Originally published at: George Santos claimed he produced the biggest Broadway flop of all time | Boing Boing
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That’s not con-artistry — it’s either an Andy Kaufman-esque performance art bit, or a manifestation of a compulsive lying habit that is indicative of much more deeply concerning mental health issues.
Maybe it’s a test of how much the GOP will put up with in its desperate bid to retain power. Not that we don’t already know.
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It’s too bad, really. When Trump produced the Spider-Man musical its ratings were as big as they come.
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Pretty sure they would not entrust the production of the most expensive Broadway musical in history to a 22-year-old who had no prior experience.
How was this not an incredibly obvious red flag to the donors he was trying to impress?
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A good con man will put his victim at ease by telling stories that reveal his own anxieties, faults, and desires, thereby fabricating what feels like common ground. As research shows, we’re quick to trust people we see as imperfect (like ourselves). Anyone willing to admit that they were responsible for the biggest Broadway flop of all time must be trustworthy.
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“Who among us did not blow $75 Million producing a Broadway flop during our college years?”
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I still think he could have a future as the Alan Smithee of failed stage productions.
Just blame it on George.
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The Taj Mahal casino suffered from the same problem.
People came, but not in sufficient numbers to service the debt load.
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As it’s clear Santos lies compulsively, and we know what lies he was willing to have written down (and legally attested to!), it seems likely there’s going to be an endless stream of newly revealed lies he’s told small groups of people at various times, as long as people are willing to share their stories. I mean, he’s still doing it, despite being caught out - it’ll never end.
This is an interesting one, as he was referencing something that was famous enough everyone would know about it, so it served its primary function of drawing attention to him. Assuming he knew it was a flop, its failure also served a disarming function - why lie about it? And also answering the question, “If you’re a big-shot Broadway producer, why are you running for office?” Using this particular production showed he was a big player, an Important Person, but also, at the same time, not so successful that he didn’t need financial help, that a drastic career change wasn’t strange.
Also, it seems like, if your lie is weird enough, it disarms people into not examining it closely. Paradoxically, the less plausible it is (within some limit), the more genuine it seems. (“Why would anyone make up such a strange lie? It must be true, therefore…”) Maybe you don’t believe it, but you brush it off.
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Well, now that you mention it…
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Santos, “It is just like I told Elvis, I practically had to push Armstrong out of the hatch on the Lunar Lander. He’s got cold feet, and I had to put a boot up his ass. I was just inside the hatch, feeding his lines to him.”
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Wrong pic for Apollo 11, but I’ll let it pass.
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I think it’s a fabricated quote, too. 
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There is a comedic quality to how these stories keep coming out, and get weirder and more obscure. Except this is the real face of the GOP now, so we’re laughing while getting punched in the gut.
(I also expect some of the jokes we make, attributing some invention or production to Santos, will eventually come out as an actual claim of his.)
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Out on Long Island he turned out to be the biggest off-off-off-Broadway flop ever.
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I expect that’ll continue, too. He’ll continue lying about… everything, but there’ll be less and less interest in his banal lies, so it’ll take weirder and weirder ones to break through. “Oh another fraud by Santos, yawn. Not worth reporting. Oh, but he once claimed he was the lost heir of the Russian royal family!?”
Yeah, all lies, all the time - and rubbing our faces in it.
Oh gods, yeah - it seems inevitable, now. (Assuming it hasn’t already happened…)
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Oh, and also we’re going to hear more stories of his petty acts of pointless cruelty, too. Coincidentally I just heard one of the first reporters to cotton onto Santos talking about things he uncovered, one of which was that Santos pretended to own a bunch of (apparently random) mansions. He went so far as to drive around, with a contractor, to the various buildings he supposedly wanted the guy to work on (showing him only the outsides, of course, because Santos didn’t even know the people who lived there). This went on for four fucking hours. Santos stole at least a half day’s worth of this guy’s labor, just because he wanted to play “let’s pretend” with a captive audience.
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