Earlier on Tuesday, Republicans Under Notional Terms (RUNTs) like Bill Kristol and Evan McMullin took to social media to discourage people thinking of voting for Ed Gillespie.
They wouldn’t have made a massive impact, if any, in the race. But they got what they really wanted: a Democrat Virginia Governor, an “upset” for the Republican Party under Trump, and a chance to pretend “this is a sign we need moderate candidates!”
Bizarrely — laughably even — the pair decided that former lobbyist Ed Gillespie was TOO pro-Trump. Ha!
The truth couldn’t be more opposite if it tried. Gillespie, as Trump noted late on Tuesday night, was scarcely a MAGA candidate. And the operation the Virginia GOP put down in the state was nowhere near the Obama for America-style blitzkrieg campaign they needed to win.
While turnout was up across the state, it wasn’t up by enough for the Republicans in the areas the Republicans needed it to be up enough by.
The other problem, of course, was one of authenticity. Gillespie had none. Or very little.
His big bump came too late, after he was attacked by the Latino Victory Fund as someone who might mow down young ethnic minority voters while sporting a Confederate Flag and a Gadsden license plate.
“Maybe he is one of us after all!” thought Republicans who saw that ad. Not that they’re in the business of running over children (seriously, guys, WTF?) but they are in the business of being lied about, maligned, and marginalized. When it started happening to Gillespie, they began to feel a camaraderie with them.
But while the Democrats turn Virginia into a sanctuary state, the bigger risk Republicans face is their own civil war. With hardline globalists not-so-secretly popping bottles of cheap champagne tonight, the conservative base needs to fight even harder to reject the McMuffin-Kristol axis in their midst.
“We told you so!” They’ll scream.
In fact they won’t be able to explain why more authentic MAGA candidates like Jill Vogel received a better reception and a higher percentage of the vote than Gillespie — and why Gillespie probably dragged her numbers down further than where they would have been.
Because the truth is the Virginia GOP lacks the kind of organisation, and their candidate lacked the kind of authenticity it takes for conservatives to win elections in government-employee and liberal-city dominated states such as Virginia.
It’s not a lost cause yet, but if the RUNTs get their way, it very much will be.
Raheem Kassam is the editor in chief of Breitbart London.