It really shouldn't surprise anyone, but the Jay Jones scandal has now escalated far beyond the realm of "tacky texts." It's about a man who openly and shamelessly fantasized about people dying if it helped advance his politics.
Despite the Democrat Media Complex's best effort, most in the political world were already aware of the shocking texts Jones sent, advocating for the assassination of then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert. If he wasn't a Democrat office-seeker, that alone would have ended his candidacy. But now, Republican Delegate Carrie Coyner has revealed that those texts weren't some isolated lapse in judgment. It's a pattern of behavior - a window into how Jones thinks.
Coyner recalled a 2020 conversation with Jones about qualified immunity for police officers. She warned him that ending those protections would get officers killed. His response was appalling, but utterly consistent with what we now know of his character:
Well, maybe if a few of them died, then they would move on, not shooting people, not killing people.
This is the man who wants to be elected Virginia's top cop. A would-be attorney general, shrugging off the potential deaths of police officers as the necessary cost of social engineering.
This isn't some unrehearsed joke, a misstatement, a college kid mouthing off to his friends during a late-night dorm debate, or a poorly phrased tweet. This is a philosophy. It's incumbent upon every Virginia voter to ask themselves, "How can someone speak so casually about death and still ask to be trusted with justice?" The job he seeks demands reverence for life, not reckless indifference to it.
If this is a window into how he thinks in private, why would anyone trust him with public power?
To be fair, Jones denies the claim and accuses Coyner of misrepresenting him.
I did not say this. I have never believed and do not believe that any harm should come to law enforcement, period.
But the thing about leaked public texts that reveal your sympathy towards public assassination of your enemies and their families? It obliterates your credibility and makes your disavowals sound much more like damage control than truth-telling.
If we've reached a point where this kind of behavior sparks debate instead of outrage, something's deeply broken. This isn't a scandal, it's disqualifying. If you're willing to casually entertain the idea of political opponents being assassinated or police officers dying for your ideology, you have no business leading law enforcement or holding public office at all.
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