as to tweet about the SOTU over on X, claiming it was “rude” that Biden was running late. And yes, he was very sassy about it. Pathological liars, am I right?

To no surprise, Santos was greeted by a wide variety of former colleagues and current members of Congress and the Senate, including butt-of-every-joke Marj and Lauren “my son breaks into cars” Boebert — so perhaps they all don’t mind associating with him now that he’s been expelled. Since his departure from Congress, Santos has attempted several separate business ventures, but apparently returning to the spotlight and trying to make the entire ceremony about himself has been his greatest accomplishment yet. Do yourself a favor and at least try to keep it classy, George.