comment: >
  
  I 100% believe that. I don't think he thought he would ever win, and decided to take a play out of old Donny's playbook and commit to the grift as long as possible. 
  But the million question is where did the money come from. Dude didn't have a penny to his name before like 2 years ago, and there's no way in hell I believe he raised it. Someone (or someplace) backed him.
context: He'd also spend exactly $199.99 at a time there, just below the level requiring preservation of receipts.  
  
  Santos, it should be said, is really good at spending just $199.99 almost everywhere he goes—his financial disclosure forms show him spending that exact amount at a Hyatt Orlando (in July 2021), on Delta Airlines and at BJ’s Wholesale (August 2021), at Target and on “Uber” (October 2021), and at many other establishments or services including W Hotel South Beach, JFK Parking, Best Buy, Walgreens, and the TSA line-skipping company Clear.
  
  I ate at the Italian restaurant where Santos is often, for some reason, spending exactly $199.99.
  The improbability of George Santos’ $199 expenses >
  
  The $199 expenses only total about $7,400 (out of $2.6 million) - but I bet if they looked closer they'd find a ton of sub$200 expenses (more than normal).  I'm sure they padded the hell out of it and stole a hell of a lot more than $7,400 - they were just stupid enough to list 37 of them right at the limit. >
  
  Yeah I read they compared it to like 5,000 other campaign finance reports, and barely any other campaigns had any transactions below the threshold. The ones who did only had one or two, and always differing amounts. Not $199.99 37 times. You have to be a special kind of dumb to do that and think it won't get noticed eventually. >
  
  I don't know...would anyone have gone through Santos's filings if he lost?
  I'm starting to think that his campaign was really just a big money laundering operation and he won by mistake.
  Like The Producers, he could have gotten away with the con if he hadn't succeeded.