Back in July, the WaPo’s Karen Tumulty Held Out Hopes for Glenn Youngkin. Now, Citing Youngkin Campaigning for “the worst people in his party,” His “Tasteless” and “Dangerous” Comments About Nancy Pelosi, and His “turn toward full-bore Trumpism,” She’s DONE with Him.

Given how infrequently the U.S. political media EVER admits error, even when it’s glaring, it’s great to see someone do so. In this case, Washington Post columnist Karen Tumulty has admitted error – and seriously, kudos to her for doing so! – regarding her column a few months ago (absurdly, laughably) arguing that Glenn Youngkin – get this – should run for president in 2024, because supposedly Youngkin represents some sort of “alternative, rather than an amplification, of the worst aspects of Trumpism.” Uhhhh…no. No no no no no.  Did I mention NO?!?  LOL

Anyway, it’s been a few months now, and Youngkin’s been busy campaigning for far-right-extremist candidates around the country – Paul LePage in Maine, Kari Lake in Arizona, Lee Zeldin in New York,  Tudor Dixon in Michigan,  Joe Lombardo in Nevada, Derek Schmidt in Kansas, Heidi Ganahl in Colorado, Kevin Stitt in Oklahoma – and of course MAGA Republicans Yesli Vega, Hung Cao and Jen Kiggans here in Virginia. Then yesterday, Youngkin hit another new low – even for him, and that’s saying something! – declaring at a rally for Yesli Vega, just hours after Paul Pelosi was bludgeoned with a hammer by an unhinged right winger looking to assassinate Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “There’s no room for violence anywhere, but we’re gonna send her (Nancy Pelosi) back to be with him in California.”

So maybe that was the last straw for Karen Tumulty, or maybe she’s simply observed Youngkin the past few months – his campaigning for extremists, his war against LGBTQ kids, against public schools, against teaching about America’s racial history, etc. – and thought better of her previous column. Whatever the reason, it’s great to see her reversing course with the column she posted a few minutes ago, entitled, “I’m sorry I said nice things about Glenn Youngkin.” Again, kudos to Karen Tumulty for doing what so few political journalists are willing or able to bring themselves to do: admit they were wrong, explain why, and move forward. With that, here are a few highlights from Tumulty’s latest piece:

• “Optimist that I am, I still hope that a tribune of sanity will emerge in the Republican Party. But the everydad in the fleece vest probably isn’t that guy. When a situation this week called for expressing a modicum of human decency, Youngkin — who frequently talks about his religious values — showed he could rival the former president at diving for the gutter.“
• “What made Youngkin’s riff not only tasteless but also dangerous is that he was not referring to some random act of ‘violence anywhere.’ The attack on Paul Pelosi was a direct product of the toxic political culture — a culture that the governor was helping to cultivate for what he apparently sees as a political opportunity.”
• “Being a jerk about Pelosi is not the only Youngkin action of late that betrays who he really is and what he is willing to do in service of his ambition…t more recently, Youngkin is being seen with the worst people in his party. A little over a week ago, he stumped in Arizona for GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake, one of the loudest of those 2020 deniers and someone who has refused to say whether she will accept the results of this year’s election. He called her ‘awesome,’ and she declared him a ‘total rock star.'”
• “Youngkin may still have some room for redemption, though it is shrinking…Meanwhile, his turn toward full-bore Trumpism is likely to be for naught. There are plenty of others, including the original, who do it better — and at less cost to their own integrity.”

Bingo. Great work, Karen Tumulty; now perhaps you could talk to some of your colleagues, such as Molly Ball over at Time Magazine, who STILL haven’t publicly retracted their earlier, cringe-inducingly absurd columns about the red sweater-vest dude? 😉