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Some right-leaning (maybe that's not a strong enough term) sources, such as Not the Bee, have claimed or at least implied that Gretchen Whitmer does not really exist, but is actually George Santos in drag. The Washington Free Beacon did a "fact check" and said the evidence is inconclusive, but this is another right-biased source.

Is there any validity to the claim that Gretchen Whitmer is George Santos as a drag queen? Is there any proof that this is not the case, such as a photo of them together or evidence that they were in different places at a given time? This claim seems highly improbable, and I am almost certain that they are in fact different people, but having concrete evidence might be helpful in discouraging other people from believing it.

Someone
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    To the downvoters: Get into the spirit of this corner of the SE network. This appears to be a notable claim. A ludicrous claim, but still notable. – David Hammen Jan 28 '23 at 08:52
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    @DavidHammen: The first link is satire. If that was the only source, I would have closed it as not notable. The second one is probably satirical too, but [Poe's Law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law) applies. – Oddthinking Jan 28 '23 at 09:47
  • @Oddthinking Of course it's satire. Some people unfortunately take satire seriously. – David Hammen Jan 28 '23 at 09:49
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    Is there any bottom to "X female politician is a man in drag" questions? It's a sexist trope that's been used for decades, I could find probably hundreds of them as non-notable as this one. – CJR Jan 28 '23 at 13:23
  • @CJR Unfortunately, I suspect the answer to your probably rhetorical question is an all-caps and bold face **NO**. That does not necessarily make such questions non-notable. – David Hammen Jan 28 '23 at 14:16
  • @Oddthinking Not the Bee is not satire. It's run by the same people as the Babylon Bee, which is satire, but it is real (although heavily biased) news. If that article was satire, it would have been on the Babylon Bee. – Someone Jan 28 '23 at 15:15
  • @DavidHammen How is satire a notable claim? Does that mean if I read something on the onion I can come post a question about it? – Joe W Jan 28 '23 at 15:54
  • I think this meta question about asking if a public figure is transgender also applies here and it appears to be supported that those types of questions are off topic. While it isn't openly saying that someone is transgender the fact that it is saying it is someone else in drag does make it pretty close in my mind. https://skeptics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4902/is-a-claim-that-a-public-figure-is-transgender-an-acceptable-claim – Joe W Jan 28 '23 at 16:00
  • @JoeW it wasn't a satirical claim. – Someone Jan 28 '23 at 16:07
  • @JoeW this is a bit different from just asking if someone is transgender, because if two politicians are actually the same person, that is important information for the public to have. "Gretchen Whitmer is transgender," if it was true, would not be useful information because all it could be used for would be discrimination, but "Gretchen Whitmer and George Santos are the same person" would be relevant for voters in future elections with either as a candidate, because this would be illegal and most people probably would not vote for someone who did something like this. – Someone Jan 28 '23 at 16:10
  • I disagree, if you are claiming that a woman is just some man dressed in drag that is also a direct claim that she is not a woman and is a man. – Joe W Jan 28 '23 at 16:12
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    @JoeW if the claim had just been "Gretchen Whitmer is actually a man in drag," I would not have posted it here. The claim was "Gretchen Whitmer is George Santos in drag." There are two parts to this: "Gretchen Whitmer is a man in drag" (not a notable claim) and "Gretchen Whitmer and George Santos are the same person" (a very notable claim, as it would be unconstitutional for the same person to be a representative and a state governor). The latter claim is the one about which I was primarily asking. I did not believe it at all; I was looking for proof that it's false, which David Hammer gave... – Someone Jan 28 '23 at 16:16
  • ...in his answer. I phrased the question in a way that left open the possibility that it's true, just in case it was, but I would have been very surprised. – Someone Jan 28 '23 at 16:16
  • I fail to see the difference between is someone transgender or are they someone else in drag. Both are questioning the gender of a person. – Joe W Jan 28 '23 at 16:17
  • @JoeW if a site claimed that Donald Trump and George Santos are the same person, would that be on-topic? – Someone Jan 28 '23 at 16:19
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    That isn't questioning the gender of either of them. In this case the claim is suggesting that someone is really just a man dressed up in drag. – Joe W Jan 28 '23 at 16:20
  • @JoeW that is part of the claim, but the other part is "two politicians are the same person." That's the part that prompted me to ask this question. – Someone Jan 28 '23 at 16:21
  • And the claim is saying that she is really a man and that she isn't a woman which to me matches the intent of that meta question. – Joe W Jan 28 '23 at 16:23
  • https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64388524 – spikey_richie Jan 30 '23 at 15:51
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    Unless we can find a site that is not a satirical one, then I don't think this is notable. – DJClayworth Feb 08 '23 at 15:08
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    If blatantly satirical articles are sufficient basis for questions, can I ask whether Pete Buttigieg *really* has supernatural divine powers based on an article from the *Onion*? Or whether Obama vowed to start a "reign of liberal darkness", or any number of other claims that no one actually seems to endorse? – Obie 2.0 Feb 19 '23 at 09:25

1 Answers1

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Gretchen Whitmer was at Lansing Michigan all day on January 25, 2023. Multiple people met with her throughout the day in preparation for her state of the state address. She gave that address at 7:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.

George Santos was in Washington DC all day on January 25, 2023. He gave his first floor address sometime after 4:00 PM Eastern Standard Time and later voted on the resolution he addressed at 4:40 PM.

The flight time from Washington DC to Lansing MI is about an hour and 40 minutes. That excludes the time to travel from the Capitol Building to the Washington DC airport during rush hour, the two hours in advance one is supposed to arrive at an airport (let's make it half an hour for congress critters), the time it takes the plane to depart from the ramp and to later be secured on landing, the time it takes to disembark from the airplane, and the time it takes to travel from the Lansing airport to the capitol. That adds up to over three hours, at a bare minimum. He would have been at least 40 minutes late to give her state of the state address.

There is no way they are the same person.

David Hammen
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    This answer seems to be deliberately avoiding what should be obvious: [Holograms: the future of performance](https://thebabelflute.com/holograms-the-future-of-performance/). ¶ And just to be safe :-) and +1. – Ray Butterworth Jan 28 '23 at 13:50
  • Also cloning. Maybe George Santos is just one of hundreds of clones. It would explain the lies on his resume - he accidentally gave the resume of a completely different clone. – DJClayworth Feb 09 '23 at 02:02