Virginia Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones is facing increasing pressure to withdraw from the race after a disturbing text message exchange he had with a colleague in 2022 was leaked to the public. The messages were so upsetting that they even prompted an MSNBC host to call for Jones to end his campaign.
Jones, then a Democratic Virginia House delegate, texted Republican House Delegate Carrie Coyner on August 8, 2022, criticizing Republican lawmakers, including then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert, according to messages obtained by the National Review.
'He should probably be forced to withdraw from the race.'
He reportedly called Gilbert a "POS," adding that if his Republican colleagues "die before me," he would "go to their funerals to piss on their graves."
"Three people, two bullets," Jones allegedly wrote. "Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot."
"Gilbert gets two bullets to the head," Jones apparently continued. "Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time."
Jones also appeared to wish harm on Gilbert's children.
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"Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy," Jones reportedly wrote.
"I mean do I think Todd and Jennifer are evil? And that they're breeding little fascists? Yes," he allegedly continued.
Coyner responded by asking Jones to "please stop," adding, "It really bothers me when you talk about hurting people or wishing death on them."
Coyner told the National Review that she sent screenshots of the conversation to Gilbert the same day.
"On August 8, 2022, I had a text conversation with Jay Jones. What he said was not just disturbing but disqualifying for anyone who wants to seek public office," she told the news outlet. "Jay Jones wished violence on the children of a colleague and joked about shooting Todd Gilbert. It's disgusting and unbecoming of any public official."
Jones did not deny sending the messages. However, he initially downplayed his remarks and blamed the uproar about the messages on his opponent, Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares, in a statement to WTVR-TV on Friday.
"Like all people, I've sent text messages that I regret, and I believe that violent rhetoric has no place in our politics," Jones wrote. "Let's be clear about what is happening in the attorney general race right now: Jason Miyares is dropping smears through Trump-controlled media organizations to assault my character and rescue his desperate campaign. This is a strategy that ensures Jason Miyares will continue to be accountable to Donald Trump, not the people of Virginia. This race is about whether Trump can control Virginia or Virginians control Virginia."
Later that day, he issued another statement, taking "full responsibility for my actions" and extending his "deepest apology to Speaker Gilbert and his family."
"Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach. I am embarrassed, ashamed, and sorry," the statement reads. "I have reached out to Speaker Gilbert to apologize directly to him, his wife Jennifer, and their children. I cannot take back what I said; I can only take full accountability and offer my sincere apology. Virginians deserve honest leaders who admit when they are wrong and own up to their mistakes. This was a grave mistake, and I will work every day to prove to the people of Virginia that I will fight for them as attorney general."
Jones' apology failed to stop the growing calls for his withdrawal from the race.
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Miyares called Jones' text messages "disqualifying, particularly in this era of political violence."
"He apologized now, two years after the fact. ... And he said it is only through pain that policy changes occur. Now, the idea that you think pain is what changes policy, I don't think that's acceptable in the public arena," Miyares added.
President Donald Trump also urged Jones to end his campaign, calling him a "Radical Left Lunatic."
"It has just come out that the Radical Left Lunatic, Jay Jones, who is running against Jason Miyares, the GREAT Attorney General in Virginia, made SICK and DEMENTED jokes, if they were jokes at all, which were not funny, and that he wrote down and sent around to people, concerning the murdering of a Republican Legislator, his wife, and their children," Trump wrote on social media. "Democrat Jay Jones should drop out of the Race, IMMEDIATELY, and the People of Virginia must continue to have a GREAT Attorney General in Jason Miyares who, by the way, has my Complete and Total Endorsement — JASON WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!"
Even MSNBC host Joe Scarborough agreed that Jones should withdraw his candidacy.
"He should probably be forced to withdraw from the race. And 'probably' is doing a lot there," Scarborough stated during the Monday episode of "Morning Joe."
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger did not explicitly call for Jones to withdraw.
"After learning of these comments earlier today, I spoke frankly with Jay about my disgust with what he had said and texted," Spanberger stated. "I made clear to Jay that he must fully take responsibility for his words. What I have also made clear is that as a candidate — and the next governor of our commonwealth, I will always condemn violent language in our politics."
Blaze News asked Spanberger and the Virginia Democratic Party whether they have any plans to request that Jones withdraw from the race.
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On August 18, MSNBC announced plans to rebrand as MS NOW, which stands for My Source News Opinion World, severing ties with NBCUniversal and dropping the iconic peacock logo to emerge as an independent progressive news outlet under the new media company Versant.
According to Versant CEO Mark Lazarus, cutting the peacock’s feathers is about liberating MS NOW from NBC News’ broader journalistic brand, freeing the network to double down on its progressive preaching.
Or they’re repacking the same woke nonsense because the cable news network’s ratings are abysmal.
In either case, Sara Gonzales, BlazeTV host of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered,” gleefully skewers the progressive network’s desperate scramble for relevance.
