NEW YORK (Dagbladet): The political crisis has spun completely out of control for the Democrats in Virginia.
the Party’s governor, Ralph Northam, is under immense pressure from their own to withdraw. A picture from his page in the yearbook under the medisinstudiene in 1984, shows a man with so-called blackface together with another person in the Ku Klux Klan-costume.
Northam admitted at first that he was in the picture but refused ago that it was him. The governor has, however, admitted that he used makeup to make dark skin when he appeared as Michael Jackson during a dance competition in Texas in 1984. This came at a strange press conference the governor held on Saturday.
virtually all prominent Democrats have asked Northam about to withdraw – including speaker Nancy Pelosi, the party’s presidential candidates and both the democratic senators from Virginia.Currently holds the Northam stuck at work.
YEARBOOK: Page in the yearbook to the current governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, from 1984. Photo: NTB Scanpix Show more Sexovergrep
And if he should withdraw, it would normally be viseguvernøren that should have taken over. But now is also viseguvernør in Virginia, Justin Fairfax, in the hard weather.
Wednesday walked a woman out publicly with claims that Fairfax had forced her to perform oral sex on a hotel room in Boston in 2004 during the Democratic profile. Even claims Fairfax that it all came down to whether the consensual sex, and that he is the victim of a political smear campaign.
– at No time gave her expressions of discomfort or concern for our interaction – either during the meeting or in the months afterwards, when we continued to keep in contact, or in the fifteen years afterwards, ” says Fairfax in a statement, according to AP.
the Woman claims, however, that she experienced a deep humiliation and shame, and remained silent until metoo-the movement. When she saw the Fairfax candidacy, she contacted the Washington Post, which decided not to publish the case.
Trump about the racist image of the governor:
Unforgivable
the Page also has Fairfax been met with demands that he withdraw.
her Story is horrible, compelling and clear as day – and we believe her, ” says the president of The National Organization for Women, Toni Van Pelt, in a statement, according to Yahoo News.
Blackface at a party
If both Northam and Fairfax ends to pull out, Virginia’s attorney general, Mark Herring, the next man in the lineup to take over the job as governor. Also he is a Democrat and has already advocated for that Northam should pull off after the photo in the yearbook. He described the picture in the governor’s yearbook as “impossible to defend” and “fundamental offensive”, according to AP.
But Wednesday had Herring even creep to the cross. In a statement on Twitter admitting the attorney general that he and two other friends dressed up in blackface to resemble the rapper Kurtis Blow at a party in 1980.
– the Behavior shows that I, as a young man had a callous and unforgivable lack of awareness of the pain my behavior could inflict on others. This behavior reflects in no way the man I have been in the almost 40 years that have passed since then, ” says Herring in the statement.
Trippelskandalen has sent the Democrats into a political chaos. If both Northam, Fairfax and Herring ends to withdraw without any immediate substitutes, it is the republican even in the state assembly, Kirk Cox, who will take over the job as governor.
– It is not I that is depicted
Cox got the job after a drawing of lots gave the Republicans a majority in the state assembly in January of this year.
– Political nightmare
– Nationally the Democrats tried to adopt a zero-tolerance policy for allegations of sexual assault and racism during the Trumps presidenttid and metoo-the movement. To not only have one, not two, but three elected officials on the state level in a vippestat who fight against these accusations – and how none of them currently have signaled that they will withdraw – is a political nightmare for the party as a whole, believe the CNN commentator Chris Cillizza.
In november, it is delstatsvalg in Virginia, and until now the Democrats had a good hope to take over the majority. Now the hope fade. The party, which historically have had a problematic relationship to racism and segregation, is also concerned about the consequences at the national level.
– the Fate of Virginia,-the politicians will give new indications about where the Democratic party is, and where it is on the way, writes David A. Graham in The Atlantic.
SPOKEN: Us president Donald Trump held his annual “State of the Union”speech to the american people on the night of Wednesday, but along the way there was another that stole the show. Video: AP, Twitter. Clip: Ørjan Ryland / Dagbladet Show more