Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, fell for and promoted the tiki torch hoax during the Virginia governor’s race on Friday.
“Birds of a feather,” tweeted Swalwell in response to a now-deleted post that called a photo of five tiki torch-wielding democrats “disgusting.”
Many users on social media called out Swalwell for promoting the tiki torch stunt.
Fox News’s Tucker Carlson was unsurprised Swalwell fell for the hoax, noting Swalwell’s past romantic involvement with Chinese spy Christine Fang.
It was revealed later on Friday that a prominent pro-Democrat group, The Lincoln Project, was behind the hoax, working in tandem with Democrat operative Lauren Windsor.
Friday’s failed tiki torch hoax attempted to link Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin’s campaign to white supremacists.
Throwing out accusations of racist campaigning and criticizing Youngkin for “racist dog whistles” has become a key component of McAuliffe’s strategy going into the last weekend before election day.
After Youngkin released a campaign ad featuring a Virginia parent who is opposed to critical race theory being taught in schools, McAuliffe claimed Youngkin’s message is “a racist dog whistle.”
“In the final week of this race, Glenn Youngkin has doubled down on the same divisive culture wars that have fueled his campaign from the very beginning,” McAuliffe said in a statement on Monday. “Youngkin’s closing message of book banning and silencing esteemed Black authors is a racist dog whistle designed to gin up support from the most extreme elements of his party — mainly his top endorser and surrogate, Donald Trump.”
McAullife’s support in the polls continues to go down as Youngkin surges to his first lead of the election season. According to a Fox News poll released Thursday, Youngkin leads McAuliffe by eight points, with 53 percent compared to McAuliffe’s 45 percent support among likely voters.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.