Bid to smear Virginia Rep gubernatorial challenger as a racist is foiled: Fake Youngkin supporters dressed as 'Unite the Right' protestors pose in front of his bus, setting off firestorm of criticism - before Lincoln Project admits stunt
The anti-Donald Trump group The Lincoln Project admitted to planting five people carrying tiki torches at a Charlottesville campaign stop by Virginia's Republican candidate for governor on Friday - a political stunt that tried to smear the surging GOP candidate ahead of Tuesday's tight election race.
The Lincoln Project only confessed to the attempt to derail GOP candidate Glenn Youngkin when eagle-eyed reporters identified those participating as operatives within the Virginia Democratic party.
Cameron Joseph, senior political correspondent with Vice, tweeted: 'They only took credit/blame after I told them I IDed someone in the photo.'
Lauren Windsor - who describes herself as 'Agnostic. Bisexual. Fashionista. Hapless romantic. Progressive pugilist swamp-slayer' - took credit for organizing the stunt on Friday evening.
'In my capacity as a communications consultant, I worked w @ProjectLincoln to coordinate today's Youngkin action in Charlottesville,' she said.
'I join them in the fight to defend our democracy from rightwing extremists and call for Glenn Youngkin to denounce Trump's 'very fine people.'
Five people holding tiki torches stand in the rain by the campaign bus for GOP gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin in Charlottesville on Friday. The Lincoln Project has admitted to being behind the stunt, to discredit Youngkin
Lauren Windsor, a self-proclaimed 'progressive pugilist swamp-slayer' said on Friday evening that she had worked the The Lincoln Project to stage the stunt
Her actions managed to infuriate both Republicans, angry at the smear, and Democrats, who saw her use of Charlottesville as a political prop as crass, and likely to backfire.
Online sleuths named two of the five agitators as Camden Layton, the finance director for Virginia Young Democrats, and Colleen Wachenfeld, another Virginia Democratic employee whose background on Twitter was a picture of McAuliffe at a campaign event.
Neither have been confirmed as having participated, and both made their social media posts private after the event.
Charlottesville TV station WVIR covered the campaign stop and reported Youngkin was inside a restaurant when the group dressed in matching hats, khakis and white button-down shirts appeared beside his campaign bus.
The former private equity executive and political newcomer is in a close race against former Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe as Tuesday's Election Day nears.
Youngkin and McAuliffe are currently engaged in a remarkably fierce battle, in a state which Joe Biden won by 10 percentage points in the 2020 election.
McAuliffe was leading by five points two months ago, and is now trailing Youngkin in several polls - including by as much as eight percentage points in a FOX news poll.
The Democrats, with a rising sense of foreboding, have sent out their big guns: Barack Obama, Jill and Joe Biden, and, on Friday night, Kamala Harris and Pharrell Williams, to campaign for McAuliffe.
Commentators online believe that the sole woman among the five was Colleen Wachenfeld, and identified one of the four men (far right) as Camden Layton, the finance director for the Virginia Young Democrats
The four men and one woman stood outside Youngkin's campaign bus, trying to smear the Republican by associating him with the neo-Nazi 'Unite The Right' rally
The five stood in the rain, posing as 'Unite The Right' white supremacists
Glenn Youngkin, the Republican candidate to be elected governor of Virginia on Tuesday, is seen on Friday campaigning in Charlottesville
Youngkin is taking on Terry McAuliffe, the Democrat contender, who was governor of Virginia from 2014-18 and is hoping to be re-elected
Kamala Harris is seen on Friday night campaigning for Terry McAuliffe in Norfolk, Virginia
Pharrell Williams was drafted in by the Democrats to campaign for McAuliffe on Friday night, in a sign of how concerned the party is
A McAuliffe loss on Tuesday would reverberate across the national political landscape, likely triggering all-out panic among Democrats.
For Republicans, it would be a burst of confidence and a road map for finding their way through post-Trump divisions ahead of 2022 midterm elections, which will decide control of Congress and dozens of state capitals.
Democrats have been caught off guard by Youngkin's ability to make the election about education, and divisive teaching within the state's schools. Loudoun County in Virginia has become the national epicenter for anger at the teaching of critical race theory - a reassessment of American history, to give renewed emphasis on the horrors of slavery and the uncomfortable truth of the past.
