David Corn: Virginia GOP candidate boosted by prominent QAnon backer

[Nevilledog]

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David Corn
@DavidCornDC
JUST POSTED. Here's my latest: A prominent Q-Anon backer is helping Republican Glenn Youngkin in Virginia's tight governor race. Please read, share, and RT.

Virginia GOP candidate boosted by prominent QAnon backer
Glenn Youngkin's run for governor has placed extremism on the ballot.
motherjones.com
12:44 PM · Oct 14, 2021

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/10/glenn-youngkin-virginia-gop-candidate-boosted-by-prominent-qanon-backer/


On Wednesday, Donald Trump and a group of far-right conservatives sought to whip up the Republican base in Virginia for GOP gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin, who’s facing former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe in perhaps the most crucial contest of the 2021 election season. At a rally in suburban Richmond organized by John Fredericks, a conservative talk show host, Steve Bannon, the once-indicted-but-pardoned former Trump adviser, state Sen. Amanda Chase, a top promoter of election fraud conspiracy theories who has called the rioters who attacked the US Capitol on January 6 “patriots,” and other extreme rightists called on Republicans to turn out for Youngkin in this increasingly tight contest. Trump phoned in to reiterate his previous endorsement of Youngkin, describing the former CEO of the Carlyle group as “a great gentleman.”

Also appearing on the program was one of the nation’s more prominent supporters of the nutty QAnon conspiracy theory.

Enter Arizona state Rep. Mark Finchem, a leader of his state’s Republican effort to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss, baselessly claiming the election was fraudulent. Now running for secretary of state and brandishing Trump’s endorsement, Finchem is also an advocate of deranged QAnon conspiracy theories. The main idea of this paranoid and irrational cult is that the world is secretly controlled by a cabal of Satanic and cannibalistic pedophiles—including prominent Democrats and other elites—and that Trump is waging a titanic battle against these nefarious forces.

Finchem’s presence at the pro-Youngkin rally—where he metaphorically locked arms with Trump and Bannon—is yet another illustration of the overlap between Trump’s GOP and far-right loony extremism. And Youngkin, though he did not attend the event, seems fine with this. His campaign has not disavowed Finchem, and it did not respond to a request for comment. Fredericks said Youngkin had thanked him “profusely” for orchestrating the rally and had supplied campaign signs to distribute to the crowd of a few hundred.

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[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. This is what's at stake in the Virginia election.

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