Virginia GOP Del. Nick Freitas blasted Democrats for routinely labeling Americans opposed to their radical agenda as bigots during a speech on Wednesday, noting how he and his constituents “have had it” with such denigrating smears.
“I’ve never gone on this floor and challenged the faith of an elected official because I disagreed with them on policy,” he said while speaking on the floor of the House of Delegates. “I’ve never gone on this floor, Mr. Speaker, and suggested that the other side of the aisle were racists … I’ve never suggested they were sexist because they didn’t agree with my particular policy positions. But I’m keeping a running tally so far of this session. … Almost every day, someone on the other side of the aisle either gets up and either subtly, or comes right out and suggests, that if you don’t agree with them on policy, then you’re not a Christian, you’re a sexist, you’re a bigot, you’re a racist.”
Freitas went on to note how such slimy tactics were tried during the 2021 Virginia elections, citing parents’ concerns over the pushing of neo-Marxist concepts like critical race theory in public schools as a prime example.
“You had a lot of parents coming to their local school officials asking questions about what was going on in their schools. And the initial response was, ‘Oh, it’s not there,’” he said. “And then when they saw evidence that it was based off of what their kids were coming home and saying to them, and they went back and reissued the concern, then they got told, ‘Oh well, then you must be a racist.’ Because that has been the repeated narrative coming from certain members of the other side of the aisle and there’s been a lot of times we’ve sat here politely and just took it. Mr. Speaker, not this time.”
“But if you’re going to question the faith of the intentions of anybody that happens to disagree with you on policy, then you don’t get to lecture us on compassion, tolerance, or an open debate,” he added.
The impassioned remarks from Freitas came in response to comments made by fellow delegate Don Scott Jr., who claimed that Gov. Glenn Youngkin wasn’t a Christian because of the policies he’s implemented since taking office.
“The governor-elect at the time, he came in this chamber with the freshman who were being trained and taught and talked about how we do things on the [House] floor. And the first things that I recall him saying was that he had a strong prayer life and that he was praying for everybody, ” the Democrat said. “And so far what I’ve seen from his day-one activities is not someone who is a man of faith, not a Christian, but someone who wants to divide the commonwealth. Someone that wants to cause division.”
“I know the truth hurts. I don’t want to make you cry, like saying critical race theory, cause I know it hurts your feelings,” he added in reference to mounting objections from numerous House delegates.
Scott Jr.’s attacks were not isolated nor unique to Virginia; they’ve become characteristic of the modern left, whose sycophants throughout legacy media and the political class habitually smear their political opponents as bigots for daring to hold different views.
For instance, when asked back in November by Politico’s Anita Kumar if negative criticism of Vice President Kamala Harris was rooted in sexism and racism because she’s the first woman and woman of color to hold the position, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was quick to respond with an emphatic “yes,” adding, “[C]riticism from the outside, absolutely.”
“I do think that it has been easier, and harsher, from some in the right wing who have gone after her because she is the first woman, the first woman of color,” Psaki said. “I’m not suggesting anyone will acknowledge that publicly, but I think there’s no question that the type of attacks — the attacks on her that certainly, being the first she is many times over, is part of that.”
The same types of attacks were launched at Republicans who decried the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots, parents who oppose critical race theory concepts infiltrating their kids’ schools, and those who reject the idea that health care and other services should be prioritized based on skin color, to name a few.
