When the Candidate Is the Crisis: Jay Jones and the Collapse of Civic Trust

The race for Virginia Attorney General just crossed a line—and it’s not one voters can ignore. Jay Jones, the Democratic nominee, is facing calls to withdraw after violent, deeply disturbing texts surfaced in which he fantasized about shooting former House Speaker Todd Gilbert and harming his children. The messages weren’t vague. They were graphic. And they were real.

Jones’s apology? Weak. Deflective. He called it “private venting,” as if fantasizing about political assassination is just a bad day at the office. He didn’t name the victims. He didn’t apologize to law enforcement. He didn’t even acknowledge the full scope of what he said.

This isn’t just a scandal. It’s a symptom.

We are living in an era where elected officials behave like activists, where violent rhetoric is brushed off as passion, and where the rule of law is treated as optional. In Illinois, Governor JB Pritzker declared ICE-free zones and sued the federal government for enforcing immigration law. In Chicago, police were told not to respond when federal agents were attacked by protesters. And now, in Virginia, a man who openly fantasized about political violence is still on the ballot for Attorney General.

This is not politics. This is anarchy.

And it’s not confined to one state. It’s a national unraveling. When law enforcement is vilified, when federal agents are obstructed, and when candidates like Jones are allowed to stay in the race, the message is clear: power matters more than principle.

WecuMedia has already published a legal case for prioritizing the deportation of recent illegal entrants—especially those who breached Border Patrol lines in Texas. Our article Case for Prioritizing Deportation of Recent Immigrants lays out the constitutional authority, voter mandate, and operational urgency behind restoring order. But what happens when state leaders refuse to cooperate? What happens when the people entrusted with justice become the ones threatening it?

Jay Jones should not be on the ballot. Period.

This isn’t about party. It’s about principle. And if we don’t draw the line here, we may not get another chance. The collapse of civic trust doesn’t happen all at once. It happens when we normalize the unacceptable. When we excuse the violent. When we let the crisis become the candidate.