Trump, Weaving a Shaggy-Dog Story About Senator Blumenthal, Grants Clemency to George Santos

President Trump, in granting clemency to the convicted former congressman George Santos, cites as inspiration the Connecticut Democrat, calling him “Senator Richard ‘Da Nang Dick’ Blumenthal” who “stated for almost 20 years that he was a proud Vietnam veteran” despite never serving in the war.Santos pleaded guilty to charges including wire fraud and identity theft. The New York fabulist violated campaign finance laws while fleecing donors. His falsehoods included working for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup as well as graduating from Baruch College.Being a volleyball star and having grandparents who survived the Holocaust were also false Santos claims. Mr. Trump dismissed all of this as Santos being “somewhat of a ‘rogue.’” A figure of bipartisan derision, in 2023 Santos became just the sixth congressman ever expelled from the House. After April’s sentencing, he began a seven-year prison term in, Mr. Trump alleged, “solitary confinement for long stretches.”Santos was radioactive in political circles. Yet Mr. Trump delights in doing things that consultants warn will spend political capital for no gain. His post Friday on Truth Social was classic misdirection aimed at shifting the spotlight to Mr. Blumenthal from Santos.Senator Richard Blumenthal on June 26, 2025 at Washington, D.C. Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesIn Mr. Trump’s announcement, Santos was almost an afterthought. The post was audacious in its account of Mr. Blumenthal’s misrepresentations, which were first exposed when he ran for Senate in 2010. “I served in Vietnam,” Mr. Blumenthal said at a rally in 2008. A frenzy of investigations unearthed several more times he’d stated or implied seeing combat.At a 2003 appearance, Mr. Blumenthal applauded the welcome given to veterans returning from Iraq. “When we returned,” he said according to the Bridgeport News, “we saw nothing like this.” It came to light that Mr. Blumenthal had sought five draft deferments. When those ran out, he was an aide in the White House and obtained a spot in the Marine Reserves. This reduced his chances of seeing the war zone to near zero. Mr. Blumenthal’s stateside reserve duties included renovating a campground and overseeing a Toys for Tots drive. “I may have misspoken,” he said when confronted, expressing regret. “I did misspeak.” He went on to win the election, but opponents have raised it ever since, and Mr. Trump relishes raising the topic.Then the congressman-elect for New York’s 3rd District, George Santos, on November 5, 2022, at Glen Cove. AP/Mary Altaffer, fileAs told by Mr. Trump, Mr. Blumenthal’s record is a vivid version of reality — what comedians call a shaggy-dog story: One loaded up with details intended to distract. A dog walking into a bar becomes “a sheepdog with three legs and one ear walks into a dank tavern full of Irish fishermen.” Snowing the setup under a blizzard of words has a purpose. A joke’s punchline hits harder the farther away it is from the setup, because there are too many things flooding out to know what’s important. In straight storytelling, attention isn’t drawn to things that aren’t worth seeing.Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Trump wrote, said that he’d “endured the worst of the war, watching the wounded and dead as he raced up the hills and down the valleys, blood streaming from his face,” although he never gave such an account. “He was ‘a Great Hero,” the president wrote, except he “was a complete and total fraud.”Mr. Trump wrote that Mr. Blumenthal “never went to Vietnam, he never saw Vietnam, he never experienced the battles there or anywhere else.” True. The president, though, then slipped in that “even” the senator’s “minimal service in our military was totally and completely made up,” burying his time as a reservist. As with so much in America, one’s politics will determine their reaction to Santos skating. Critics will see it as short-circuiting justice; supporters will delight that Mr. Trump stands by his friends no matter what. Mr. Blumenthal is mum on the subject — a prop in the president’s latest shaggy-dog story who’s again feeling the bite.Judging this version of Mr. Blumenthal’s scandal “far worse than what George Santos did,” Mr. Trump then threw a laugh line to his base. “At least Santos,” he said, “had the courage, conviction, and intelligence to always vote Republican.” He wrapped the set by wishing Santos “good luck” and telling him to “have a great life.”

Trump, Weaving a Shaggy-Dog Story About Senator Blumenthal, Grants Clemency to George Santos

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