Earlier today, Gov. Youngkin spoke at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit in Washington, DC. See here for some video of Youngkin’s comments, including:
- Asked if Trump is a “liability” to Republicans at this point, Youngkin’s evasive response was: “I think that, first of all, President Trump – former President Trump – is gonna do what he’s gonna do [audience laughter]…He just is. And the reality, of course, is, as a governor, I’m gonna do what we need to do in Virginia.”
- “At the end of the day, when we look at scorecards, voters want to reward candidates that are getting things done and that are looking ahead to deliver results. And I think this will end up being the telltale of this entire era of elections, which is it is about results, people are tired of talks, they want to see actions, doesn’t mean you have to compromise away what you believe, it means you have to do a better job of grounding what you’re doing in real facts, why it’s going to deliver the outcomes…”
- On Trump’s recent comments about terminating provisions of the constitution: “First of all, I guess he recognized what he had done, because he was walking it back yesterday. And I completely disagree with his comments. I’m a Virginian. The father of the Constitution’s James Madison. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence! These documents are to be protected and defended. And I have to say, I’ve watched the other party really erode many of the constitutional principles that I hold dear, and as Republicans, we should not contribute to this. And I think our job is to defend and protect the Constitution.”
So, as usual with Glenn Youngkin, there’s a LOT of bullsh*t in here. First of all, Youngkin’s comment about Trump going to do what Trump’s going to do is just sidestepping a direct answer to the question, and a sign that Youngkin STILL won’t clearly and unequivocally break from the guy who tried to overthrow our democracy in 2020/2021, and CONTINUES to try to do so in 2022. Pathetic by Youngkin.
Second, Youngkin suddenly taking a pragmatic stance, talking about how voters just want to see results, etc., is in COMPLETE CONTRAST to the *actions* Youngkin has taken since becoming governor, which have included campaigning for far-right/”Big Lie” extremists like Kari Lake, Tudor Dixon and Paul LePage; pushing highly divisive “culture war” nonsense in Virginia; staying mostly in (and playing mostly to) the right-wing echo chamber; etc.
Third, Trump did NOT walk back his comments, he flat-out lied by claiming that he never said the exact words he said! And Youngkin again didn’t directly call Trump out for that, while adding in complete b.s. “both-sides” nonsense about “the other party” (he means Democrats) supposedly “erod[ing] many of the constitutional principles that I hold dear.” Just to be clear, that is 100% false, and simply an attempt by Youngkin to distract from the fact that all the insurrectionism, talk about terminating the constitution, meeting with white supremacists, etc. is coming from Donald Trump, the leader of HIS PARTY! So don’t let him gaslight you, because that’s obviously what he’s attempting to do…
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