Lauren Windsor, a Democratic operative, has admitted to being involved in Friday’s failed tiki torch conspiracy that tried to belittle Republican candidate for governor of Virginia Glenn Youngkin as a white supporter.
Windsor often disguises himself as a conservative activist in order to seduce politicians into controversial comments.
“In my role as communications consultant, I worked with @ProjectLincoln to coordinate today’s Youngkin campaign in Charlottesville,” Windsor tweeted. “I join them in the fight to defend our democracy from right-wing extremists and call on Glenn Youngkin to condemn Trump’s ‘very good people.’
As a communications consultant, I worked w @ProjectLincoln to coordinate today’s Youngkin campaign in Charlottesville. I join them in fighting to defend our democracy from right-wing extremists and call on Glenn Youngkin to condemn Trump’s “very good people”.
– Lauren Windsor (@lawindsor) October 29, 2021
Tiki torch prank alluded to the protests in Charlottesville in 2017, when five people held a tiki torch while posing in front of Glenn Youngkin’s pre-election bus.
This venture sought to encourage the misconception that Youngkin’s candidacy was synonymous with racism and white supremacy.
Journalists and politicians were quick to expose the tiki prank, giving credibility to the cascade. However, many users on social networks asked its authenticity.
These men approached @GlennYoungkinWhen the bus arrived, he said what sounded like, “We’re all for Glenn.” They were standing here in front of the bus when his campaign in Guadalajara began.@ NBC29 pic.twitter.com/l681ejyBjc
– Elizabeth Holmes (@holmes_reports) October 29, 2021
I demand that all these white nationalists be fired immediately from their jobs in the Virginia Democratic Party! https://t.co/rIq8aU0hwl
– Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) October 29, 2021
The Democratic Party of Virginia then denied that she or her “coordinated partners” or “affiliated companies” had any role in the tiki.
Statement on Glenna Youngkina bus station today: pic.twitter.com/Hw0svCAW9W
– Andrew Whitley (@AndrewWhitleyVA) October 29, 2021
After all, the pro-democracy Lincoln Project owned the staging of the event. “The Lincoln Project has posted ads highlighting the hatred sparked in Charlottesville and Glenn Youngkin’s continued failure to condemn‘ Donald Trump’s very good people on both sides, ’” the Lincoln Project said in a statement.
The Lincoln Project takes credit for the acrobatics of “white supremacy” on Youngkin’s campaign today. pic.twitter.com/h18Sfk5AUC
– John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) October 29, 2021
“Today’s demonstration was our way of reminding Virginians of what happened in Charlottesville four years ago, that the Republican Party accepted those values and that Glenn Youngkin did not condemn it,” the statement continues.
However, Windsor and the Lincoln project take a quote about “very nice people” taking former President Trump’s comments out of context, as exposed in the President’s second indictment trial. In addition, a transcript of Trump’s entire statement on Charlottesville reveals that Trump said there were “very good people on both sides,” while acknowledging that there were “some very bad people in this group”:
Sorry, sorry. They didn’t stand up – and you had some very bad people in this group, but you also had people who were very good people on both sides. You had people in this group. Sorry, sorry. I saw the same pictures as you. In this group, you had people protesting against the removal, for them, of a very, very important statue and the renaming of the park from Robert E. Lee to another name.
US President Joe Biden (left) and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe during the campaign at Virginia Highlands Park in Arlington, Virginia on October 26, 2021. (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP via Getty Images)
Friday’s prank on the tiki torch is not an advertisement that McAuliffe’s campaign hopes will go into the final weekend of the election season and lags behind Youngkin in the polls.
“What happened today is disgusting and tasteless and we strongly condemn that. Those involved must apologize immediately, “said McAuliffe campaign manager Chris Bolling said Vice News in a statement.
Youngkin leads McAuliffe in the gubernatorial game by one point, says a survey released Friday.