Tomorrow is election day in Virginia and the choice is between an expansion of the Trump/GOP racist and reverse Robin Hood agenda embodied by Ed Gillespie and the rest of the GOP statewide ticket or, in contrast, the Democrat ticket of Ralph Northam for Governor, Mark Herring for Attorney General and Justin Fairfax for Lt. Governor or which will continue a progressive, forward looking agenda that makes Virginia a welcoming location for all citizens. A column in the New York Times makes the case that a vote for Gillespie is a vote for Donald Trump and his ugly agenda. As a former Republican who is sickened by what the GOP has become, please take the time to read the column and take the time to get out and vote tomorrow for the Democrat ticket. Our children's and grandchildren's futures depend on you. Here are column excerpts:
Since last year’s presidential election a number of establishment Republicans have very publicly wrung their hands over what has happened to their party. George W. Bush has even lamented that he may turn out to have been the “last Republican president,” because Donald Trump represents something so alien to the party’s tradition.
But how different is Trump, really? He’s cruder, ruder and less competent than his Republican predecessors — although on that last point, we shouldn’t forget the Bush administration’s disastrous occupation of Iraq and botched response to Hurricane Katrina. But there’s a lot more continuity than his conservative critics want to admit. If Trumpism seems to be taking over the Republican Party, that’s largely because in many ways the party was already there.
What, after all, does the modern — by which I basically mean post-Reagan — Republican Party stand for? A cynic might say that it has basically served the interests of the economic elite while winning votes from the white working class with racial dog whistles. And the cynic would be right.
[H]ow much has changed in the era of Trump? Consider two current news stories: the House Republican tax plan and the campaign that Ed Gillespie, a consummate Republican insider, has been running for governor of Virginia.
On the tax plan: . . . . According to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, by the time the law would be fully phased in, there would be huge income gains for millionaires — even bigger if you take repeal of the estate tax into account — with minimal benefits for a great majority of the population. In fact, tens of millions of middle- and lower-income families would end up facing tax increases . . .
In short, Trumpist tax policy is as elitist if not more elitist and anti-populist than the policies of previous Republican administrations. Same old, same old.
[W]e don’t have to argue about the past: Just look at how Ed Gillespie has campaigned in Virginia over the past few months.
Gillespie is, as I said, a consummate Republican insider, former chairman of the Republican National Committee and counselor to George W. Bush. So what does it say about the Republican establishment and its values that he has run a campaign completely focused on stirring up white racial hostility?
So has Gillespie faced strong criticism from establishment Republicans for waging such a gutter campaign? No — there has been a bit of tut-tutting from lower-level figures, but hardly anything from people whose condemnation might matter. . . . . if “never Trump” Republicans really wanted to purge Trumpism from the party, they’d be urging voters to reject Gillespie for his vile tactics.
So how many in the Republican establishment have spoken up to say that Gillespie must lose if the party is to save its soul? Hardly any.
Oh, and if you’re in Virginia, reading this, and haven’t yet voted, please do. This is a hugely consequential election, and it will be a shame — indeed, a tragedy — if its outcome is determined by people who couldn’t be bothered to get to the polls.
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