The weekend has now come and gone, and as Del. Jay Jones (D-Norfolk) points out, there’s been a deafening silence from Virginia Republicans about the appalling, anti-Semitic and misogynistic tweet by one of their House of Delegates candidates (Hahns Copeland, who is running against Del. Jones) this past Friday. As the Virginia Democrats pointed out on Friday evening, this was an “Absolutely grotesque antisemitism on display from yet another @GlennYoungkin-aligned Virginia Republican — just one day after Yom Kippur.” So you’d think it would be easy enough for Virginia Republican “leaders” (in air quotes) to condemn it. But so far…”not a peep,” basically, from Glenn Youngkin, House GOP Leader Todd Gilbert, etc. Why is that?
Also, see below for a statement by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Tidewater, which “condemns tweets made by Hahns Copeland, Norfolk candidate for Virginia House of Delegates 89th District which, whether unintentional or not, reinforce a longstanding antisemitic trope and degrading language toward women.” So, again, why the silence from Virginia Republicans on this? Are they afraid that if they condemn anti-Semitism and misogyny, it will depress turnout among their most rabid, far-right “base?” Or is something else keeping them from speaking out? Theories?
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