Critics of CRT say it is teaching children to hate their country and feel guilty for the color of their skin.
McAuliffe's team also privately points to the drag of Biden's weakened standing among Virginia voters - a shift that began in August after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
That exacerbated traditional headwinds for candidates whose party occupies the White House.
In 2013, McAuliffe himself became the first Virginia candidate in 40 years to win the governor's office while his party was in power.
And within the campaign, there is concern that McAuliffe's experience, thought to be an asset when he got into the race, may actually work against him in a political environment that continues to favor outsiders.
Even before becoming governor, McAuliffe had been active in national politics for decades. He served as a former Democratic National Committee chairman and a chief fundraiser for Bill and Hillary Clinton.
The stunt on Friday was seen as a desperate 'dirty trick' by a side that realized it could well lose, and came as the scale of their effort in the state was revealed.
Records provided by the Virginia Public Access Project show $300,000 being spent to try and sabotage Youngkin's chances, Fox reported.
The group spent $17,100 on pro-McAuliffe efforts and just over $280,000 on anti-Youngkin efforts.
According to the Virginia Public Access Project, anti-Youngkin spending included TV ad buys, digital ads, and 'media production.'
Photos from Friday showed the group holding large tiki torches.
Their appearance recalled two days of chaos in August 2017, when white supremacists gathered in the college town for a 'Unite the Right' rally - ostensibly to protest the planned removal of a Confederate monument.
The night before the planned rally, a group carrying tiki torches marched across the University of Virginia campus, clashing with a small group of anti-racist protesters.
The next day a car driven by a self-avowed white supremacist plowed into a crowd of peaceful counter-protesters, killing one protester, Heather Heyer, and injuring dozens.
McAuliffe staffers promoted a reporter's tweet about the group's appearance, using it to attack Youngkin and suggesting that those holding the torches were his supporters.
Youngkin staffers accused the McAuliffe campaign or Virginia Democrats of being involved, drawing disavowals.
'What happened today is disgusting and distasteful and we condemn it in the strongest terms. Those involved should immediately apologize,' McAuliffe campaign manager Chris Bolling said in a statement.
The Democratic Party of Virginia issued a statement saying neither the party nor its 'coordinated partners and affiliates' had anything to do with 'the events' at the campaign bus stop.
The Lincoln Project then weighed in, saying it was behind what it called a 'demonstration.'
The group is known for its provocative use of memes and stunts.
'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,' the group said.
White supremacists and neo-Nazis carrying tiki torches marched through Charlottesville on August 11, 2017 in a 'Unite The Right' rally to protest against the removal of Confederate statues
The group, chanting 'Jews will not replace us', formed a procession through the Virginia college town on August 11, 2017
The neo-Nazi group are seen circling a statue of Thomas Jefferson on August 11, 2017
The torch-lit procession and the racist chants outraged many Charlottesville residents
The incident comes at a sensitive time in the city.
A civil trial opened on Monday that will determine whether the neo-Nazis and white supremacists who organized the 2017 demonstrations should be held accountable for the violence.
Democratic Del. Sally Hudson, who represents Charlottesville in the General Assembly, condemned the torch-bearing incident as a 'stunt.'
'Charlottesville is not a prop. Our community is still reeling from years of trauma - especially this week. Don't come back, @ProjectLincoln. Your stunts aren't welcome here,' she tweeted.
The Youngkin campaign has not commented.
Trump supporters reacted with anger to the stunt, and several people - including the former president's son - speculated that McAuliffe's team was in fact behind it, but then used the Lincoln Project to take the fall when criticism mounted.
'No chance Lincoln Project staged this, even though a 'white supremacist' rally is right up Confederate Rick Wilson's alley,' said Donald Trump Jr.
'The VA dem operatives involved have already been identified & locked down their social media. Busted.
'Don't let Pedo Project take the hit for McAuliffe.'
Jack Posobiec, the alt-Right commentator, said: 'Virginia Democrat operatives dressed up as Neo-Nazis holding tiki-torches today to smear their opponent and attempted to pass it off as actually happening.'
Nick Adams, who describes himself on his Twitter bio as 'President Trump's favorite author', also thought it was a McAuliffe prank that backfired.
