Excellent question by VA Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell:
“VA loses the fight for the FBI HQ and its 11K employees for a 2nd time after FBI selection committee say VA is best – what has our Governor going full MAGA netted our state besides a UVA president firing?“
The thing is, of course, that Youngkin doesn’t give a flying you-know-what about Virginia – and he never has. Remember how in the spring of 2021 Youngkin talked about how he wasn’t having a midlife crisis, he was having a “Virginia crisis,” because the Democrats supposedly put Virginia “in the ditch,” blah blah blah – and, yep, Glenn Youngkin to the rescue, by running for governor and *saving us* from those dastardly, horrible Democrats!
Except…nah, that was never serious by Youngkin in terms of his motivations. Instead, what actually happened was that Youngkin “flamed out” at the Carlyle Group, “racked up bad bets,” had a “checkered record” and “little choice but to leave.” So then, after being pushed out of Carlyle in 2020, at the age of 53, he was like – OH NOOOOOOZ, what am I going to do now? Also, he had more money than he could ever spend in 100 lifetimes, so making more money probably wasn’t it. Which left…of course, what the hell, run for governor of Virginia! Not out of some deep calling to public service, or out of experise and interest in state governance, or caring about Virginia/Virginians, or anything like that. Nope, it was simply a midlife crisis, and specifically something to spend his time and energy on after making a fortune and then getting pushed out of the Carlyle Group.
And now, 3 1/2 years into Youngkin’s single term as governor, what are his accoplishments exactly? I mean, other than riding the tailwind of the overall national and international economic recovery coming out of the COVID pandemic – which of course helped every state, including Virginia – and also enjoying the fruits of a strong Virginia economy, infrastructure, etc, built over many years and strengthened during the Northam administration/Democratic “trifecta” of 2020-2021? Uhhhh…yeah, very hard to think of any major accomplishments, unless of course you count *negative* accomplishments, like vetoing a ton of excellent legislation for no good reason, completely failing in his quest to get the Commanders or Caps/Wizards to relocate to Virginia, driving away thousands of jobs and billions in investment, actively aiding/abetting (or, at the minimum, not trying to stop) Trump’s assault on Virginia’s flagship university, completely failing to fight back against – and, if anything, SUPPORTING – Trump’s assault on Virginia’s huge workforce of federal employes and contractors, and now losing the fight for the FBI headquarters “and its 11k employees for a 2nd time,” etc.
But that’s not really the right question for Youngkin, anyway, because again, he doesn’t give a you-know-what about Virginia or Virginians; *all* he cares about his own burning ambitions, specifically to be president of the United States, which means he will never do a single thing to anger the Cult Leader, Donald Trump, and WILL do as much as he possibly can to ingratiate himself with the Cult Leader, even if it does severe, long-term damage to Virginia. As always with Glenn Youngkin, the thing you have to understand more than anything is, he doesn’t give a flying you-know-what about you, only about himself. And once you understand that, everything else becomes crystal clear…
P.S. A snarky, smart friend pointed out, “it appears one of the Governor’s biggest economic development deals he has announced is… a gas station?”
