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May 18th, 2021 
Awake Goy 
Former Virginia Democrat Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who is making another run for governor in the state, has spent the past week drawing connections between Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin and former President Donald Trump, but McAuliffe himself has his own ties to the former president.
The history between McAuliffe and Trump, as first detailed by Fox News, includes a $25,000 campaign donation, a friendly toast to Trump, and golfing — revelations that come after McAuliffe blasted Youngkin for earning an endorsement from the “ex Liar-In-Chief,” as McAuliffe calls Trump.
Following the endorsement announcement, McAuliffe proceeded to fire off at least nine tweets in a span of five days attaching the two Republicans’ names together, including:
Retweet if you voted to stop Donald Trump in 2020 and you’ll vote to stop Glenn Youngkin in 2021.
— Terry McAuliffe (@TerryMcAuliffe) May 11, 2021
Elections sure do have consequences, that’s why Virginians threw out your biggest supporter Donald Trump last year. Why have you spent months perpetuating his Big Lie, Glenn? https://t.co/qg8rH9G4ne
— Terry McAuliffe (@TerryMcAuliffe) May 11, 2021
Let’s be clear: Virginia is a diverse state of almost 9 million. Glenn Youngkin spent millions of his own money to buy a couple thousand “votes” to be the Republican nominee. Virginians will come together and stop him from buying the Governor’s office for him and Donald Trump.
— Terry McAuliffe (@TerryMcAuliffe) May 11, 2021
Donald Trump wants to use Virginia as a testing ground to see if his toxic brand of politics can still win.
Virginia, we have a chance to send a message to Donald Trump by defeating his hand-picked candidate Glenn Youngkin this November.
— Terry McAuliffe (@TerryMcAuliffe) May 12, 2021
Glenn Youngkin thinks Trump’s endorsement will help him win the Governorship. Well, I hate to break it to him, but Virginians don’t support Trump’s extremism.
We rejected Donald in 2016 and 2020 — and we will reject him again in 2021.
— Terry McAuliffe (@TerryMcAuliffe) May 12, 2021
McAuliffe’s furor against Trump and Youngkin, however, conflicts with past actions of the Virginia Democrat. During his failed first run for governor in 2009, McAuliffe accepted a $25,000 campaign donation from Trump, according to state financial records.
That same year, New York Times Magazine associated McAuliffe with Trump, writing, “McAuliffe moves in the rarefied atmosphere of big money and celebrity: Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and Steven Spielberg are all part of his circle.”
In another indication of camaraderie, Trump and McAuliffe toasted to each other at the National Governors Association dinner in 2017. A transcript from the exchange, a video of which Reuters captured, is below:
TRUMP: Now I know it’s inappropriate, but I’d like to ask a friend of mine — I’ve just destroyed his political career — from the other side, a man from Virginia, I’ve known him a long time and he’s a very good guy, Gov. Terry McAuliffe to come up and also perhaps make a toast. Thank you.
…
MCAULIFFE: And I want to toast to you, Mr. President, and to say we want to work with you to build on those ideals that have instilled and brought all of us governors together that we can respectively grow our states and grow our nation to be truly the great destiny that we are, so I would like to offer a toast to the president of the United States of America.
In 2002, the two were also seen golfing together along with former President Bill Clinton in West Palm Beach, Florida, according to the Fox News report.
McAuliffe has not been formally nominated as the Democrat candidate for November’s gubernatorial election, but his name recognition in the state and his fundraising abilities position him as a frontrunner in the primary, which will take place in June.
Virginia Rising, an arm of the conservative research group America Rising, called McAuliffe’s attacks on Trump and Youngkin hypocritical. Executive Director Tucker Davis said, “Virginians deserve real leadership, and McAuliffe’s blatant hypocrisy and failed record should be disqualifying.”
When asked by Fox News about his ties to Trump, a spokesman for McAuliffe’s campaign did not acknowledge them, but instead told the outlet Trump is a “conspiratorial, disgraced, twice-impeached former president who attacked our democracy on Jan. 6 by peddling the Big Lie that Glenn Youngkin has made the centerpiece of his campaign.”
Youngkin, in reality, has never shown support for the “Big Lie” — a reference to voter fraud allegedly throwing the 2020 election — and has been relatively quiet about Trump backing him. Youngkin did not promote the endorsement on social media, and after local outlet WVEC appeared to ask him about it, Youngkin said he was “totally honored” and added, “We’ve received a lot of endorsements.”
Write to Ashley Oliver at [email protected].
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