Rep. Ritchie Torres on George Santos, Kevin McCarthy & the "inmates running the asylum"

If you’ve valued reading The Signorile Report, consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting independent, ad-free opinion journalism. Thanks!“These are arsonists intent on burning everything down!"I thought you’d all want to hear this conversation I had on my SiriusXM program with Congressman Ritchie Torres, who represents the South Bronx — New York’s district 15 — in New York City. We chatted while he was on the floor of the House as Kevin McCarthy was forced to go through 15 ballots — giving away whatever was left of his soul — to become Speaker.Torres, is a brilliant young voice, standing up against bigotry and speaking out loudly — and he can be bitingly sarcastic. And yes, we need more of that.He was elected in 2020, when he and former New York Congressman Mondaire Jones became the first openly gay Black men elected to Congress. Torres is the first gay Afro-Latino elected to Congress. “I introduced a bill known as the SANTOS Act — the Stop Another Non Truthful Office Seeker Act. It will punish fraudulent candidates who tell lies to voters. ” Torres, who is often burning up Twitter and other social media platforms, has called out the GOP for caving to the far-right extremists, as McCarthy made concessions to election deniers and insurrectionist defenders.And he’s been all over the George Santos scandal — seeing this fraudster con his way into Congress — both in speaking out against Santos and in filing an Ethics Complaint.“During the debates around the Speaker’s vote, at one point Elise Stefanik said that Republicans are the most diverse legislative conference. When we heard her say that I said, ‘By what standard is that true?’“I guess she must be counting George Santos. If you factor in the lies of George Santos, you might have a gay, Afro-Latino, biracial, Brazilian, Belgian, Ukrainian, Jewish, Catholic Republican.” Listen in and let me know your thoughts. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.signorile.com/subscribe