The Virginia gubernatorial race was a contest that Democrat candidate Terry McAuliffe was expected to cruise to victory in, and with considerable ease. His rival Republican Glenn Youngkin wasn’t even supposed to be a factor.

But as an ancient Hindu text states ‘“When doom is inevitable, the person’s intellect works against his or her best interest.”

After a series of major gaffes, McAuliffe is now trailing behind Youngkin in a recent Fox News Poll among likely voters in Virginia. Youngkin’s lead is now eight points which is outside the poll’s margin of sampling error.

Among the reasons for this fall is McAuliffe’s preposterous statement “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

Also, a Youngkin advertisement that featured a mother who successfully waged a legal battle to remove a violent and sexually explicit novel from the school curriculum was branded as a "racist dog whistle." by McAuliffe. That didn't go over too well with voters, either.

Overall, McAuliffe is beginning to look desperate and consequently lackluster. 

Things took a turn for the worse yesterday when the disgraced anti-Trump group the Lincoln Project attempted to orchestrate a hoax that involved five individuals dressed up as white supremacists expressing support for Youngkin in a bid to repel Virginia's voters. Among these ‘white supremacists reluctantly standing before Youngkin’s campaign bus was a black man and what appeared to be a woman.

The motives behind this disgraceful and amateur stunt were instantly discovered and ridiculed on social media.

But that didn't stop members of McAuliffe’s campaign team and their allies in the media, amplifying the hoax.

McAuliffe’s ‘outraged’ communications staffer Jen Goodman tweeted that the gathering was “disgusting and disqualifying.”

“This is who Glenn Youngkin’s supporters are,” said Christina Freundlich, who is part of McAuliffe’s campaign team.

This is the same Lincoln Project whose co-founder was accused of sexually harassing more than 20 young men while the senior management was accused of looking the other way, despite being aware of it. Also, of the $90 million that the Lincoln Project has raised, more than $50 million has gone to firms controlled by the group’s leaders.

It is ironic that the Lincoln Project’s stated objective is to purge President Trump and the MAGA movement from the GOP for moral reasons. Obviously, the leaders of the Lincoln Project have no self-awareness.

Its very name is a vile affront to the legacy of the great Abraham Lincoln.

The sole reason the Lincoln Project owned up to their failed false flag operation and tried to claim it was a 'reminder' is that it was so poorly executed that even casual observers were not fooled.  

Another possible reason is that the McAuliffe people probably ordered the Lincoln Project to own it because it was making McAuliffe's team look bad and they desperately needed a way to wash their hands of this stunt.

It is highly unlikely that the McAuliffe people were unaware of this caper, they are probably having angry calls with the Lincoln project people about its poor execution as you read this.

But as always, the lie traveled around the world and back again while the truth was lacing up its boots. The goal of such political dirty tricks is to turn off just enough voters to affect the direction of the election, which can be important when polls are tight and the vote is days away. 

The tweets of condemnation from McAuliffe's people, falsely accusing Youngkin, still haven't been deleted. 

If this stunt manages to convince just a small percentage of ignorant voters that Youngkin is a white supremacist, it could be the difference between victory and defeat.

But there are other questions to ponder.

What if this hoax was "properly executed the way the perpetrators had expected to execute it? What if the truth had never come out?

What if the actors had looked at their parts with their actions and their slogans appeared authentic? 

What if they had indulged in some measure of violence?

The mainstream media would have caused a frenzy calling it the new Charlottesville march or a sequel to the Jan. 6  ‘insurrection.’

The incident would have doubtlessly received international prominence and not just Youngkin but President Trump would have been blamed.

No amount of denial or repudiation from any Republican would have been accepted. Finally, 'Republicans' such as Mitt Romney would have condemned it in a bid to be regarded as "one of the good ones."

The frenzy would probably have dissuaded a considerable number of voters from supporting Youngkin because people generally believe what they see before their eyes.

Another question to ponder is how many such false flag operations have been successfully executed in the past such that news organizations and history books cover them as the real thing? 

The stunt may have looked amateur and pathetic, but the intentions were nothing short of sinister.

What is equally stunning is neither McAuliffe nor his endorsers that include the likes of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are talking about McAuliffe's previous record as governor.

They are also not talking about his future plans to fix the economy, support small businesses, create jobs, improve the health care system, helping law enforcement, help war veterans and senior citizens.

The reason is McAuliffe has nothing significant to boast about during his tenure as governor. He also has no intentions of serving the people of Virginia. The only goal is to gain power and use it to implement stringent and undemocratic controls on regular citizens and children.

To achieve this, they indulge in petty, bitter, negative, cynical, vicious, and spurious attacks and amateurish stunts.

None of these issues that are being raised represent anything measurable, tangible, or concrete. The Lincoln Project stunt in the name of supporting McAuliffe was symbolic -- it is supposed to appeal to the voters' darkest emotions of fear.

This is a disgraceful fall in the quality of discourse and McAuliffe is solely to blame for it.

Hopefully, Virginia Republicans will be vigilant during the voting and counting to prevent any fraud from occurring.

Hopefully, Virginians will not be fooled by hoaxes and will choose wisely.

Image: Twitter screen shot

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