'So now the Lincoln Project is taking credit for a tiki torch stunt put together with Virginia Democrat Party employees,' he said.
'How stupid do they think we are?'
Brent Scher, editor of the Free Beacon, tweeted: 'I do not think it's out of realm of possibility that Lincoln Project is taking blame, because they have no shame and their reputation really can't get any worse.'
Dan Crenshaw, a Republican congressman for Texas, said: 'How much more proof do we need that the Lincoln Project is nothing but a bunch of deranged hacks?'
Andrew Kerr, a journalist with Daily Caller, said: 'Apparently, it's totally fine to dress up as tiki torch nazis as long as you play for the right team.'
Journalist Glenn Greenwald said: 'Needless to say, right-wing groups that perpetrated a fraud like this -- causing media figures and campaign operatives to spend all day swamping Twitter with an outright racist lie -- would be instantly banned from social media.'
And Brigitte Gabriel, the right-wing think tank founder, tweeted: 'Why hasn't the Southern Poverty Law Center labeled The Lincoln Project as a hate group? The just put together a white supremacist tiki torch rally.
'Seems pretty hateful to me.'
Other critics from the opposite side of the political spectrum took issue with Lincoln Project bringing back painful memories.
'My heart aches for Heather Heyer and for all her loved ones,' said Christine Pelosi, daughter of the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.
'Her death shook me to the core as an activist and mom.
'The 2017 deadly Nazi rally was bad enough; today's Lincoln Project tiki stunt was cruel.
'Some things are - or should be - beyond politics. This is one of them.'
CJ Paschall, an anchor with the local NBC affiliate in Charlottesville, tweeted: 'Tone deaf is putting it mildly.
'Charlottesville is already reliving some of the darkest days of the city's history with the trial underway.
'The trauma people continue to suffer is not your soap box.'
And Lizzie Hylton, political and legislative director of the clean energy group Clean Virginia, echoed Paschall's view.
'Charlottesville is a real city with real people - far too many of whom are still trying to heal from the massive trauma experienced on August 11th and 12th 2017,' she said.
'Bringing fake Nazis with tiki torches here for a political stunt is beyond f***** up. Shame on @ProjectLincoln.'
The Lincoln Project was founded in late 2019 by a group of Republicans who were dismayed at the direction of their party under Trump.
In December 2019 they laid out their principals in an op ed in The New York Times written by Steve Schmidt, senior advisor to John McCain for his 2008 campaign; John Weaver, chief strategist for Republican challenger John Kasich in 2016; Rick Wilson, a strategist for Evan McMullin's campaign; and George Conway, a DC lawyer.
Conway's wife, Kellyanne, was at the time working in the White House as a senior advisor to Trump, and their political divide became a Washington DC obsession.
The group initially made effective use of social media, playing Trump at his own game and trolling him online with memes and videos.
Money flowed in by the tens of millions of dollars from donors eager to help.
But within the organization, a crisis was brewing.
In June 2020, members of the organization's leadership were informed in writing and in subsequent phone calls of at least 10 specific allegations of harassment against co-founder John Weaver, including two involving Lincoln Project employees.
Questions were also asked about the use of the funds raised.
Of the $90 million Lincoln Project has raised, more than $50 million has gone to firms controlled by the group's leaders, AP reported.
Only about a third of the money, roughly $27 million, directly paid for advertisements that aired on broadcast and cable, or appeared online, during the 2020 campaign, according to an analysis of campaign finance disclosures and data from the ad tracking firm Kantar/CMAG.
In August 2020 Conway announced that he was withdrawing from the group, as his family was rocked by division. His and Kellyanne's daughter Claudia began posting extensively on social media, causing her parents anxiety and ultimately forcing Kellyanne to leave her job in the White House.
In March this year Conway said that he felt the Lincoln Project should close permanently, given the scandals.
A former senior adviser to the project, Kurt Bardella, tweeted: 'Just shut it down already … it's over.'
Conway agreed in his own tweet, writing: 'It's a shame, and we shouldn't forget the hard work of so many people and the positive things the organization did, but yes, I think this is right.'
He added: 'It's just really sad and depressing, and I hope it doesn't tarnish the work of so many people who devoted themselves to such a good cause.'
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