As we’ve all seen in Glenn Youngkin’s TV ads, the guy is clearly trying to portray himself as some sort of apolitical businessman, barely even mentioning that he’s a Republican, let alone a Trump Republican or an extremist in any way. Of course, that’s all a bunch of b.s., given that Youngkin’s not just been endorsed by Trump, but has said that he’s *HONORED* to have Trump’s endorsement, and even that “President Trump represents so much of why I’m running.” Plus, of course, in running for the VA GOP nomination last winter/spring, Youngkin made it clear how far right he is, for instance:
- Attacking the American Rescue Plan — “calling it ‘unnecessary’ and ‘absolutely […] wrong‘
- Bizarrely claiming that “Dominion voting machines”/”election integrity” represents “the most important issue we’re going to talk about.”
- Embracing and celebrating the endorsement of the odious, extremist Sen. Ted Cruz, who he campaigned with. Youngkin tweeted on May 5, “I couldn’t be happier to welcome Senator @tedcruz to my #WinWithGlenn event at Community Church early this afternoon!” and then “Nothing beats having my good friend, Sen. @tedcruz with me on the trail as we try to take Virginia back.“
- Arguing that the 2nd amendment is “absolute.”
- Talking repeatedly about how against a woman’s right to choose he is, then admitting on camera that he was intentionally misleading voters about his hard-right views on this subject, because he knows they will lose him votes.
- Dishonestly/falsely stoking far-right “culture war” nonsense, such as asking, “Why is Loudoun County so concerned about banning Dr. Seuss instead of safely opening our schools five days a week?”, repeatedly attacking “critical race theory in our schools” (even though it’s not even taught in Virginia public schools) and falsely claiming that Virginia schools aren’t going to be teaching “accelerated math” anymore.
- Praising the bigot, extremist, etc. Rush Limbaugh for his “leadership and service.”
- Appearing on Sean Spicer’s show on the far-right “Newsmax” as well as on the far-right, conspiracy-theory “One America News Network.” As if that’s not bad enough, Youngkin tweeted on May 4: “Listen to what Tucker Carlson and I have to say about the liberal takeover of our schools in Virginia.”
Also note that Youngkin has not only failed to condemn or dissociate himself from a number of extremist figures – John McGuire, who was literally at the 1/6 insurrection at the US Capitol; Dave LaRock, another insurrectionist, also anti-vaxxer and virulent homophobe, among other things; Amanda Chase, who has spent the last several days in South Dakota with the “MyPillow” guy talking about how the 2020 election supposedly was stolen (spoiler: it wasn’t!) – but has actively embraced them instead. Tomorrow, for instance, Youngkin will be attending a rally in Pulaski County with Republican House of Delegates nominee Marie March, who was at the Trump rally on 1/6/21 preceding the storming of the US Capitol, who is hard-right all the way, and who says she’s a “Trump Republican…and proud of it!”
Bottom line: no matter how many TV ads Glenn Youngkin runs, trying to soften his image, the extremists he associates with, the hard-right policy views he espouses, and the people (LaRock, McGuire, Cruz, Chase, March, etc.) he closely allies himself with, tell a completely different story. Which one are you going to believe, the expensive TV ads aimed at misleading you, or what Youngkin actually says and does in real life?
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