‘And We Brought Tiki Torches’: Democrats Fume that Lincoln Project Stunt Failed

Democrats complained on Tuesday that the Lincoln Project’s tiki torch stunt failed to defeat Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin in Virginia.

“And we brought Tiki torches,” Bloomberg reporter Eli Lake said as he retweeted the Lincoln Project post, “We’re coming for you, @GlennYoungkin.”

Marisa Kabas, who identifies as a “she/her,” tweeted disbelief that the stunt failed to win voters for Terry McAuliffe’s campaign:

A former New York Times reporter said more tiki torches could have won the day for McAuliffe:

The Lincoln Project’s threatening tweet from Wednesday came two days before they pulled a hoax in Virginia. On Friday, five individuals, comprising at least one Democrat operative allegedly from McAuliffe’s campaign, held tiki torches in front of then-candidate Glenn Youngkin’s campaign bus to remind “Virginians what happened in Charlottesville four years ago,” according to the Lincoln Project.

The stunt was meant to pull former President Donald Trump into the Virginia election.

Within Lincoln Project’s statement, they claimed Trump called neo-Nazis in Charlottesville “very fine people.” There are “very fine people on both sides,” they claimed Trump stated, attempting to connect Trump to Youngkin.

But the Lincoln project took former President Trump’s comments out of context. Trump’s transcript plainly reads, “You had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.”

After the Lincoln Project admitted they had attempted the failed stunt, the establishment media news outlet Newsweek acknowledged the stunt “prompted concerns” it would hurt McAuliffe’s election chances.

Perhaps Newsweek was correct. Upon McAuliffe’s sound defeat Tuesday night, the Lincoln Project was mocked on Twitter for the hoax:

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø.