Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) is facing yet another wave of criticism for comparing himself to civil rights icon Rosa Parks during an interview on Sunday.
“When they come for me, I go right back for them because I think for far too long they’ve gotten away with getting along to get along,” Santos said before lashing out at one of his most vocal critics—Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah).
“I mean Mitt Romney, the man goes to the State of the Union of the United States wearing a Ukraine lapel pin, tells me, a Latino gay man, that I shouldn’t sit in the front, that I should be in the back,” Santos said. “Well guess what? Rosa Parks didn’t sit in the back and neither am I gonna sit in the back. That’s just the reality of how it works. Mitt Romney lives in a very different world, and he needs to buckle up because it’s gonna be a bumpy ride for him.”
Santos’ comparison to Rosa Parks quickly prompted mockery and condemnation.
“This guy is a special kind of crazy, and I mean the kind that belongs in a straight jacket,” remarked conservative commentator Shermichael Singleton.
“What an absolute disgrace,” commented another user.
Others invoked Santos’ long list of documented lies, including about where he went to school, his employment history, his founding of an animal charity, his mother dying from the Sept. 11 attacks, his grandmother being a Holocaust survivor, his employees dying in the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, and more.
“After all, Santos was in that bus the day it happened. He offered to give up his seat to Parks,” joked one user.
“Just waiting for George Shapeshifter Santos to say he’s related to Rosa Parks,” wrote another.
The embattled freshman congressman faces 13 federal charges related to misleading donors, stealing from his campaign, and lying to collect unemployment benefits. He has pled not guilty.
Santos has continued to defy calls to resign—as well as rebuked House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) announcement that he would not support Santos’ reelection.
“I was elected by 142,000 people. Until those same 142,000 people tell me they don’t want me, we’ll find out in two years,” Santos said earlier this year.
