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VIRGINIA ON THE BRINK
By Reed Galen
I grew up in Northern Virginia; right along border between McLean and Falls Church. My springs were spent at McLean Little League. I spent the fall rooting for a football team whose name no longer exists.
My Saturday mornings were spent at Temple Rodef Shalom, struggling through Hebrew school.
My classmates in Fairfax County Public Schools were what today we’d call diverse — both demographically and economically. I went to school with the children of a future Vice President of the United States and those that grew up in neighborhoods I never visited.
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 Loudon 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 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.
As cutthroat as high finance may be, Governor Glenn Youngkin will rule as his far-right political benefactors dictate. As we have seen with so many other candidates and institutions, the fear of the right-wing mob and its media echo chamber drives otherwise decent people to indecent things. Youngkin, like Texas Governor Greg Abbott before him is a case study in this.
The groups and individuals to whom Youngkin kowtows would never 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 business man is now a transactional pol. In the board room that’s a wise strategy. On the campaign trail, it’s an indicator of how someone will govern: not by values but by expedience. We see where that’s gotten us. 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 thing 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 Youngkins 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 McAullffe will take money from Virginia police. He won’t, and Youngkin knows it.
Come to think of it, maybe Youngkin isn’t two-faced after all. He’s telling Virginia voters exactly who he is, with whom he stands and how he’ll use his power as governor if elected. The stakes are too high — in the Old Dominion and beyond, to let another callous, empty vessel take a position of public trust. Next month, Virginians need to send Glenn Youngkin back to horse country, where he can’t do any more harm.
Next week, vote Terry McAuliffe for governor. The stakes are far higher than just the governor’s mansion.
Reed Galen was raised in Northern Virginia. He worked for President George W. Bush, Senator John McCain and Arnold Schwarzenegger. He is a co-founder of The Lincoln Project. You can follow him on Twitter @reedgalen.
This content was originally written and posted on Reed’s Medium page.
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