Elections – Page 3 – Deep Left Field

For months now, Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin has been trying to distance himself from failed, one-term, twice-impeached former President Donald Trump because he doesn’t want to be directly associated with a man as controversial and tarnished as the Donald.

And yet, on the eve of the election in the state, Trump decided he’d tie himself to Youngkin with a statement that could well doom the Republican when voters go to the polls tomorrow.

Politico reports that the Trump statement — released via his spokesperson — makes it clear that the ex-president sees Youngkin as a carbon copy of himself:

“The Fake News media, together with some of the perverts doing ads ad nauseam on primarily Fox (Fox shouldn’t take those ads!), are trying to create an impression that Glenn Youngkin and I are at odds and don’t like each other.
“Importantly, this is not true, we get along very well together and strongly believe in many of the same policies.”

NEW!

"The Fake News media, together with some of the perverts doing ads ad nauseam on primarily Fox (Fox shouldn’t take those ads!), are trying to create an impression that Glenn Youngkin and I are at odds and don’t like each other. Importantly, this is not true… pic.twitter.com/HVohE3W8Oe
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) November 1, 2021

That statement is exactly what Younkin’s Democratic opponent, Terry McAuliffe, has been saying for months now and reiterated shortly after Trump sent out his statement:

“Since launching his campaign, Glenn Youngkin has made it clear he is running for governor for one person and one person only: Donald Trump. Now, with less than 24 hours until Election Day, Trump is helping Glenn close his campaign and rewarding his total allegiance for the last eight months.”

Quite simply, Trump may have just doomed Glenn Youngkin. The election will likely come down to turnout, but Trump’s enthusiastic embrace of the Virginia Republican could turn off lots of independent voters who haven’t yet made up their minds about how they’ll cast their ballot on Tuesday.

If you watch election returns Tuesday evening, keep a close eye on Northern Virginia. That’s where Democrats get their biggest share of votes in the state, and that’s where Youngkin will probably come up short, if only by a few points.

But in a race as close as the one between Youngkin and McAuliffe, a few points may be the margin of victory. And having an albatross like Trump around your neck is not something any candidate wants the day before votes are cast.

With the Texas ice storm dominating the headlines, you may have missed another announcement that came down the pike on Thursday: Ivanka Trump has decided that she won’t run against Sen. Marco Rubio in 2022, the Associated Press reports:

“The former president’s eldest daughter and ex-senior White House adviser spoke with Rubio several weeks ago and told him she would not be running for his seat, according to a Rubio campaign spokesperson. The two have also discussed appearing at a joint event.
“The conversation, first reported by The New York Times, comes a day after Donald Trump re-emerged after nearly a moth of self-imposed silence, conducting a series of interviews to commemorate the death of conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh. Trump would not comment on his political future in the interviews, saying it was too soon to talk about whether he will run again in 2024.”

But what Ivanka really revealed is that she knows she has no political future whatsoever.

How so? Well, if the former president’s daughter really wanted to follow in his footsteps, she’d jump right in while a large portion of the GOP is still obsessed with all things Trump.

She didn’t, however, and that speaks volumes about Ivanka’s awareness that her father has destroyed whatever chances she had of holding any elected office, as Bess Levin notes in Vanity Fair:

“As you might have heard, Ivanka’s dad incited a fascist coup in an attempt to overthrow the U.S. government, undertaken by people the former first daughter addressed as ‘American patriots,’ before trying to furiously backtrack. And apparently having uncharacteristically read the room, Ivanka has decided that now is not the right time to take the first step in a series of steps that she believes will lead to her becoming the U.S.’s first woman president.”

Ivanka isn’t the only Trump who plans to sit out 2022. Bloomberg reports Don Jr. will also steer clear of seeking any elected office in the next election cycle:

“Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., also doesn’t plan to run for any office in the next election cycle, though he’s aware of suggestions that he pursue a Senate seat from Pennsylvania or Montana or move to Wyoming to challenge Republican Representative Liz Cheney, people familiar with his plans said. Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, voted to impeach the former president and was censured by her state Republican Party amid demands for her resignation.”

The Trump siblings are learning something that Rick Wilson put his finger on a few years back: Everything Donald Trump touches dies. And that now includes the so-called political futures of his family members.