Midterm Republican Dirty Tricks

We all saw what Virginia’s governor Glenn Youngkin did in pretending to be the long lost moderate republican when he was running for office.

He tricked white democratic and wannabe moderate republicans into believing he was an old-school compassionate republican who would govern from a place of common sense and fairness.

Oh, and that he would put parents in charge of what teachers teach in classrooms, taking the reigns from radical left-leaning teachers who dared to teach actual American history that include Black history beyond Dr. Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream Speech.

And that, dear friends, is the main strategy that won him a governorship and set the script for other not gubernatorial candidates, but republican candidates from school boards and city councils, to state legislatures and sheriffs, and all the way to congresspeople and senators.

But true to form, as soon as he won the close contest, Youngkin claimed his republican birthright and immediately set out to do racism as he was trained to do, as he had done before, and as everyone not white knew he would do.

His worst of worst include limiting trans students rights in public schools, and supporting election deniers and election liars both in his state and in Arizona.

But the go-to for all elected racists is to attack Black people, and Youngkin fell in line and followed the most successful script in american politics, education, private business, law enforcement, and all other media — attack and blame Black people with energy and frequency.

Youngkin pleased his base by attacking Critical Race Theory because nothing pleases racists more than preventing the teaching of America’s racist history, even in a state that was central to the nation’s racist founding and the centuries of enslavement that followed.

Youngkin’s attack on actual history wasn’t a new tactic but was nothing more than today’s version of white people protesting school integration — same coin, different side.

Then Youngkin decided to play footsie with the most vile racists in the nation when he eliminated any mention of enslavement from tours of the executive mansion.

Virginia had its first enslaved people in the 1600’s, and Virginia formally “expressed regret” in 2007 for its part in enslavement. But Youngkin and his wife Suzanne unilaterally decided that visitors don’t need to know about the state’s full participation in the vile institution that made it and it’s citizens wealthy.

Enslaved Black folk likely built most of Virginia’s historic government buildings — including the executive building — that Youngkin decided white people don’t need to know about.

And true to American history, it was Youngkin’s wife, Suzanne, who was tasked with redesigning the tour because behind every racist American leader is his partner in crime co-signing at every racist step. She decided to eliminate Black people from the executive mansion tour, because of course she did. Suzanne claims they’ll one day add Black people back to the tour, but only virtually. That’s the only way racists want to see us, apparently.

Youngkin’s playbook is in full effect across the country now, and when combined with republicans scrubbing their websites of their extreme abortion views following immediate backlash and loss of elections, we can be certain of one thing: The republican running for office in your area is lying to you about who they are and what they stand for.

There are wonderful Democratic candidates like Cheri Beasley, Charlie Crist, and Beto O’Rourke who will not lie to you but will give you the truth of who they are, what their policies are about, and how they will work for all constituents — not just their large donors like republicans do but lie about.

It won’t matter how much republicans are lying if voters don’t fall for the okie-dokie once again. But looking at Youngkin’s success should be an alarm for the Democratic National Convention and the most loyal democratic voters — Black voters.

With key races in Texas, Georgia, Florida, Maryland, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Oregon, New Mexico, and Nevada, there are a lot of duplicitous republican candidates doing their best to hide who they really are and what they actually stand for from voters.

Add in key senate races in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin, Florida, and others, the lying ads and speeches will be all over the airways and social media while going unchallenged by major news organizations.

It is, as always, up to voters to ignore the lies, and to not believe them when they soft-peddle racism, homophobia, and their anti-women policies.

Black voters are able to see through the fog and lies of republican campaigns and it’s critical that this time white voters do the same. Ignore the lies peddled by snake-oil folk like Oz and DeSantis, and the republicans running for office near you.

A wolf in sheep’s clothing is still a wolf. And a scorpion will sting you no matter how they sweet talk you into giving them a ride across the lake.

Don’t be a fool this election. See through the sheep’s costume and don’t give the scorpion a ride.

© 2022 by Myron J. Clifton and Dear Dean Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

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Myron J. Clifton is slightly older than fifty, lives in Sacramento, California, and is an avid Bay Area sports fan. He likes comic books, telling stories about his late mom to his beloved daughter Leah, and talking to his friends.  

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