Election Disaster For Trump As Youngkin Proved GOP Doesn’t Need Him To Win

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Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:41 pm

As almost all know by now, Republican Glenn Youngkin won the race for governor of Virginia last night.

There was never any question that Trump would take credit for a win. But had the Republican Youngkin lost, Trump would have blamed Youngkin for not utilizing Trump enough, or distancing himself from Trump. The irony – and the tragedy, from the Democratic side – is that Youngkin just handed the Republicans the roadmap to winning purple areas in the age of Trump. Act as though Trump doesn’t exist, concentrate on specific local issues, and let the Democrats do what they do best, mix their messages to the point even the Dems don’t understand what they’re saying.

The fact that Youngkin wanted as little association with Trump as possible worked for Trump, too, because Trump is quite risk-averse these days, what with all the losing going around. And yet on the morning after the election, it’s clear to Trump that he was the one who actually won Virginia. After a reliably conspiratorial statement about recounts of 20,000 votes (which was quickly worked out), Trump issued the following statement:

“I would like to thank my BASE for coming out in force and voting for Glenn Youngkin. Without you, he would not have been close to winning. The MAGA movement is bigger and stronger than ever before. Glenn will be a great governor. Thank you to the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia and most particularly, to our incredible MAGA voters!”

The shorter version of that statement would read: “I won. You’re welcome, Glenn.”

Unsatisfied with already claiming victory for himself (primarily), Trump put out a follow-up statement. The second makes the first statement read as clear as a court order.. Trump’s word salad was more pureed than tossed:

It is looking like Terry McAuliffe’s campaign against a certain person named “Trump” has very much helped Glenn Youngkin. All McAuliffe did was talk Trump, Trump, Trump and he lost! What does that tell you, Fake News? I guess people running for office as Democrats won’t be doing that too much longer. I didn’t even have to go rally for Youngkin, because McAuliffe did it for me. Thank you to the MAGA voters for turning out big!

Actually, it was exactly the opposite. Youngkin ran as fast and hard as he could away from a guy named “Trump,” knowing that the association acts as a puncture in Republican tires in purple states, leaving McAuliffe and the hapless DNC desperately trying to tie the two together, while forgetting to optimistically assert what the Democrats really are trying to do for the country.

The line about “not even having to go” to Virginia is the type of comedy that the country deserves this morning. Trump was never invited and was too afraid to go even if Youngkin wanted him, which Youngkin didn’t.

It was not a good night for the Democrats who, yet again, have proven that they can have the most popular programs in history lined up and still forget to mention them during the campaign. It is also fair to note that no one accused McAuliffe of being a great, up-and-coming candidate in the first place. It was a bad night all around for Democrats.

But it was also a very bad night for Trump and MAGAville. Youngkin just proved that the entirety of one’s GOP fortunes need not be tied to Trump. Indeed, in certain areas, they best be untied. In the first statewide, post-January 6th race in a purple state, the guy who won was the guy who doesn’t support Biden or Trump (not really).

There is a lesson in there somewhere. It is an open question as to whether the Democrats will take anything away from that lesson. No one need worry about how Trump will read the results.

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Jason Miciak

@JasonMiciak believes a day without learning is a day not lived. He is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is a Canadian-born dual citizen who spent his teen and college years in the Pacific Northwest and has since lived in seven states. He now enjoys life as a single dad of a young girl, writing from the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He loves crafting his flower pots, cooking, and currently studies philosophy of science, religion, and non-math principles behind quantum mechanics and cosmology. Please feel free to contact with any concerns.