A Resigned Politician’s Advice for George Santos

George Santos is, at the moment, still a sitting member of Congress. He somehow manages this despite having been caught fabricating parts of his résumé; despite telling weird, at times disturbing lies (such as 9/11 having “claimed [his] mothers life”); despite having been accused of running multiple dog-related scams; despite calls for him to step down; despite a federal investigation into his finances; and despite a scolding from Mitt Romney at the State of the Union. According to one poll late last month, 78 percent of Santos’s constituents believe he should resign. And yet, Santos insists that he will not (though he has owned up in part to “embellishing” his résumé).

How does a politician decide whether to cling to office or let go? To get an insider’s understanding of the process, I called up Jeff Smith, a former Democratic Missouri state senator who his post in 2009 upon pleading guilty to obstructing