For whatever reason – gee, what could it be? what could it be? LOL – Glenn Youngkin, who’s only been in office as governor of Virginia for six months and has plenty to work on here (if he gave a rat’s hindquarters about Virginia), was busy delivering a speech this morning in…Nebraska?!? Yep, Nebraska, which just so happens to border on a certain state that traditionally holds the first presidential nominating caucuses every four years, with the 2024 cycle slated to really start gearing up next year, and with increasing talk about possible alternative Republican presidential candidates if Trump decides not to run, is in prison, etc.
One of those Republicans increasingly being mentioned is none other than Glenn Youngkin. For instance, see Reports: Presidential buzz surrounds Youngkin; GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin expands political operation as 2024 speculation grows; and Political pioneer? Youngkin to deliver keynote speech to Nebraska Republicans, which reports:
Youngkin will deliver the keynote speech to the Nebraska Republican Party Convention, meeting July 8-9 in Kearney, Neb., a foray with potential political reverberations because of its proximity to adjacent Iowa, where the quadrennial political caucuses will help begin the next presidential election season in 2024.
So who knows if Youngkin is actually serious about running for president in 2024, but he’s increasingly acting like he’s at least thinking about it. For instance, check out the speech Youngkin delivered this morning in Nebraska (video below), to an audience of what appears to be middle-aged-or-older conservative white people (naturally!), who not surprisingly seemed enthusiastic to hear Youngkin spin a yarn about how he supposedly won the governorship, what he’s supposedly accomplished, how supposedly “Republican values are American values,” how supposedly a “red wave” is going to come crashing down on “Nancy Pelosi” this November, how we should all thank the lord for the (far-right) Supreme Court, blah blah blah. Of course, this being Glenn Youngkin, almost everything he said was either exaggeration, distortion or flat-out false. For instance, here are just a few of Youngkin’s bullsh*t and/or flat-out lies:
- “Virginia was dark blue” – As Sam Shirazi points out: “Look, Virginia has trended blue over the last 20 years, but it was never “dark blue” especially in state elections. The last time Dems won the Governor’s race by more than 10 points was in 1985. In 2009, Republican Bob McDonnell won the Governor’s race by 18 points.” Of course, Youngkin tells this particular lie to make his victory last November seem a lot more impressive than it actually was. In reality, Youngkin narrowly won (by under 2 points), the year after Democrats took back the White House. As anyone who knows anything about Virginia realizes, the pattern is that Virginians vote strongly against the party in the White House the year after a new party takes charge. Thus, in 2001, the year after George W. Bush became president, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine won statewide elections for governor and LG, respectively. Then in 2009, the year after Barack Obama won the White House for the first time, Republicans won the governorship, LG and AG races in landslides (13-18 points). And in 2017, of course, the year after Trump became president, there was a massive “blue wave” in Virginia, which saw Ralph Northam, Justin Fairfax and Mark Herring sweep the statewide races, with Democrats nearly taking back the House of Delegates, after holding just 34 seats out of 100 before the November 2017 election. So…yep, the pattern (barely) continued in 2021, with Glenn Youngkin, Winsome Sears and Jason Miyares winning narrowly. Did that have anything to do with Youngkin, per se? If you look at the history, not so much, but if you listen to the dishonest, self-serving, smarmy Youngkin himself, of course it was ALL about him. So which one are you going to believe?
- “All of a sudden, the curriculum that was supposed to be about critical math and critical science was teaching politics, was in fact teaching our children to view everything through a lens of race and to judge one another.” That’s utter nonsense, of course, but it was central to Youngkin’s race-baiting, fear mongering, dishonest campaign for governor in 2021. For more on this topic, see Video: Gov. Northam’s Secretary of Education, Atif Qarni, Says “CRT” Is “Manufactured…[by] a group in America that’s really fearful of the change that’s happening and really resisting it”; Former VA Secretary of Education Atif Qarni: “Youngkin rescinding Equity efforts will negatively impact vast majority of students across the state.”; Interview with VA Secretary of Education Atif Qarni: Top Accomplishments the Past Three Years; Reopening Schools Safely Despite Republicans’ COVID denial, “misinformation and gaslighting and a lot of hostility”; Dr. Janice Underwood (Virginia’s First Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) Has a LOT to Say – On the “Monster Minority Machine,” the Importance of DE&I, Her Successor, “People who were so easily manipulated,” Democratic Messaging Failures, etc.; etc.
- “We’ve seen an attack on energy policy that took American from being energy independent to being energy DEPENDENT…” This is just a flat-out lie. According to the latest, official U.S. government statistics, in fact in 2021, the U.S. actually produced slightly more energy (97.8 quadrillion BTU) than it consumed (97.3 quadrillion BTU), making us a slight net energy *exporter*. Also note that U.S. crude oil production in the first few months of 2022 was running at about 11.3-11.7 million barrels per day, which is UP from the final three months Trump was in office (11.1 million barrels per day in November/December 2020 and January 2021). And natural gas production is currently running at or higher than the final few months of Trump’s time in office. So…what is Youngkin talking about exactly?
- “And oh by the way a government that recognizes the constitution is to be defended not assaulted the Republican Party stands for an America that leads”: This is just beyond laughable, as the Party of Trump relentlessly assaults our constitution, the rule of law, our democracy, the government’s ability to accomplish anything, etc.
- “I can’t go any further with stopping and taking a moment to thank our Lord for our Supreme Court that rightfully returned the responsibility to make decisions on behalf of those that have elected us”: Again, beyond bizarre; in fact, this extreme, illegitimate Supreme Court majority has done the polar opposite of what Youngkin says. But it IS very telling that Youngkin thinks we should “thank our Lord” for this theocratic/extremist/fundamentalist Christian court…
- “What’s happening at the border is unconscionable – it’s unconscionable. And it has all been created by Joe Biden, by an administration that doesn’t understand that an open border…is just fundamentally wrong.” This is all just flat-out false, laughably so. First of all, obviously we don’t have “an open border,” nor does anyone in the Biden administration want “an open border.” Second of all, obviously our immigration system has been dysfunctional for decades, during both Republican and Democratic administrations, and 100% absolutely was has NOT “all been created by Joe Biden.” That’s just insane, extreme rhetoric. Seriously, if Glenn Youngkin actually believes any of this crap, then he is completely unfit to hold public office. Appalling.
This could go on all day, given that almost every word Youngkin uttered in his speech this morning was either hyperbole, distorted, erroneous, flat-out false, cliched, moronic, and/or cringe-inducing. And, to use one of Youngkin’s verbal tics, “oh by the way,” how about the faux sincerity, the fake catch in his voice, etc? Vomit-inducing or what? Hey Glenn Youngkin, how about you just STAY in Nebraska and don’t come back to Virginia? LOL
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