In today's #vatnik soup I'll be introducing a US representative and a pathological liar, George Santos. It is almost impossible to do a proper profile on this guy, since it's hard to know what aspects of his life are true and what are false.
But let's try!
1/16
Santos is a member of the GOP, & he was elected to the open seat in 2022. He is the first openly gay Republic elected to congress.Interestingly, he was married to a woman during 2012-2019 - they divorced just 12 days before officially filed his first congressional campaign.
2/16
He's said that his maternal grandparents are Jewish and that they fled Soviet Ukraine and Belgium from the Holocaust - they were actually both born in Brazil. He later gave an interview to WABC radio, where he stated that "I never claimed to be Jewish, I am Catholic...
3/16
... Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was ‘Jew-ish.'"
Santos has used a fake Jewish name Anthony Zabrovsky to raise funds for a pet charity. He never gave any of its proceedings to the charity organization.
4/16
He has also claimed that his father is African American with Angolan roots. There is no evidence of this.
George speaks highly of her mother, writing that she was "the first female executive at a major financial institution" and survived 9/11.
5/16
In Jul, 2021, he tweeted that "9/11 claimed my mothers life"; then in Oct, 2021 he said that she was "caught up in the ash cloud" but was never treated for it. Then, in Dec, 2022 he claimed that both of his parents survived 9/11.
6/16
In real life, George's mother was apparently a home care nurse in Brazil and, accordingly to George's friends, she didn't speak much English.
Based on George, his education is top notch: he's claimed to hold a bachelor's degree in finance and economics from Baruch College...7/16
... graduating at top 1% of his class. During his claimed attendance he was actually in Brazil. He has also said that he was a "star player" on the Baruch volleyball team. He also has a fake Master's degree in business from NYU.
8/16
In Dec, 2022, he told The New York Post that "I didn't graduate from any institution of higher learning. I'm embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my résumé".
Besides being a volleyball star, George has also worked as a "seasoned Wall Street financier and investor"...9/16
... at both CitiGroup and Goldman Sachs. Neither company has any record of him working there. His latest real job was in a alternative investment firm accused of being a Ponzi scheme.
10/16
In an 2020 interview, he said that he had a brain tumor and that he received radiation treatment for it. Perhaps he's been cured: as of Dec, 2022, there hasn't been any more mentions of his illness.
11/16
Santos has called the Ukrainian government a "totalitarian regime". Regarding the puppet states of Donetsk and Luhansk, he has said that Ukraine "welcomed the Russians into their provinces" and that Ukrainians in the east "feel more Russian than Ukrainian".
12/16
In Feb, 2022, George tweeted that Joe Biden is "willing to start a war in Eastern Europe". At the time of these statements, he had received a 32 800 USD donation from Columbus Nova, owned by Andrew Intrater, a cousin of Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.
13/16
George is a strong supporter of Donald Trump, and he also attended "Stop the Steal" rally on Jan 6, 2021. He was caught on camera stating that he had written a "nice check to a law firm" to bail the US Capitol arrestees out of jail.
14/16
As almost always with vatniks, George has trouble with money - he has unresolved charges for check fraud in Brazil. Somehow he's managed to make some money for his campaigning - in 2020 he listed his net worth at 5000 USD, ...
15/16
... but by 2022 his fortune had increased to somewhere between 2,5 and 11 million USD. He's campaing spendings are just absurd and too long to list here, you can find more info here: politico.com/news/2022/12/3…
16/16
*His campaign spendings
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
In today’s 350th Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an American comedian and podcaster, Dave Smith (@ComicDaveSmith). He’s best-known for his numerous appearances on the Joe Rogan Experience and for his unhinged takes on the Russo-Ukrainian War.
1/22
Smith has a massive megaphone - he’s a good friend of Joe Rogan, and he’s appeared on Joe’s podcast a whopping 16 times. Naturally, he’s also visited Lex Fridman’s podcast and frequently appears on Fox News’ Kennedy and The Greg Gutfeld Show.
2/22
Dave is part of the Kremlintarian section of the Libertarian Party called Mises Caucus. They took control of the party in May 2022, and with the help of their new leader, Angela McArdle, turned it into an extension of the MAGA Republicans:
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Russian journalist, Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin). He’s best-known for posing as a Russian dissident, while at the same time sneakily promoting the Kremlin’s narratives about the Russo-Ukrainian War.
1/20
On paper, Leonid doesn’t look like your typical Kremlin apologist - he’s written and worked for prestigious Western outlets like the BBC, the Guardian, and he’s even written some Lonely Planet guides for the Baltic countries!
2/20
But Ragozin’s public commentary often seems to walk a fine line: condemning the war while pushing narratives that shift blame, dilute responsibility, or quietly carry the same old imperial baggage Russia - or its opposition - has never truly forgotten.
In today’s Vatnik Soup REBREW, I’ll introduce a bank that is well-known in both Austria and Russia: Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) and its Russian subsidiary, AO Raiffeisen. It is one of the few foreign banks that still does business in Russia.
1/21
Raiffeisen’s Russian branch was founded in 1996 and expanded dramatically after the acquisition of Russia’s Impexbank in 2006. A year later, it was the largest bank trading in foreign capital (seventh in size) in Russia.
2/21
In the early 2000s, Raiffeisen opened new branches in Russia, including in Saint Petersburg, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Krasnodar. After 2018, it focused on digital expansion and by 2021 it had a digital presence in more than 300 cities.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an Estonian lawyer, social activist, politician, and useful idiot for the Kremlin, Varro Vooglaid (@varrovooglaid). He’s best-known for promoting pro-Kremlin viewpoints under the guise of “traditional family values.”
1/20
Vooglaid has an academic background, which usually gives people plenty of credibility in the eyes of the Kremlin. Most of his academic career was spent at the University of Tartu, but he was also a researcher between 2007 and 2011 at the University of Helsinki.
2/20
Varro is likely the most influential vatnik in Estonia. His academic credentials provide him credibility, while his religious image appeals to “traditionalists” - many of whom oddly admire Russia and its imperialistic nature.
In today’s Vatnik Soup REBREW, I’ll introduce a Russian ultra-nationalist propagandist and “philosopher”, Aleksandr Dugin. He’s best-known for his blueprint on Russia’s geopolitical strategy and for his genocidal rhetoric towards Ukrainians.
1/17
In my first Dugin Soup, I covered the man’s 1997 book Foundations of Geopolitics — a manual for dismantling the West, breaking up NATO, and building a Russian-led empire. In it, he makes eerie “predictions” that seem to be playing out today.
2/17
Dugin called for destabilizing the US by exacerbating internal divisions. Fast forward to today: culture wars, conspiracy theories, far-right lunatics, and social media algorithms doing half the work for him.