The continued decline of the formerly conservative, but not completely off-the-far-right-deep-end/fascistic Republican Party continues. For a case in point, see below, regarding far-right Virginia State Senate Bryce Reeves (R) advertising a “Boots & Beer with Bryce” fundraising event on March 25 with the line, “Taking Dems to the Train Station in 2023!” (h/t Virginia Hound, who first “sniffed out” this story) Of course, many of us might not watch much TV, and/or haven’t watched the show “Yellowstone,” so we might not get that reference at first glance. I definitely didn’t. But if you google it, here’s what you find it means:
Fans of Paramount Network hit series Yellowstone know that a trip to the “train station” is one you don’t want to take.
Through three seasons of the modern western drama series, we’ve heard the train station mentioned several times. There is no actual train station at the end of this journey and characters making that trip aren’t coming back.
On Yellowstone Ranch, taking someone to the train station is code for killing them and discarding their body off a very high ledge. We have only seen one person taken to the train station through the show’s three seasons. After picking a fight with the much smaller Jimmy, Rip Wheeler commands Lloyd to take Fred to the train station. After a long ride in the ranch truck, Fred comes to the realization that he isn’t going to an actual train station. Instead, Lloyd pulls over to the side of an embankment and begins tossing Fred’s belongs off the side.
“This ain’t no train station,” Fred says as he wonders just exactly what is going on.
“Sure it is,” Lloyd replies. “It’s a long, black train.”
Lloyd then points a gun a Fred and shoots him in the head and then nudges him off the side of the cliff. It is one of Yellowstone’s most memorable scenes and has stuck with viewers throughout the show’s run.
Also, as Virginia political reporter Brandon Jarvis points out, “this appears to be a Yellowstone themed fundraiser, and on Yellowstone when they take you to the train station, it’s in a town in Wyoming with a population of zero and no law enforcement and they kill you and throw you off a cliff.”
So yeah, that’s what this far-right VA State Senator appears to be “joking” (?) about. You cool with this, Gov. Glenn Youngkin? Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears? Attorney General Jason Miyares? Are you going to condemn this or stay silent? Is the normalization of violent rhetoric in your party something you condone?!?
P.S. To learn more about where Bryce Reeves is coming from, see here: “On the issues, Bryce Reeves is hard right all the way, championing so-called “election integrity”; ranting (WILDLY falsely) that “the left is infecting our schools with anti-American ideals like Critical Race Theory and are more beholden to the teachers union than to students and their parents”; vowing to “fight against attempts to pass red flag laws, universal background checks, high magazine bans, and one gun a month laws”; railing against abortion; etc.”
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