In Virginia Youngkin Embraces the Anti-Semitic, George Soros Conspiracy Theories

Earlier this week, at a rally at a Northern Virginia Fire Department, Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin concocted a new version of one of the alt-right's favorite conspiracy theories hoping to gin up the Trump base and get them to the polls.

Washington Post, Youngkin: “The present chaos in our schools lays squarely at the feet of 40-year politician Terry McAuliffe. It just does,” Youngkin said at an appearance Tuesday night. “But also at George Soros-backed allies, these allies that are in the left, liberal-progressive movement. They’ve inserted political operatives into our school system disguised as school boards.”

To rational folks, Youngkin's statement just seems like more inane political blather, but the statement has much deeper meanings to right-wing voters in Virginia. We have written about coded political terminology before in these pages. It's a way for a politician or commentator to say something offensive or bigoted with some level of deniability.

Illuminate: "Politicians have often used terminology that carries a "loaded" meaning which their supporters understand and which they know carries a negative connotation well beyond the words themselves. Often such words carry a racist message; think for example about "Willie Horton", "states' rights", and President Trump's usage of the word "thugs". Each has been used to convey a racist sentiment without being overtly racist."

In his statement, Youngkin is attempting to tie Terry McAuliffe to Jewish philanthropist and Holocaust survivor George Soros who alt-right fanatics blame for almost every progressive idea they oppose. Some have gone as far as labeling him the "anti-Christ and accuse him of undermining western civilization.

ADL.org: "In far-right circles worldwide, Soros’ philanthropy often is recast as fodder for outsized conspiracy theories, including claims that he masterminds specific global plots or manipulates particular events to further his goals. Many of those conspiracy theories employ longstanding antisemitic myths, particularly the notion that rich and powerful Jews work behind the scenes, plotting to control countries and manipulate global events."

In his statement, Youngkin infers that Soros, in league with Terry McAuliffe of course, has "inserted" his minions, cleverly disguised as elected school board members, into Northern Virginia public school systems in order to get them to teach the children some version of critical race theory and undermine white America.

I'm pretty sure those school board members had a good laugh over Youngkin's CRT, "pod people" fantasy, but the incident says quite a bit about the Republican's campaign. Whether he believes such nonsense or not, and I suspect he doesn't, Youngkin realizes that his success depends on getting the GOP's bigoted, conspiracy theorist base to the polls in November.

And, as we have documented before, there is a disturbing undercurrent to Youngkin's campaign that demonstrates a lot about his character and shows that he is willing to say almost anything to get elected.

#news #politics

By; Don Lam & Curated Content