Virginia Republicans are reeling -- and they have no one to blame but themselves [View all]

When Virginia voters elected businessman Glenn Youngkin as their governor in 2021, the Republican’s victory derailed years of Democratic gains across the commonwealth and even stirred speculation about Youngkin as a future presidential contender.

Less than four years later, Virginia’s Republican Party is on the verge of disaster thanks to an explosive scandal involving the party’s nominee for lieutenant governor and Youngkin’s baffling decision to embrace Donald Trump’s sweeping layoffs of federal workers, even though the state is home to over 340,000 federal workers. Few Virginians talk seriously about a future President Youngkin anymore.

The governor’s troubles are one more reminder that, despite playing the part of serious leaders, today’s MAGA-fied Republicans have entirely forgotten how to govern — or even how to police their own bad behavior. Youngkin’s GOP is turning off voters by the thousands and raising hopes of a Democratic blowout in statewide elections later this year.

And Virginia Republicans have no one to blame but themselves.

For many Virginians, the scandal dogging the GOP’s lieutenant governor nominee, John Reid, is a testament to Youngkin’s lack of influence within his own party. In late April, he privately urged Reid, Virginia’s first openly gay candidate for statewide office, to abandon his race after Republican research claimed to link Reid to a Tumblr account with pictures of nude men.

Reid didn’t just refuse the governor’s request. He released a video on social media denying the allegations. Trump-aligned Republican voters rallied around Reid and his message of MAGA persecution. “The governor made a big mistake” asking Reid to drop out, Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, told a Virginia news station. “He really stepped in it.”

Then, late last month, Reid accused Matt Moran, Youngkin’s top political strategist, of defaming and extorting him in an effort to push Reid off the ballot. Moran strongly denied the claims, even providing a sworn affidavit individually disputing each of Reid’s accusations.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/virginia-republicans-john-reid-scandal-glenn-youngkin-rcna205883

And it goes on...and on....! Hello, Gov. Spanberger!!