Glenn Youngkin’s victory in the Virginia gubernatorial race was a shock to most of the political world, especially anti-Republican members of the corporate mainstream media. They were left scratching their heads to explain how Youngkin, a political newcomer, could upset the former Governor Terry McAuliffe, especially in a state which appeared to be trending further in the Democrats favor every election.
Unsurprisingly, these media talking heads identified a familiar culprit as the force that was surely responsible for Youngkin’s win. You guessed it, RACISM. Youngkin wasn’t Donald Trump, but that didn’t matter as yet again racism and the Republican Party’s utilization of racist appeals was what they deemed the reason Terry “I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach" McAuliffe lost the election.
As per usual on the topic of racism in American politics, MSNBC’s Joy Reid was ready to give her two cents saying, “Race is just the most palpable tool in the toolkit, it used to be of the Democratic Party back in the day when they were Dixiecrats, and now of the Republican Party.”
CNN’s Nia-Malika Henderson opined, “Glenn Youngkin played the race card for a reason because he knows it works on certain white voters.” Henderson also claimed, “White voters do have anxiety about a changing America, that it is blacker, browner.”
MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace accused Youngkin of laundering President Trump’s flagrant racism through the term ‘education.’ Juanita Tolliver made a similar remark saying Youngkin “uses the same racist themes that Trump did, he just packaged them in a soccer-dad, sweater-vest model.”
Several members of the media made comments that Youngkin used racist ‘dog whistles’ to gain votes. CNN’s Van Jones said, “I think all the CRT stuff is trumped up dog whistling.”
“Some of it was dog whistle racism,” according to CNN’s Brianna Keilar.
Steve Schmidt of the despicable Lincoln Project accused Youngkin of engaging in “dog whistle messaging” during the campaign.
Tiffany Cross of MSNBC was particularly unhinged in her reaction to Youngkin’s victory. She remarked, “The subtext of all this was we can’t let these black and brown people run the country,” and “You’ve got the Republicans yelling, hey look the black and brown folks are coming for us.” Cross also took a direct shot at voters remarking, “This is about the fact that a good chunk of voters out there are okay with white supremacy. Let’s call a thing a thing. Actually scratch that. They are more than okay.”
If a Republican with Glenn Youngkin’s character and policy positions is being labeled by the mainstream media as a peddler of racism, then it is unlikely almost any Republican running for major office in the 2022 midterms will be spared this label by the corporate press unless these talking heads change course with their commentary in a major way this coming year. Don’t hold your breath on that one.