This story by Virginia Scope, which reports that “A political appointee in Governor Glenn Youngkin’s administration has close ties with an individual who was charged and eventually sentenced for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection,” would be bad enough if it were an isolated case of the Youngkin administration hiring a bad apple. But…it’s definitely not an isolated case. For instance:
- Youngkin has been politically close with several far-right figures who were either at the US Capitol on January 6th, 2021, or who were/are sympathetic to the pro-Trump insurrection, the “Big Lie,” etc. For instance, see Top Youngkin Surrogate Amanda Chase Peddles Trumpian Election Conspiracies On Glenn Youngkin’s Behalf, Glenn Youngkin Campaigns with Leading Virginia Anti-Vaxxer, “Big Lie” Proponent Who Was Censured by State Senate After She Was At 1/6/21 Pro-Trump Rally, Said “I reject the notion that there is racism,” etc., DLCC: Virginia Delegate (and Top Glenn Youngkin Surrogate) John McGuire Admits to Attending Insurrection, Video – Spilling Tea: Glenn Youngkin, Nick Freitas, and John McGuire at a Truly Mad “Tea Party” with a Chinese Communist Conspiracy Theorist, Glenn Youngkin Campaigned with Far-Right Candidate Who Wrote About the “coming Civil War,” Asked, “Can we live with our conscience when we actually take human life?”, Video: At Loudoun Rally, Glenn Youngkin Says Virginia Needs to Elect *ALL* Republicans Running This Year. Let’s Meet a Few of Them., etc.
- Youngkin hired faaaaar-right Elizabeth Schultz as Assistant Superintendent of Public Instruction. There’s so much lunacy to list with Schultz, it’s hard to know where to start, but how about Audio: On Sebastian Gorka Show, Far-Right Fairfax County School Board Member Rants About “Radicals Who Believe in Identity Politics”; Complains, “We Can No Longer Have a Eurocentric History” and Far-Right Fairfax School Board Member Unleashes Unhinged Tirade Against “All Manner of Crazy LIES!” (Schultz rants against Beto, Soros, “Liz” Warren, “One Fairfax,” “globalism,” “socialism,” Saul Alinsky, Rachel Maddow, etc, etc.); Fairfax County Dem Committee Chair Calls on Bigoted, Extremist School Board Member to Resign for “just buying more ammo” “joke”; etc.
- Youngkin also appointed this person to the VA Board of Historic Resources. Among other things, she said that Robert E. Lee was a “morally fine human being”; “secession was NOT treason”; the North’s “invasion” of the South was “just like we see Russia invading Ukraine”; etc.
- Then, of course, there was this appointment – “Flores came under fire and was the subject of media reports about his social media presence several weeks ago. Critics said many of Flores’s tweets were derogatory, misogynistic, inappropriate, or bigoted. In one tweet, he accused Vice President Kamala Harris of ‘suck[ing] the right dick’ to reach her position.”
- Youngkin appointed Trump’s abysmal EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler to be his Secretary of Natural Resources. When that pick was rejected by the State Senate, Youngkin kepts Wheeler on as a senior advisor…
- There’s also this:Anti-Abortion Extremist Slips Onto Governor Youngkin’s Commission to Combat Antisemitism
- Plus a slew of Youngkin appointments to boards and commissions of members of the very industries those boards and commissions are supposed to oversee!
It goes on and on, but the bottom line is, this administration is filled with people who have no business serving in government. That obviously includes anyone who had anything to do with the attempt to overthrow our democracy, overturn the 2020 election and illegally/unconstitutionally keep Donald Trump in power. And yes, there really were “journalists” who claimed last year – and even THIS year! – that Youngkin’s some sort of “moderate,” when obviously he’s hard-right all the way, with his role models for governance being people like Ron DeSantis, his BFF Ted Cruz, Greg Abbott, etc. Oh, and presumably if journalists were to look carefully at Youngkin’s appointees, they’d find many more like the one reported by Virginia Scope this morning. Hint hint!
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