This past Saturday, the VA GOP’s 2021 statewide “extreme team” of Glenn Youngkin, Winsome Sears and Jason Miyares held a rally in Abingdon. According to the Kingsport Times-News:
Abortion was not a topic during Saturday’s appearance by the Virginia GOP 2021 gubernatorial ticket in Abingdon, but Lyndon LaRouche’s name was.
[…]
Sears, a former Norfolk House of Delegates member, mentioned a fringe political figure in her appeal to voters.
“It’s one Virginia,” Sears said. “We’re going to represent Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Reform Party, Green Party, Lyndon LaRouche, whatever you are.”
LaRouche, who died in 2019, was an eight-time presidential candidate between 1976 and 2004 who was convicted in 1988 of mail fraud and conspiracy to defraud the IRS. He was described in news reporting for several years as a conspiracy theorist and right-wing extremist. LaRouche supporters ran for office in several states, including Virginia.
That’s right, Sears gave a shoutout (see video, below) to a “conspiracy theorist and right-wing extremist” who “was convicted in 1988 of mail fraud and conspiracy to defraud the IRS.” Of course, this is the same ticket led by a guy who’s “honored” to have another conspiracy theorist and right-wing extremist, one Donald J. Trump, strongly endorsing him, so what else would we expect? By the way, the Times-News reports, “Asked about Youngkin’s reaction to Sears’ mention of LaRouche, [Youngkin Communications Director Matt] Wolking said, ‘We don’t speak for her.’” In other words…right under the proverbial bus.
By the way, Sears had some other “interesting” things to say during the Abingdon rally, such as:
“Let me tell you, we have a Lt. Governor currently who gave us recreational marijuana – it’s gonna destroy us. I had to let somebody go who worked for me, found out he was on marijuana, you can’t work for me, you’re gonna destroy somebody’s home, you’re gonna crash, it’s gonna decimate us, because marijuana is a gateway drug…There is no hope in that, there is no future.”
This makes no sense, of course, on multiple levels, from supposedly Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax being the one “who gave us recreational marijuana,” to the bizarre assertion that marijuana is “gonna destroy us,” etc. Also note that legalization of recreational marijuana, aside from being smart public policy, is HIGHLY popular in Virginia, with 68% who “support/strongly support” doing so, to just 32% who “oppose/strongly oppose” it.
“Because you know what, I’m tired of people being offended. Everybody is offended because we used a word, we didn’t know it meant something new, you know it changed dictionary meaning. I mean, you don’t know what to say, they’ll cancel you, they’ll cancel your business…all this nonsense. And for what? So that the liberals can continue to be in control.”
This one pretty much speaks for itself…no further comment really necessary.
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