The story of this week, the lasting story with long-ranging implications, isn’t President Trump’s quickly-forgotten State of the Union speech or acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker’s super-contentious testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee. It was the utter collapse of the political futures of the top three Democratic elected officials in Virginia.
Then, finally, is Attorney General Mark Herring, who acknowledged this week that he attended a party in blackface in 1980. Herring, like Fairfax, was seemingly spared calls for resignation — instead embarking on a series of meetings and calls designed to fix his error in judgment.
How does this end? I struggle to see Northam and Fairfax surviving. Herring has the best chance of the three to remain in office, but even if he does, he has incurred serious political damage if/when he runs for governor (or becomes governor).
