Yes, Virginia, the GOP is better off without Trump

Both parties should stop allowing their extreme wings to run things

As everyone knows by now, Tuesday was a bad night for Democrats. The party suffered humiliating defeats, not only in the high-profile Virginia governor’s race, but almost across the board.

Democrats can take some solace, perhaps, in the fact that what happened in Virginia, the victory of Glenn Youngkin, is good news for anyone who does not want to see Donald Trump return as our president in 2024.

We’ll get to that in a minute. It is interesting that the national media — and “the Squad” — largely ignored the upset victory of Republican Winsome Sears in Virginia’s lieutenant governor’s race, which pretty much tells you all you need to know about the national media and the Squad (the congressional progressive led by Alexandria Ocasio Cortez).

A Black woman with a great life story, Sears is the first woman of color elected to a statewide office in the Commonwealth of Virginia, which one would think would be a big deal.

The New York Times, though, as of this writing has mentioned her victory only in two overall election stories.

Michelle Wu, the first woman of color to become mayor of Boston, has been featured in no fewer than four NYT stories.

Wu, you see, is a “progressive.” And the Squad is very excited about her victory.

Sears, a former Marine, who opposes racial division in our schools, does not fit the leftist narrative that everything is about white supremacy.

The problem for the Democrats is that most people reject that narrative.

They should — as should the Republicans — stop letting the extremists drive the bus.

A Rasmussen Poll of 500 Virginians conducted, Tuesday night, asked respondents to agree or disagree with this statement:

“America was founded on the ideals of freedom, equality, and self-governance. Our nation has a tragic history of racial injustice, but we have made and continue to make progress.”

Fully 83% of Virginians agreed, including 84% of Republicans and 82% of Democrats.

I agree as well. Schools should, and I think most do, teach the good, the bad, the ugly of American history.

But when you focus only on the ugly and fail to impress upon children the meaning and importance of those founding ideals, when you dismiss them as having been “written by slaveholders,” you are doing tremendous damage to the children, to the country and to its future.

Parents saw their children being indoctrinated with the woke ideology that argues that all whites are irredeemable oppressors and all nonwhites are victims, and they said no.

I belonged to a Facebook group for teachers of Advanced Placement English Language and Composition. Teachers shared reading lists and made recommendations — a very heavy diet of Robin DeAngelo, Ibrim X. Kendi and Ta-Nehisi Coates.

No, fourth-graders are not watching lectures of Derrick Bell (Harvard professor who pioneered Critical Race Theory) but they are reading books that argue, essentially, that white supremacy is not everything, it’s the only thing in America.

Thus, it is disingenuous when people on the left thump their chests and say, “CRT is not being taught in schools!”

During lockdowns, parents saw what their kids were being taught, and thousands — of all races — were upset.

Objecting to that ideology being foisted on their kids does not make parents domestic terrorists or white supremacists.

That is why Glenn Youngkin won.

But back to my original thesis that Youngkin’s election is good for anyone who does not want a return of Trump.

Youngkin was neither a Never Trumper nor a Trumpster. He walked a fine line, keeping voters who voted for Trump, but adding independents who loathe Trump.

This shows Republicans are more competitive without Trump. Given the way things are going for Joe Biden at this point at least, a Republican who does not embrace Trumpism would likely win in 2024.

Youngkin himself may well fit the bill.

Of course, Democrats don’t want any Republican president, but hey, at least it wouldn’t be Trump.