When California’s Gavin Newsom beat the September gubernatorial recall effort, the left learned a valuable lesson. They learned not to run on pesky issues or Newsom’s dismal record, but on attacking Republican front-runner Larry Elder as being to the right of Donald Trump. By using the Orange Man Bad playbook, Newsom kept the focus of the recall election on someone who wasn’t even on the ballot: Donald Trump.
Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe is now deploying California’s Orange Man Bad playbook against his Republican opponent Glenn Youngkin in the Virginia governor’s race. Even CNN’s Kate Bolduan noticed McAuliffe’s “clear choice [to] talk about Donald Trump so much.”
“Do you see your only path to success here making this Terry McAuliffe versus Donald Trump?” Bolduan asked McAuliffe in an interview on Tuesday.
Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe discusses issues like abortion and qualified immunity ahead of the election, adding that President Biden will also be in Virginia before the race ends. https://t.co/ybon16DFiZ pic.twitter.com/YWfgYCxkYG
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) October 19, 2021
Taken aback by her question and being the leftist he is, McAuliffe had to at least pretend Trump wasn’t the focus of his gubernatorial campaign. “No, I’ve spent most of this campaign—if you look at my advertising and what I say on the trail—there’s huge differences, Kate, in this campaign,” McAuliffe claimed.
“I’m for raising the minimum wage to fifteen bucks,” said McAuliffe, listing his leftist bona fides. “I’m for paid family medical leave. I’m for paid sick leave. Glenn Youngkin is against every one of those. He wants to ban abortions. He got caught on tape saying he will go on offense to ban abortion and defund Planned Parenthood.”
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It didn’t take long before the California playbook came out though. “Now after what we’ve seen in Texas with the Trump Supreme Court,” McAuliffe warned, “if Glenn Youngkin is elected governor abortions will cease here in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Women’s right to choose will be gone. That’s what I talk about every single day.”
“You do talk about issues,” Bolduan concedes like the good little leftist she is.
Here’s the problem: McAuliffe’s claim his campaign isn’t about Trump is obviously a lie as his latest ad running this week in Virginia clearly shows.
As far as I can tell, Youngkin has not specifically said that if elected he will “ban abortion,” which is something no governor can legally do because, you know, there’s a Supreme Court and Roe v. Wade and all. But according to the California Orange Man Bad playbook, Youngkin must be painted as “right of Trump,” so McAuliffe is also running this little gem:
Granted, a governor can absolutely defund Planned Parenthood within his state, but that makes him pro-life, not pro-Trump. McAuliffe is banking on Democratic voters not seeing the nuance there.
Thankfully, Youngkin has been fighting back quite vigorously against the left’s tactics, but it remains to be seen if it will be enough as the left pulls out the stops over the next few weeks with visits by Democratic Party powerhouses like Vice President Kamala Harris, election-denier Stacey Abrams, and even President Joe Biden himself, who is likely to say something similar for McAuliffe as he said for Newsom in California: “I’m going to make this as simple as I can. You either keep Gavin Newsom as your governor or you’ll get Donald Trump. It’s not a joke.”
Related: Youngkin Hits Back at McAuliffe’s ‘Out of Context’ Claim in Virginia Governor’s Race
As November 2 approaches, the question remains: Will the left’s hateful California playbook keep Virginia on its course of destruction, or will Virginia’s voters reject the Orange Man Bad tactics electing Glenn Youngkin to save the Commonwealth? One thing is for certain: Donald Trump will continue to be both the left’s and McAuliffe’s favorite target. Take note, GOP.
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