Analysis: Rising star GOP governor used a lot of words to not answer whether Trump should stop pushing 2020 election lie

Which is 127 words of Youngkin not answering — or even attempting to answer — Costa’s question.

Costa, to his credit, asked Youngin again to answer the question. “What about former President Trump?” he said.

And cue Youngkin’s response:

“Well, I think this is a moment for the Republican Party to recognize exactly what I recognized last year, was this is not an or moment, but an and moment. We brought together Virginians last year, forever Trumpers, never Trumpers, independents, Democrats. We won the Latino vote, the Asian vote, the largest voter turnout for black Virginians that anybody can remember to vote for a Republican. I think this is the future of the Republican Party, which is to recognize that we have to come together in these common sense kitchen table issues that are on the forefront of everybody’s mind, inflation, schools, safe communities, an economy that isn’t stealing everybody’s hard working money through inflation, but gives them a job. This is where the Republicans –“

Costa interrupts Youngkin after another 130 words in which the governor talks about a whole lot of things — his 2021 win, the economy, the future — but doesn’t, you know, answer the question being asked.

Costa then asks, for a third time, whether Trump should “stop talking about” 2020.

And Youngkin responds this way:

“I think what I did last year was I focused on 2021. And we had 5,000 people come and volunteer at elections and that gave everybody confidence in our election process. They showed up, they voted in record numbers for a governor’s race, and we won.”

Another 46 words of not answering the question. Which, if you are counting, is 301 words uttered by Youngkin — not one of which was an answer to what Costa asked.

Like, what? Or, more accurately, WHAT?

There is, of course, a simple answer to this question. It’s something along the lines of: “Yes, Donald Trump should stop talking about 2020. He lost that election and in continuing to talk about it he distracts from the very real opportunities for Republicans this November.”

And that wouldn’t even be a debatable statement! We have plenty of evidence that Trump’s obsession with the 2020 election has hurt his party’s prospects. In early 2021, Republicans lost both of the Georgia Senate runoffs — and with it, control of the Senate — because Trump couldn’t stop talking about the last election.

“Telling everyone that the race was stolen when it wasn’t cost the Republicans two Senate seats,” Georgia-based conservative blogger Erick Erickson told NPR after the elections.

So, why does Youngkin not, you know, just answer the question? Because he may want to run for president in 2024 if Trump decides to take a pass on the race. And he believes that the only path to the Republican nomination is through (and with) the Trump base. Insisting in a very public format that Trump should stop talking about the 2020 election could cost him that chance.

Youngkin is probably right. Remember that Trump pulled his endorsement of Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks’ Senate campaign after he told a crowd that the party (and Trump) needed to move on from the 2020 election.

“Mo Brooks of Alabama made a horrible mistake recently when he went ‘woke’ and stated, referring to the 2020 Presidential Election Scam, ‘Put that behind you, put that behind you,'” said Trump in a statement rescinding the endorsement.

But man, it’s hard to watch the pretzel that Youngkin twisted himself into to avoid answering a question that has a decidedly simple answer.