Republican Representative George Santos seems to have lied about everything: his ancestry, his education, his career, his charitable work, his medical history, and other things. Many people have taken delight in the Santos story as an over-the-top example of a con man who rose to the top.

But Moira Donegan, a columnist for The Guardian, pushed the discussion about Santos deeper in a recent column by asking what purpose Santos’s lies serve and what we are to make of a political system where a liar like Santos can flourish?

The Santos story is about more than just one fibber, but a deeper and more systematic corruption. I was happy to talk to Moira on this episode of The Time of Monsters to tease out the meaning of the scandal.

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