About 15 minutes into a 17-minute-long interview between comedian Ziwe and disgraced former Congressman George Santos, the pair share the following exchange (lightly edited for conciseness):
Ziwe: In the words of Lady Gaga, ‘you live for the applause.’ Are you like Tinkerbell — if we stopped clapping, would you disappear?
Santos: No.
Ziwe: What could we do to get you to go away?
Santos: Stop inviting me to your gigs.
Ziwe: The lesson is to stop inviting you places.
Santos: But you can’t. ‘Cause people want the content.
It’s a surreal moment, because he was right. It was difficult to look away as Santos, wearing a blue suit jacket that can only be described as “Disney villain-core,” reveled in Ziwe’s undisguised disdain for him.
Within eight hours, the video had nearly 400,000 views. The interview resulted in dozens of headlines repeating Santos’s most outlandish comments.
Santos’ laundry list of crimes and lies harms the American people’s trust in our institutions, and he spouts right-wing bigotry wherever he goes. No doubt, the nation needs to stop paying attention to him. But that is easier said than done, and this media atmosphere is not going away anytime soon.
So instead of moralizing against the content machine, it’s time to think about electing people who can use it — without actually committing fraud and propagating lies, if you please.
That’s already starting to happen: Alexandria Ocasio Cortez created a name for herself with social media savvy, and John Fetterman’s team has kept up a steady stream of iconic meme moments. Is that how the country’s leaders should have to spend their time? No. But neither is making phone calls to rich donors several hours a day, and that has been going on for years.
George Santos is showing the world just how powerful the attention economy is. It’s not a good thing. But ignoring reality is not a viable option. In order to fight for what actually matters — health care, say, or reducing housing costs — Democrats and progressives need to figure out how to play the game.