Fake News: 'White Supremacists' in Viral Pic in Front of Youngkin Bus Are Actually Dem Staffers
On Friday morning, supposed “white supremacists” clad in white button-down shirts greeted Virginia gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin’s bus with tiki torches. Leftists immediately claimed they were Youngkin supporters showing their true colors.
“To my fellow Virginia residents: please vote against this blatant display of racism, hatred and intolerance,” NBC News legal analyst Glenn Kirschner wrote in a since-deleted tweet.
“Please vote FOR a kind, welcoming, diverse Virginia. Please vote @TerryMcAuliffe for governor. Because #JusticeMatters.”
deleted, but the List comes for all, @glennkirschner2.
✍?✍?✍? pic.twitter.com/Oq9kmg7YAd
— Siraj Hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) October 29, 2021
But as the morning went on, other Twitter users began to notice the “white supremacists” were not Youngkin supporters at all. Instead, they appeared to be former Democratic staffers in the state of Virginia.
Virginia Young Democrats financial director Camden Layton and Democratic Party of Virginia staffer Colleen Wachenfeld were among the alleged participants in the stunt.
OMG LOL Va Dems did *not* just send a black man to play a ‘white supremacist for Youngkin’ ? pic.twitter.com/h0SZujvKX1
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) October 29, 2021
? I am now confident that we have identified the woman in this group of political actors as Colleen Wachenfeld, with @vademocrats. pic.twitter.com/qySknRSUrd
— Alec Sears (@alec_sears) October 29, 2021
BREAKING: Financial director for Young VA Dems has gone private after being exposed for posing as a white supremacist pic.twitter.com/fbCbafIiZf
— Jewish Deplorable (@TrumpJew2) October 29, 2021
Looks like they found the black “white supremacist”
and his account is also locked pic.twitter.com/m8DBH1Z91n
— Ames (@RestingTwitFace) October 29, 2021
After being exposed, Wachenfield took it upon herself to rebrand, privatize and even scrub some of her social media accounts.
— Siraj Hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) October 29, 2021
WARNING: The following tweet contains language some readers will find offensive.
Holy sh*t
Colleen Wachenfeld rebranded her Twitter account handle several times after being exposed for posing as a neo-Nazi pic.twitter.com/DhltQl7mhF
— Jewish Deplorable (@TrumpJew2) October 29, 2021
LinkedIn profile has been scrubbed, including “Tracker/researcher at Democratic Party of Virginia” pic.twitter.com/g2z7M8P7yC
— Jewish Deplorable (@TrumpJew2) October 29, 2021
Many Republicans saw the stunt as a last-ditch effort for Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe, who is falling in the polls ahead of next week’s gubernatorial election. Conservative pundit and strategist Greg Price called the actions “desperate.”
Terry McAuliffe’s campaign was feeling so desperate at their terrible poll numbers that they made a bunch of their staffers dress as white supremacists and condemned them to being memes for the rest of their lives.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 29, 2021
Later on Friday, The Lincoln Project attempted to take credit for the stunt in a statement. The group claims to be dedicated to “protecting democracy” by fighting against former President Donald Trump and “Trumpism.”
“Today’s demonstration was our way of reminding Virginians what happened in Charlottesville four years ago, the Republican Party’s embrace of those values, and Glenn Youngkin’s failure to condemn it,” the statement said.
“The Youngkin campaign is enraged by our reminder of Charlottesville for one simple reason: Glenn Youngkin wants Virginians to forget that he is Donald Trump’s candidate. We will continue to hold Glenn Youngkin accountable. If he will denounce Trump’s assertion that the Charlottesville rioters possessed ‘very fine’ qualities, we’ll withdraw the tiki torches. Until then, we’ll be back.”
It is unclear whether the Democratic staffers coordinated with The Lincoln Project to perform the stunt. Judging by their social media reactions, the staffers weren’t nearly as proud to take public responsibility for their participation.
There are essentially two main explanations for the event. Either the participants were actually trying to fool people into believing they were Youngkin supporters, or they were trying to politically harm him by dressing up as white supremacists. In both scenarios, their actions are still reprehensible.
Youngkin has a real chance to win the governorship in Virginia next week, and that scares the life out of Democrats both in the state and around the country. If they think gimmicks like this one are going to help change that, they are sorely mistaken.
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