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Virginia voters woke up this week to the kind of raw, disturbing revelations that used to end political careers before the first debate. Text messages from 2022 attributed to Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones surfaced showing grotesque fantasies about murdering a political opponent and even harming his children, and yet, as Public News founder Michael Shellenberger noted on Jesse Watters Primetime, not a single high-profile Democrat has demanded he step aside.
The messages — in which Jones allegedly joked about shooting then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert and invoked dictators like Hitler and Pol Pot while fantasizing about family harm — are not the sort of private thoughts a candidate for the Commonwealth’s top law enforcement office can shrug off. Jones has issued an apology, but his continued insistence on staying in the race after such vile language has only deepened the outrage among everyday Virginians and law-and-order Americans.
Republicans from the grassroots to the top of the ticket have rightly demanded his removal; President Trump, Governor Youngkin, and conservative legal groups wasted no time calling for accountability. Meanwhile Democrats have offered tepid condemnations but, in too many cases, stopped short of the only responsible response: asking Jones to withdraw so the party can put forward a candidate who respects human life and the rule of law.
This isn’t a partisan temper tantrum — it’s basic public safety and trust in the legal system. An attorney general who jokes about political murder cannot credibly promise impartial enforcement of the laws or the protection of all Virginians; Democrats’ reluctance to act confirms what conservatives have long warned about the left’s tolerance for extremism. With early voting already underway, the damage to democratic norms is immediate and real.
Michael Shellenberger nailed it when he said this episode isn’t just about one candidate — it’s a symptom of a larger radicalization on the left that now infects elected hopefuls as well as activists in the streets. If Democratic leaders refuse to police their own ranks and reject this kind of depravity, then voters must do the policing at the ballot box.
Patriotic Americans should demand clarity and courage from every Democrat who claims to stand for decency. Abigail Spanberger and other leading Democrats owe Virginians a simple answer: either call on Jay Jones to quit so the party can choose a legitimate, law-abiding nominee, or explain why they will defend someone who fantasized about murdering political opponents — and let voters judge them accordingly.
