We all knew that Glenn Youngkin needed a riled-up Republican base to have any decent chance of winning – and yes, I’ll admit, a decent chance he does have at the moment. That may change when words gets out that he retconned Washington’s attempt to protect school board members from violent threats as “trying to silence parents standing up for their kids.” To make clear the right people heard and the rest of us didn’t, the Republican nominee plumbed the bowels of Trump Griftdom to make his case on Seb Gorka’s radio show [1].
Gorka, a Hungarian-Brit immigrant with a history [2] of cozying up [3] to neo-Nazis [4] and hawking fish oil [5], is so sleazy and radioactive that even other parts of Trumpworld pretend he doesn’t exist. That wasn’t enough to keep Youngkin away, however. One could argue that the bigger problem was what Youngkin himself said. He accused the federal Justice Department of “trying to silence parents standing up for their kids.”
In fact, this is what the DOJ is doing [6].
Citing an increase in harassment, intimidation and threats of violence against school board members, teachers and workers in our nation’s public schools, today Attorney General Merrick B. Garland directed the FBI and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices to meet in the next 30 days with federal, state, Tribal, territorial and local law enforcement leaders to discuss strategies for addressing this disturbing trend. These sessions will open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment and response by law enforcement.
“Threats against public servants are not only illegal, they run counter to our nation’s core values,” wrote Attorney General Garland. “Those who dedicate their time and energy to ensuring that our children receive a proper education in a safe environment deserve to be able to do their work without fear for their safety.”
According to the Attorney General’s memorandum [7], the Justice Department will launch a series of additional efforts in the coming days designed to address the rise in criminal conduct directed toward school personnel.
Virginia voters now have to spend the last weeks of the campaign trying to find out if Youngkin thinks “standing up for their kids” includes violent threats against school board members and educators – or if Youngkin is so ignorant of events around him that he doesn’t actually understand what Justice is doing.
More likely, Youngkin starting his usual two-step: say something outrageous like this to get the Trumpenproletariat fired up, then walk it back when the rest of us demand an explanation. He’s done this [8] with [9] the Big Lie [10] on multiple [11] occasions [12]. Apparently that wasn’t enough. Now he’s pretending death threats against Loudoun County School Board members [13] are no big deal.
How low will Glenn Youngkin go to win this election?