In this episode, Sara plays three clips that remind us why MSNBC is a failure of epic proportions. “Let’s just reminisce; let’s bask in some of the lowlights of MSNBC,” she giggles.
In 2015 when President Trump was a GOP presidential candidate, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, hosts of “Morning Joe,” interviewed him on his proposal to pause Muslim immigration as a temporary security measure.
Scarborough and Trump clashed hugely over this issue, leading to a nasty back-and-forth and ultimately Scarborough threatening to cut to a commercial.
In the middle of Trump explaining the need to “get our hands around a very difficult situation,” Scarborough, clearly flustered, interjected, “You can’t just talk. No, you got to let us actually ask questions. You’re just talking.”
The comment sparked contentious sparring, with an enraged Scarborough eventually cutting to a commercial, saying, “Go to break. Go to break right now.”
“Who won that pissing contest? President Trump is now the 47th president after being the 45th president, Joe. How do you like them apples?” Sara laughs.
Earlier this month, Rachel Maddow in a segment of “The Rachel Maddow Show” titled “It’s Not Coming, It’s Here,” delivered a lie-riddled monologue about President Trump.
“We do now live in a country that has an authoritarian leader in charge. We have a consolidating dictatorship in our country. And it sounds melodramatic to say it, I know,” she sighed theatrically.
“You don’t even realize what a dictator is because here’s what I can tell you. Number one, it’s definitely not somebody who was elected with an overwhelming majority — 77 million votes, won all of the swing states,” Sara says.
“And number two, it definitely doesn’t portray you as smart to be carrying water for Donald Trump’s predecessor, who of course told everyone that they weren’t allowed to earn a living, earn a paycheck, feed their families if they didn’t get an injection into their bodies.”
While Joy Reid mercifully left MSNBC in February, she’s still putting out content that proves why the network is a catastrophic failure.
Last week on Wajahat Ali’s “The Left Hook” podcast in an episode titled “How Mediocre White Men and Their Fragility Are Destroying America,” Reid snapped, “They can’t originally invent anything more than they were ever able to invent good music.”
“They” is, of course, referring to white people.
“White people have invented the light bulb, the telephone, the automobile. Seems kind of useful, right? ... Newtonian physics, the sport of basketball, photography, the flushing toilet, and blue jeans. But hey, who’s counting, right?” Sara laughs.
To see the clips and hear more of Sara’s commentary, watch the episode above.
To enjoy more of Sara's no-holds-barred take to news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough defended President Trump's federal takeover of Washington, D.C.'s police force.
Scarborough has a checkered history with Trump to say the least, but he revealed he can still see the forest through the trees when it comes to crime in the nation's capital.
During a segment on Tuesday's edition of "Morning Joe," Scarborough and his panel said that despite a downtick in crime numbers, D.C. remains incredibly dangerous for its residents.
'Crime has been a problem in this city for the 32 years I've been living inside and outside of the city.'
Scarborough revealed that "so many people" have been calling him recently to say the federal government is long overdue in stepping in to stop crime in D.C. and "should have gotten involved years ago."
"This place is dangerous, it's a mess, it's a wreck, and whatever," Scarborough said he was told. However, this differs from the public comments made by the same people, who "go on Twitter" and say, "This is the worst outrage of all time."
The host also pulled out his phone to read a text from a colleague about the issue, and while he did not want to name the person, he described him or her as being "very liberal" and sharing similar sentiments.
The text read, "This may sound controversial, but I'm not totally opposed to Trump's National Guard moving into D.C."
Scarborough continued, reciting from a friend, "I know he's doing it for politics, but crime remains rampant. I've had too many friends carjacked, shot at. None of us will walk more than three blocks after 8 p.m."
"Thirteen-year-olds are committing many of these crimes, quite a change from a decade ago, when things were much calmer," the message concluded.
While Scarborough said he did not want "any repeat" of how Trump used the National Guard on D.C. rioters in 2020, the city has been an awful place to live for more than three decades.
"I don't care what the crime statistics say. Crime has been a problem in this city for the 32 years I've been living inside and outside of the city."
Scarborough further revealed that he and his wife have been talking to many D.C. residents, "all Democrats," who "won't walk more than three blocks" in the city at night. He noted that D.C. could be described as a "door-to-door" city with "no sense of security" for its residents.
When he lived a block behind the Supreme Court, Scarborough claimed, "Every three days, one of my neighbors is getting held up at gunpoint."
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President Trump recently suggested that crime-ridden metropolises like Chicago and New York City are also up for consideration when it comes to sending in federal support.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) famously rejected an offer from Trump in 2020 for National Guard intervention when the state experienced rampant rioting following the death of George Floyd.
"This is not the way we behave in the United States. Our law enforcement are out there on streets trying to protect people. They’re not at least here in Chicago, we’re not in the business of trying to put down peaceful protests," Pritzker said at the time, per CNN.
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D.C.’s murder rate ran 169 percent higher than Louisiana’s, the deadliest state, and an astonishing 523 percent higher than that of the average state.
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