“This is the textbook definition of ‘gaslighting’ by Glenn Youngkin,” said a progressive Virginia organization.
The Virginia Democratic Party said Tuesday that Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin—long promoted in the political press as a “moderate” alternative to the far-right MAGA movement—had made clear he was a “disgrace to our commonwealth” in an interview regarding GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s recent threat to deploy the U.S. military against his political opponents.
CNN anchor Jake Tapper on Monday evening confronted the governor with Trump’s comments in an interview broadcast on Sunday in which the former president toldFox News‘ Maria Bartiromo that he was concerned about violence from “the enemy within” on Election Day.
“We have some very bad people, we have some sick people, radical left lunatics,” Trump said in a clip played by Tapper on CNN. “And it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military.”
He later pointed to U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who helped lead the prosecution during Trump’s first impeachment trial, as one of the “lunatics that we have inside.”
“Is that something that you support?” Tapper asked Youngkin.
Youngkin: I don’t think that he’s referring to elected people in America
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 14, 2024
Tapper: I’m literally reading his quotes to you… I’m talking about Trump saying he wants to use the military to go after the left
Youngkin: I don’t believe that’s what he’s saying pic.twitter.com/b1Jy8P0BxV
Youngkin repeatedly dodged Tapper’s direct question, instead focusing on immigration and claiming the CNN anchor was “misinterpreting and misrepresenting” Trump’s words, which he said were related to the former president’s views on undocumented immigrants.
“I’m literally reading his quotes,” said Tapper. “I’m literally reading his quotes to you and I played them earlier so you could hear that they were not made up by me.”