The Mask Is Slipping
I grew up in Northern Virginia; right along the border between McLean and Falls Church. My springs were spent at McLean Little League. My Saturday mornings were spent at Temple Rodef Shalom, struggling through Hebrew school.
Though I left Virginia many years ago, the place I once called home is at the precipice. Next week, the Old Dominion will choose its next governor. Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe has served as governor once and seeks to return to Richmond. The Republican, Glenn Youngkin, is a self-funding former Carlyle Group executive who wants to bring his business experience to state government.
Youngkin, though, is little more than a Trump in Mitt’s clothing. Beneath the Great Falls horse estate and the zip-up vest lurks something dark and threatening to Virginia’s future. To win in vital Northern Virginia’s Loudoun and Fairfax counties, he desperately needs to play a moderate and reasonable character to win over soft Republicans and Independents.
The true Glenn Youngkin is on display in Bedford and beyond; all-out MAGA, boasting of Trump’s endorsement and backing and joining forces with election deniers, anti-vax conspiracy nuts, and everything else that goes with being in Trump’s pocket.
The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde routine is wearing off. Why? Because Youngkin’s values are dictated not by belief but by an inflated sense of self-worth only made possible by hundreds of millions of dollars of private equity money. It’s been reported that Youngkin left Carlyle because he lost an internal political fight when he was Co-CEO.
The groups and individuals to whom Youngkin kowtows would never have been invited to a dinner party at his estate. When he and his family sit around the dining table with friends, he disclaims any ownership of the insanity he publicly embraces. He tells his cohort that, once in office, he’ll be able to manage the crazy.
Wrong.
Glenn’s mask is already slipping. Throughout 2021, numerous Republican candidates have employed anti-Semitism in their political communications. Some of it was paid for by the Virginia Republican Party, to whom Youngkin is a major donor. The Washington Post has called them out for it. Time and again, though, the Republican nominee has stayed silent on the issue. Why? Because he knows that MAGA’s loyalty is tenuous at best and he’s made the calculation that he’s better off clamming up in the face of hate and ugliness than risking upsetting Virginia Republicans. And that’s who Glenn Youngkin is: A transactional businessman is now a transactional pol. In the boardroom, that’s a wise strategy. On the campaign trail, it’s an indicator of how someone will govern: not by values but by expedience. As former President Barack Obama said over the weekend, “Maybe that’s worse.”
Donald Trump, whose endorsement Youngkin proclaims he was proud to receive, is actively pushing for more loyalty and for that loyalty to be repaid in actions that will help Trump in the 2024 election. Does anyone think Glenn Youngkin won’t conduct an election audit on Trump’s orders? In a recent statement, Trump made the extortion obvious, telling Republican voters to withhold their votes from candidates who aren’t sufficiently loyal to his MAGA movement. Such missives are aimed squarely at the Glenn Youngkin’s of the world.
It’s why Youngkin winks and nods to the pro-life movement; he’s a phony who wants it both ways. It’s why he rails against critical race theory when he can’t explain it and knows it’s not taught anyway — he is talking to the racists and he knows it. It’s why, despite numerous Black leaders denouncing “defund the police,” Youngkin continues to lie that McAuliffe will take money from Virginia police. He won’t, and Youngkin knows it.
The stakes are too high — in the Old Dominion and beyond, to let another callous, empty vessel take a position of public trust. The Lincoln Project is educating Virginia voters about exactly who Youngkin is and how he will govern their state. Support our efforts by donating today.
If Youngkin wins, Trump wins. Thanks for being on the right side of this.
— Reed Galen