Sen. Tim Kaine on “Morning Joe” earlier today had VERY strong words (and very ACCURATE words!) to say about the Virginia governor’s race, including the appalling rally the other day for Glenn Youngkin with insurrectionists Steve Bannon, Amanda Chase, etc.:
“If you promote the Big Lie, then you’re responsible for the consequences of the Big Lie. And Glenn Youngkin has spent his entire campaign telling people that election integrity is the biggest issue – that we need to audit elections, questioning the results of November2020. When he gets caught on it, he then backpedals as he did yesterday – the rally in his favor with pro-insurrection folks, ‘oh I didn’t know about it’. But you can’t have it both ways; you know, you’re you either are consistent in condemning the insurrection or not. And Willie, this is very personal. On January 6, the Governor of Virginia ordered both state troopers and Virginia National Guard to come protect the union against an insurrection. Democratic Governor Ralph Northam did it and Terry McAuliffe would do it in a minute. When all these insurrectionists are pulling for Glenn Youngkin and campaigning for him, what’s Glenn Youngkin going to do if there’s ever an attack like this again? Is he going to try to stop it? Or is he going to be glad because he is promoting lies about election integrity in this country? This is a grave grave issue that Virginians are really worried about right now.”
[…]
“Virginia is a state that has elected and probably will continue to elect Republicans -but not people like Donald Trump. Virginians saw him as a bigoted, narcissistic, anti-science bully from the get-go, and they always viewed him that way and he always lived up to that expectation. And so Virginians don’t like to see him, and when he comes into the race and…wants Youngkin to win and and says Virginia’s winnable; when he has henchmen like Steve Bannon and others coming down and doing rallies with pro-insurrectionists, this is the kind of thing that makes Virginians absolutely shudder. And so, yes, it is a unifier and a motivator for Virginia Democrats and Democrats generally. What’s the one thing that unifies every Democrat in this country, from Joe Manchin to Bernie Sanders? It’s an antipathy for Donald Trump. Whereas on the other side, Donald Trump creates huge crosswinds; that’s why Glenn Youngkin has to be, you know, two or three people at once to both appease and encourage the Trump voters, but then try to distance himself from Trump on occasion. The good news is Terry McAuliffe doesn’t have to say different things to different audiences. And that and the Trump factor, even after the Trump presidency, will continue to be a big motivator for Virginians.”
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