George Santos is going to prison. But yesterday’s plea deal does not give closure to the residents of NY-03 who had to live with Santos as their representative for nearly a year.

Instead, it leaves many questions unanswered.

 Santos would not have been able to commit these crimes or climb the ladder to the top of the U.S. government without the help of others, including Santos’s treasurer, Nancy Marks, who is now a confessed criminal. But who else vouched for Santos and Marks along the way? How and why did the Republican leadership support Santos for so long—even after the 2021 vulnerability study showed he was a fraud and after he went on national television and admitted his lies?

 George Santos is a product of the Nassau GOP machine, and as such he’s a symptom of a deeper problem. By avoiding a criminal trial, the party leadership and electeds are likely breathing a sigh of relief. So many of the people who supported Santos and propped him up even after his frauds were revealed are still in positions of power in the GOP.

In fact, the people who gave us Santos (Nassau Republican Party Chair Joe Cairo and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik) are the same people who vetted Representatives Nick LaLota, Anthony D’Esposito, Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro, and Brandon Williams – all of whom voted to protect Santos, until they felt they had no choice. One can only wonder if a criminal trial would have exposed more wrongdoing.

 The rot in today’s Republican party runs deep. The Santos guilty plea means that the people responsible for foisting him on NY-03 remain unscathed, free to do it again.