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In 2019, Virginia Democrats called for Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam’s resignation when reports uncovered he had posed either in blackface or a KKK uniform in a picture in his 1984 medical school yearbook. The fact that no prominent Virginia Democrat has yet called on their party’s nominee for Attorney General, Jay Jones, to quit the race after reports showed he had wanted to see the GOP House Speaker and his children killed for their political views tells you all you need to know about today’s Democratic Party.
The overwhelming and nearly immediate calls for Northam’s resignation spanned virtually all major Democrats. The state Democratic Party and both of Virginia’s Democratic U.S. Senators pushed for it. Nationally prominent Democrats such as 2016 presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi concurred. The party’s gubernatorial nominee in this year’s election, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, joined the parade, saying the “bigotry displayed in this photograph is appalling”.
SPANBERGER SILENT ON JAY JONES ENDORSEMENT UNDER HEAT FROM EARLE-SEARS IN FIERY VIRGINIA DEBATE
Racist sentiments are always beyond the pale, and it’s easy to understand why Democrats roundly demanded the governor’s head. But racism is not the worst sin one can be guilty of. Murder for any reason is more evil than that, and that is exactly what Jones called for in the explosive texts.
The August 2022 exchange with former Republican state Delegate Carrie Coyner is horrific. He said that the then-GOP Speaker of the House, Todd Gilbert, should get “two bullets to the head” for his non-progressive views. He doubled down when Coyner expressed disgust, calling her to defend his views. He even said that Gilbert’s wife and he were “breeding little fascists” and wished that the wife could see her child die in her arms so that Gilbert would reconsider his views.
He then followed up on that desire in further texts, telling Coyner that “only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy”.
One might think that these violent views would spur immediate outrage among his Democratic colleagues and ticket mates. After all, if a 35-year-old racist photo makes one unworthy of high office, three-year-old expressions that one’s political opponents and their children should be murdered for their views should be immediately disqualifying.
Alas, that has not happened.
Spanberger has expressed her “disgust” for his statements, but has not withdrawn her support for him. The state Democratic Party chairman, Lamont Bagby, says the texts are not something “anyone should end their political bid over.” Sen. Tim Kaine, who said that Northam’s 35-year-old photo had “broken the trust Virginians must have in their leaders” as he called for Northam’s resignation, says that Jones’ texts are “indefensible” but “out of character” and remains supportive of Jones’ campaign.
The verdict is in and it’s unanimous. For Virginia Democrats, racists are out, and would-be murderers are in.
That should shock everyone. The fact that it apparently does not is also telling. Such is the degree of political polarization among Democrats that the enemy of my enemy — President Donald Trump and the Republican Party — that even direct expressions of support for political violence can be tolerated and rationalized.
In both cases, Democratic politicians are merely following their base voters’ sentiments.
It’s long been clear that Democrats view even the hint of racism with hatred and scorn. That’s not surprising, since so many of them believe that America and its laws are systemically racist. President Joe Biden frequently expressed that view while vowing to root such malign patterns of belief out of American life.
Politicians cannot stay in office if they do not reflect and voice their voters’ views. Thus, Democrats rush to condemn anything and anyone their voters would consider to be racist.
Democratic voters, especially their most loyal and activist ones, do not today uniformly condemn political violence.
The online reactions to Charlie Kirk’s assassination are one example of that. Far too many people on the left openly rejoiced at his murder, costing some their jobs. Others condemned his death but essentially said he had it coming because of his active propagation of his views.
Polls also show a significant element of the Democratic Party’s base is at a minimum willing to tolerate political violence. A recent poll found that 44% of very liberal voters agree with the statement that “violence is often necessary to create social change”. That poll also found that 49% of Gen Z liberals and 40% of people with a graduate or professional degree — an extremely Democratic voting demographic — also agree with this statement.
An Economist/YouGov poll taken shortly after Charlie Kirk’s assassination also found that support for political violence was significantly higher among liberals and Kamala Harris voters than it was among conservatives or Donald Trump voters.
It’s easy to see why so many Democrats believe this when one considers how many think Trump is literally destroying America. A late September New York Times/Siena College poll found that 58% of registered Democrats believe that our problems are so bad that “America is in danger of failing as a nation.” Eighty-four percent of Democrats believe that Trump’s second-term actions “are a unique threat to our system of government,” while around 50% of them think that the terms “free nation” and “democratic nation” do not describe America very well or at all.
In the face of such existential anger and despair, is it any wonder so many are at least tolerant of horrific behaviors to stop a catastrophe?
And in the face of that large segment of Democratic Party opinion, is it any wonder that leading Democrats are choosing to “hate the sin” of Jones’ texts while “loving the sinner” who has sent them?
This center will not hold. Polls already show that Jones’ once significant lead has faded. Jones’ own internal poll shows him only 1 point ahead while one taken for the Republican Attorneys General Association has incumbent GOP AG Jason Miyares ahead by 2. Expect Jones’ position to deteriorate now that both Miyares and GOP gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears are running ads focusing on this issue.
Republicans should keep their nerve and drive this home to Virginia voters in every opportunity they have. They should try to force Spanberger to call on Jones to step aside and repeat those calls even if she initially resists. Americans in the center do not want political violence, and they will start to think twice about Spanberger if she cannot bring herself to share their values.
They should also demand that every Democrats running for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates openly reject Jones’ candidacy. Republicans face an uphill battle to regain control in the 100-seat body, but there are enough seats that will support a Republican in the right circumstances to make this possible.
In short, the GOP needs to make this a partisan issue, not a personal one. It’s not enough for them to defeat Jones: they need to force Democrats to make the choice they are avoiding between siding with their rage-filled base or the average moderate voter.
One way to do that might involve an ad featuring Mrs. Gilbert and her children. With her kids by her side, she can calmly address the camera and tell voters what Jones wished upon her offspring. She can state the truth: that Democrats continue to endorse Jones’ candidacy despite his heinous texts. Mrs. Gilbert can conclude by noting there’s only one way Virginia voters can say they want a stop to the country’s downward fall towards increasing violence: reject the party that can’t bring itself to condemn it.
An ad featuring Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika, can make a similar claim. She knows what political violence can do as she and her young children have lost a father. She has the moral credibility to say this must end, and Democrats who can’t openly reject someone who disagrees can’t be trusted to hold office.
One suspects that ads like these would move the needle quickly, forcing Spanberger’s and the Democrats’ hands. Done rapidly enough, that could save them this time. But the ongoing problem – the party dynamic that means rejecting Jones is even a question – will remain.
DEMOCRATS CLEARLY IN NEED OF ANGER MANAGEMENT
The Jones saga reminds us of how deeply sick some elements of the extreme Left are. America needs two healthy parties that reject violent extremes and seek to channel legitimate anger into positive, democratic action. If the Democrats cannot bring themselves to do that, then Republicans should lean into that sad opportunity with everything they’ve got.
In that sense, perhaps Jones touched on something when he noted that it sometimes takes personal pain for someone to change their politics. If Democratic politicians personally experience the political pain of defeat through their tolerance of their violent minority, perhaps we can finally start to see a reduction of the hateful rhetoric that is poisoning our politics.
