The Legend of Woke CEO Glenn Youngkin
On What Planet is he"Woke?"
When Glenn Youngkin ran for Virginia Governor in 2021 in a crowded field of Republicans competing for the nomination, Youngkin had one major credential for himself. He was the former co-CEO of Carlyle Group, a multi-billion dollar private equity corporation. Youngkin ran on his strength that he was an accomplished businessman.
To those that were not paying attention to the Republican primary, Youngkin was receiving attacks from conservatives for Carlyle's support of the Southern Poverty Law Center and Equal Justice Initiative. Even mailers were sent out calling Youngkin a “Woke CEO.” Youngkin denied that he supported those organizations but rather pushed it off as something that the corporation supported.
I can not define what “Woke” really means. Ten years ago it was slang that meant someone aware of injustices but now it is just a demeaning term with no solid definition like “social justice warrior” or “politically correct.”
Youngkin would be able to secure the nomination, perhaps because of a late endorsement from U.S. Senator (and husband of a Goldman Sachs executive) Ted Cruz. Cruz also had a strong warning against Woke CEOs around that same time. However there were conspiracy minded conservatives that were opposed to Glenn Youngkin because of his activities like being a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a group that conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones has sinster motives.
Those conspiracy theories did not deter conservatives from coming, Youngkin won his election of Governor due to a substantially large turnout of Republican voters for the governor race. In time this honeymoon would end and the conspiracy theory would come back.
After the 2022 Midterm Elections, former President Donald Trump took to his social media site Truth Social to share how he really felt about Youngkin. Trump dug into Youngkin for his ties to China during his time at Carlyle. A claim that seems ridiculous when you consider that Forbes estimates Trump got paid $ 5.4 million dollars from China while as President. The return of the “Woke CEO.”
Conspiracy theories change over time and the Council on Foreign Relations is not the hot subject it used to be. The World Economic Forum (WEF) has become the new boogyman. The WEF just happens to be an organization that Youngkin has participated in. Youngkin has been a speaker for their annual Davos event in Switzerland. One example from anti-semite Frankie Stockes from National File from before the midterms.
This conspiracy takes advantage of the public distrust of large corporations like Carlyle. However, conservatives are philosophically opposed to business regulations that would appease this public distrust. Conspiracy theorists offer a solution, that these capitalists are bad… and they are working with the communists, just replace the bad capitalisrs with good capitalists.
Significantly Trump is setting himself up to run a primary for President against Youngkin as a candidate. Trump is leaning towards trick that was tried before, using Youngkin's message as a businessman as a negative. By leaning into these conspiracy theories of Woke CEO Glen Youngkin, Trump can exploit fears of how only a small number of capitalists own so much. While at the same time, Trump is minimizing his own record of exploiting his position to obtain wealth.