Former Republican Congressman George Santos offered a scathing description of life inside Congress during a lengthy appearance on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, arguing that much of the partisan combat Americans watch from Washington amounts to political theater.
The episode, released September 28, featured Santos discussing his political career, criminal conviction, time in prison and eventual commutation by President Trump. The conversation included an extended segment devoted specifically to Santos’ view of how Congress operates behind closed doors.
Santos didn’t exactly reach for diplomatic language.
“They’re all full of absolute sh*t,” Santos told Maher.
Santos recalled an alleged conversation with Rep. Ryan Zinke, the Montana Republican and former Interior secretary, shortly after Santos arrived in Washington. According to Santos, Zinke told him: “It’s all theater. Just remember this, you have one of the best seats in the country.”
That account is Santos’ recollection, and Zinke’s alleged remark has not been independently confirmed in the available reporting.
Santos said he subsequently came to believe the description fit what he witnessed during House votes. He argued that lawmakers routinely vote on legislation designed primarily to send political messages rather than become law.
“If I tell you the amount of times that the votes were just bullsh*t messaging bills,” Santos said, before later describing congressional politics as “Kabuki theater.”
Former Congressman @Georgesantos delivered an explosive account of his brief time inside Washington during a wide-ranging interview with Bill Maher pic.twitter.com/kjjZvJKZjB
— The Gateway Pundit (@gatewaypundit) September 28, 2026
His broader argument was that the public displays of partisan warfare don’t always reflect the negotiations happening privately among congressional leaders. Santos described lawmakers attacking one another publicly before leaders eventually negotiated agreements behind closed doors.
“At the end of the day, it ends in pizza,” Santos said.
He referenced Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Republican leaders including Speaker Mike Johnson and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy as examples of politicians who ultimately have to negotiate despite their public disagreements. Santos claimed that after leadership settles on a path, rank-and-file members are frequently pressured to support it.
“We’re sheep,” Santos said, describing how he viewed the process.
The interview comes with an unavoidable complication: Santos’ own record involving dishonesty. He pleaded guilty in 2024 to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft and admitted filing fraudulent Federal Election Commission reports, misusing campaign contributions and lying in reports to the House. He was sentenced in April 2025 to 87 months in federal prison.
President Trump commuted Santos’ sentence to time served on October 17, 2025, eliminating the remaining imprisonment, supervised release, fines and restitution requirements associated with the sentence.
Santos also addressed his history of false statements during the Maher interview, including admitting that claims involving his education and college volleyball experience were fabricated.
That history gives listeners reason to distinguish Santos’ personal anecdotes from independently documented facts. But his broader complaints touch on genuine features of Congress, including messaging votes, party leadership pressure and private negotiations that can look considerably different from the public partisan spectacle.
Whether Santos’ characterization fairly describes Congress as a whole is a matter of interpretation. His message to Maher, however, wasn’t subtle: Americans watching congressional warfare on television may not be seeing the same Washington that members experience once the cameras are gone.
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