It seems that building a reputation on lies is increasingly the ladder to success in American politics.
Richard Blumenthal won a Senate seat in Connecticut by lying about “serving in Vietnam.” George Santos won a seat in Congress even though, as Vanity Fair puts it, “he basically never told the truth about anything and fooled a whole lot of people in the process.”
But not every political liar can get away with it. In 2018, Fox News chronicled the stories of four liars whose fabrications were exposed. Two were chosen despite their lies; others didn’t do well.
In Oregon, Amanda La Bell, the American Working Families Party’s nominee for state representative, lied about earning a bachelor’s degree from Valdosta State University in Georgia, a Class C felony. Two years later, La Bell spent five days in prison for embezzling thousands of dollars from law firm in Oregon, where she briefly worked as a business development manager.
In Florida, Republican candidate Melissa Howard pleaded guilty to lying about having a college degree from Miami University in Ohio; her fate is 90 days probation and 25 hours of community service to avoid prosecution for misrepresenting her academic status.
Democrat Andy Kim won a U.S. House seat in New Jersey despite allegations that he exaggerated his “servants” in the Bush administration – a claim that was deemed false by The Washington Post.
In New York, Julia Salazar, a Democrat and Socialist candidate for state senate, was kicked out by her own family for claiming to be a needy Jewish immigrant born in Colombia, when in fact she was born in Florida and had hundreds of thousands of dollars in her bank account. trust fund. Even though she was exposed as a liar, the former pro-life Republican turned pro-choice socialist won the seat and continues to serve.
Salazar’s political journey and her claims about her brief life led political journalists at City and State to admit that “skeptics have certainly been given reason to distrust Salazar, but one wonders how many members of Congress could be similarly questioned based on their own stories of humble origins.”
Blumenthal’s false claims of valor in Vietnam bring to mind the false claims of valor associated with the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center towers in New York.
But like Blumenthal, at least one 9/11 liar did very well by building an impressive resume on lies. To this day, it largely bases its reputation on a false narrative.
There is also a high-profile case of the utilize of stolen valor involving Donato Tramuto, who claimed he “almost died” on the second plane hitting the Twin Towers, but was saved by a toothache that led him to get off United Flight 175. The lie enabled him to create foundation and raise millions of dollars – not for the victims of September 11 (as many donors may have assumed), but to raise his profile as a philanthropist.
Some of the donated funds went to the Christ the King Seminary, which was closed after its president, Fr. Joe Gatto, was accused of child molestation.
But perhaps the largest recipient of the Tramuto Foundation’s ill-gotten gains is the RFK Human Rights Foundation.
His $1 million “donation” was huge enough to fund then-Director Kerry Kennedy’s $500,000 salary for two years and earned him numerous honors, including a seat on the foundation’s board and the Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award for his “generosity”.
He also received the RFK Children’s Action Corps “Embracing the Legacy” award and a number of honorary doctorate degrees for deceiving people based on his false claims of 9/11 valor.
Tramuto is well-established in Maine political circles, and his ties to the Kennedy family undoubtedly strengthen his influence.
The fact that Tramuto will utilize his foundation’s donations to Kennedy charities for political gain raises the question of whether Tramuto defrauded Kerry Kennedy and the foundation he runs in his father’s honor, or whether he knew all along that his story was a fabrication .
Just a year ago, fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried was exposed after donating up to $100 million to political campaigns that he stole from his clients. The Washington Post speculates that prosecutors will try to show that Sam’s goal was to redeem his political capital in exchange for cordial treatment from policymakers, which would allow him to expand his empire and continue to siphon off clients’ money.
While some recipients of Bankman-Fried’s ill-gotten gains have promised to donate the funds to “charities,” there is little indication that politicians intend to return the money to those the fraudster defrauded. Kerry Kennedy also didn’t think to offer to return any money Tramuto raised based on his false 9/11 narrative to those who were defrauded.
The biblical story of the fate of Ananias and Sapphira and their false claim to have donated all the proceeds from the sale of their property ends with them falling at Peter’s feet.
What was their sin? Lying about charitable contributions.
But what did they do differently than Donato Tramuto?
And why doesn’t Tramuto’s lie matter to Kerry Kennedy?
