Several conservative pundits have turned on former president Donald Trump after he lashed out at Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin in a racist post on his Truth Social platform.
Trump—who views Youngkin as part of the Republican establishment that wants to squeeze the former president out of the GOP—suggested Youngkin’s name “sounds Chinese.”
“In Virginia [Youngkin] couldn’t have won without me,” he bragged. “I Endorsed him, did a very big Trump Rally for him telephonically, got MAGA to Vote for him—or he couldn’t have come close to winning.”
ADVERTISEMENT
“But he knows that, and admits it,” Trump concluded.
Following the racist Trump post, several conservative pundits turned on the former president.
“Yeah, I’m out,” pro-Trump and Dilbert cartoon creator Scott Adams wrote, who has long been an outspoken Trump supporter and MAGA world influencer. National Review writer Dan McLaughlin commented: “This is delusional, mental-breakdown stuff.”
Scott Adams, cartoonist and creator of Dilbert, says he is done with Donald Trump.
Lea SuzukiLikewise, Fox Business anchor Dagen McDowell took a jab of her own at Trump, writing, “Meanwhile, Mr. Youngkin is busy running the state that Trump lost… twice.”
“This is unhinged, sophomoric stuff that is completely unprovoked,” Fox News contributor Joe Concha added.
Even a writer for the right-wing website RedState pointed out the blatant racism and said that Trump “legitimately appears to have had a mental break over the last week.”
On Thursday, Youngkin’s Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears said she couldn’t support Trump’s 2024 presidential run.
The Virginia governor responded to the Trump attack Friday morning in comments shared with The Daily Beast by a spokesperson.
“I do not call people names. I really work really hard to bring people together,” Youngkin told reporters in Richmond, Virginia. “That's not the way I roll and not the way I behave.”
“As a nation, we still have some elections outstanding that haven’t been finalized and we’ve got to find a forward,” he added.
“We have a clear mission, and it is time to move on,” she said.
This isn’t the first time Trump has gone on a racist screed against his political foes.
Trump has repeatedly referred to Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao—who was a member of his cabinet—as “Coco Chow.”
In August, the former president accused Chao, born in Taiwan, of attempting to “get rich on China.”
Manjusha P. Kulkarni, a co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, told The Daily Beast this is all part of Trump’s continual spewing of racist tropes, which have fueled the rise of hate.
“Almost three years ago, Trump’s racist rhetoric—like this—fueled one of the most serious rises in anti-AAPI hate that our community is still reeling from today. So many in our community are afraid of what will happen to them and their loved ones as he re-enters the scene,” she said. “And we’re calling on other elected officials to support us by holding him to account.”
