Audio: VA GOP Chair Lists Top Agenda Items for Statewide Ticket, Including Fighting “critical racist theory,” Which He Falsely Claims Is “institutionalized, recognized bias and racism that has emerged to replace the old racism”

This morning on right-wing talk radio (where else?), VA GOP(Q) Chair Rich Anderson was asked what the Youngkin/Sears/Miyares ticket’s agenda is. Anderson’s response was highly revealing:

• According to Anderson, the #1 Republican priority is “getting schools reopened.” Yeah, ok, except that schools – under Democratic leadership, I’d add – will be completely opened this fall, and in fact the vast majority of schools already offered in-person learning this spring. Also note that the reason schools were partly or fully closed to in-person learning last year was due to the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, which Anderson’s party continues to minimize, discount, scoff about, etc.
• The #2 priority Anderson lists is “fighting back against the cancellation of advanced courses.” That, of course, is a flat-out lie (see No, Virginia is not moving to eliminate advanced high school math classes, Audio: VA Sec. Education Atif Qarni, Marques Jones Push Back *Hard* on Lt. Gov. Nominee Winsome Sears’ Wildly False Claims About Virginia Schools – “We’re actually adding more accelerated math“, etc.)
• The #3 priority Anderson lists is “fighting back on the discrimination that is under way in the Thomas Jefferson High School in Northern Virginia.” What Anderson’s referring to here is efforts to increase the percentage of African-American and Latino students at “TJ,” but in his mind, that equates to “discrimination” in and of itself.
• “A secondary issue is CRT, the race theory thing, which is actually a misnomer, it’s not Critical Race Theory, it’s ‘critical racist theory’; because CRT is institutionalized, recognized bias and racism that has emerged to replace the old racism that we have all in America turned away from.” That’s right, according to
• Finally, Anderson gets to the economy, namely getting it going again. Of course, the economy already IS recovering strongly, thanks to Democratic leadership. For more on this topic, see The economy is on the cusp of a major boom and economists believe it could last; As US Economy Surges Back, Economists Forecast 2021 Boom; On the Post-Pandemic Horizon, Could That Be … a Boom?; U.S. economic growth surges in 1st quarter, foreshadowing booming recovery from pandemic; US economy grows 6.4% in Q1, and it’s likely just the start; ‘This summer will be hot for the U.S. economy’: 2021 may see most growth since 1951; U.S. Consumer Confidence Soars on Upbeat Views About Economy; etc.). Also, Anderson yet again blames Democrats – who weren’t in charge of the country in 2020, of course – for supposedly shutting down the economy to protect people against getting sick and/or dying from the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s complete shit-for-brains stuff, but what else would we expect from Trumpist Republicans like Rich Anderson, Glenn Youngkin, etc?