'RINO alert': Trumpists are turning on Glenn Youngkin before he even takes office — here's why

Nearly three weeks ago, right-wing businessman Glenn Youngkin pulled off a stunning victory in the Virginia gubernatorial election, winning the governor's mansion of the commonwealth for the first time in 12 years.

But the honeymoon for conservatives may be short-lived. On Friday, The Daily Beast reported that some pro-Trump elements of the GOP are already turning on the governor-elect, for a few reasons.

First of all, Youngkin has refused to commit to pre-empting local COVID-19 health rules, the way some other Republican governors like Florida's Ron DeSantis or Texas' Greg Abbott have done.

"Judicial Watch founder Tom Fitton railed against Youngkin for refusing to stand up against 'abusive' mask mandates, while right-wing outlet The Federalist tossed him under the bus for not being a 'strong conservative governor,'" reported Zachary Petrizzo. "John Fredericks, who hosts a radio show on fringe channel Real America's Voice, suggested Youngkin had turned on the Trump base that helped elect him. 'Two weeks, post his election, here we go: Once again with another RINO alert,' he declared, accusing the millionaire Virginia gubernatorial victor of being a 'Republican In Name Only.'"

The other point of controversy is that Youngkin hired recent Georgetown graduate Joshua Marin-Mora as a press assistant — which some right-wingers take issue with because he displays pronouns in his social media bio and has worn LGBTQ pride clothing.

"Youngkin chose a guy with pronouns in his bio to do his comms who also served on the Georgetown Latinx Leadership Forum and supports virtually everything Youngkin's voters voted against," complained Pedro Gonzalez of the Claremont Institute — the same organization that employs John Eastman, the Trump lawyer who drafted the infamous coup memo.

"There have long been questions raised about whether Youngkin's loyalties will lie with Trump's base or with the more moderate conservatives who voted for him throughout Northern Virginia, a heavily purple area of the state," concluded Petrizzo.

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