Part of me can't believe that we're still talking about this clown, but this sort of political crack can be a hard habit to kick. Disgraced former New York Congressman and habitual liar George Santos had previously announced that he would attempt to return to Washington by running for his old congressional seat on Long Island. Then he changed his mind and said he would run against current GOP Representative Nick LaLota in the First District primary. He next changed his mind and said he would run against LaLota in the general election as an independent. But yesterday he appeared to bow to the weight of reality and announced that he was dropping out entirely and would not be running for any office this year... but he promised he would be back later. Really, George? (CBS News)

Former New York Rep. George Santos is no longer running for Congress, he announced Tuesday on X.

In March, Santos had announced plans to challenge Rep. Nick LaLota in New York's First Congressional District, then later said he was leaving the Republican party and would run as an Independent.

Tuesday, Santos said he has decided to withdraw his run.

So why did Santos drop out now after all of the drama he attempted to create? He's claiming what might sound like a fairly noble reason. He wrote that he was exiting because he didn't want to "split the ticket" and hand the House to the Democrats. Fair enough. We're anticipating another close election season and holding on to the House majority is important.

🚨Announcement!

I have decided to withdraw from my independent run for #NY1…

I don’t want my run to be portrayed as reprisal against Nick Lalota… Although Nick and I don’t have the same voting record and I remain critical of his abysmal record, I don’t want to split the…

— George Santos (@MrSantosNY) April 23, 2024

Of course, that wasn't the real reason for his departure. On the rare occasions when anyone bothered polling the races in either of those Long Island districts, nobody was planning to vote for Santos aside from his family and a few people who had loaned him money. (And he probably wouldn't have gotten his entire family to vote for him.) Santos has long since turned himself into a laughing stock in terms of political viability. He has also built a reputation as a liar of such breathtaking scope that it was shocking, even in a profession where jaded Americans expect candidates and elected officials to lie on a nearly daily basis.

Santos went on to further credit his decision to bow out to "the rise of antisemitism in our country." That's something that most of us are concerned about, obviously, and Santos lives in the general vicinity of some of the worst pro-Hamas demonstrations in the country. It's unclear how much this trend is affecting him personally, but as you may recall, he previously stated that though he was "raised Catholic," he also claimed to be Jewish. He later tried to clarify that by saying that he meant he was "Jew-ish." So perhaps he found the pro-Hamas protests alarming. "Ish."

On the plus side, dropping out of the race will probably free up more of Santos' time to prepare for his upcoming trial on 23 criminal charges. He is being charged with wire fraud, identity theft, and campaign finance violations, among other things. He could be going away for a long time if he's found guilty of most of them, which seems very likely. But once he gets out, assuming he survives his time behind bars, George Santos will probably be back trying to run for elected office again. He's just that kind of guy, I suppose.