'And We Brought Tiki Torches': Democrats Fume that Lincoln Project Stunt Failed

Wendell HuseboNovember 3, 2021

Democrats complained on Tuesday that the Lincoln Project’s tiki torch stunt failed to defeat Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin in Virginia.

“And we brought Tiki torches,” Bloomberg reporter Eli Lake said as he retweeted the Lincoln Project post, “We’re coming for you, @GlennYoungkin.”

And we brought Tiki torches https://t.co/Guj0dZCDkg

— Eli Lake (@EliLake) November 3, 2021

Marisa Kabas, who identifies as a “she/her,” tweeted disbelief that the stunt failed to win voters for Terry McAuliffe’s campaign:

can’t believe the tiki torch stunt didn’t work

— Marisa Kabas (@MarisaKabas) November 3, 2021

A former New York Times reporter said more tiki torches could have won the day for McAuliffe:

The crucial mistake was not enough tiki torch. Need to 10x the number of khakis next time

— Nellie Bowles (@NellieBowles) November 3, 2021

The Lincoln Project’s threatening tweet from Wednesday came two days before they pulled a hoax in Virginia. On Friday, five individuals, comprising at least one Democrat operative allegedly from McAuliffe’s campaign, held tiki torches in front of then-candidate Glenn Youngkin’s campaign bus to remind “Virginians what happened in Charlottesville four years ago,” according to the Lincoln Project.

The stunt was meant to pull former President Donald Trump into the Virginia election.

These men approached @GlennYoungkin’s bus as it pulled up saying what sounded like, “We’re all in for Glenn.” Here they are standing in front of the bus as his campaign event at Guadalajara started.@NBC29 pic.twitter.com/l681ejyBjc

— Elizabeth Holmes (@holmes_reports) October 29, 2021

Within Lincoln Project’s statement, they claimed Trump called neo-Nazis in Charlottesville “very fine people.” There are “very fine people on both sides,” they claimed Trump stated, attempting to connect Trump to Youngkin.

But the Lincoln project took former President Trump’s comments out of context. Trump’s transcript plainly reads, “You had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.”

After the Lincoln Project admitted they had attempted the failed stunt, the establishment media news outlet Newsweek acknowledged the stunt “prompted concerns” it would hurt McAuliffe’s election chances.

Perhaps Newsweek was correct. Upon McAuliffe’s sound defeat Tuesday night, the Lincoln Project was mocked on Twitter for the hoax:

Has anyone checked on the Lincoln Project and their tiki torch brigade tonight? https://t.co/VEjcNnCnLt

— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) November 3, 2021

Did voters not see the tiki torch guys? What gives? https://t.co/US8MPtlEib

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) November 3, 2021

The only newsletter that counts is @daveweigel’s on election day. Now up: The Trailer’s hour-by-hour guide of what to watch, the final polls and ads in key races, and what that Charlottesville tiki torch stunt was all about. https://t.co/CFXlBELr18

— Matea Gold (@mateagold) November 3, 2021

Makes this all sweeter that McAuliffe went straight to the gutter in the last weeks of the campaign, using slanders of “racism!” and the most underhanded bullshit lib tactics imaginable, including tiki torch false flag idiots

And Youngkin still dunked him

— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) November 3, 2021