Trump hits out at Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin with racist attack

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Former president Donald Trump leveled a bizarre and racist attack on Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin late Thursday after Mr Youngkin’s lieutenant governor said she could not support the twice-impeached ex-president as a 2024 presidential candidate.

Writing on his own Truth Social platform, Mr Trump bragged that Mr Youngkin’s victory in Virginia’s 2021 gubernatorial election was due to a telephone “rally” he’d participated in and suggested that the Virginia governor’s name “sounds Chinese”.

“In Virginia [Youngkin] couldn’t have won without me,” he said. “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. But he knows that, and admits it”.

A spokesperson for Mr Youngkin did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Independent, but the Virginia governor told a local television reporter on Friday that he did not see the ex-president’s comments, does not engage in name-calling himself, and is focused on bringing people together.

Mr Trump’s attack on the Virginia leader came on the same day he lashed out at Florida governor Ron DeSantis and took credit for his 2018 victory over Democratic candidate Andrew Gillum. Both men are considered potential 2024 primary candidates, who Mr Trump would have to best to gain the GOP nomination two years from now.

The ex-president appears poised to kick off a 2024 run with a Tuesday prime-time announcement from his Mar-a-Lago residence, the first time a presidential candidate has launched a campaign from a crime scene he owns.