Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin left an NPR reporter speechless Tuesday after the journalist attempted to criticize former president Donald Trump at an event focused on raising awareness of fentanyl overdoses.
First Lady Suzanne Youngkin said at the “It Only Takes One” event that her husband’s administration had “all hands on deck” for a nonpartisan community outreach program aimed at helping “the most vulnerable” overcome addiction. Youngkin echoed his wife’s point, telling the crowd that “it’s time to move mountains” to fight addiction, because “fentanyl kills.”
After the event, Brad Kutner, a reporter for NPR affiliate WVTF, attempted to make the conversation about Trump, claiming that the “peak in fentanyl overdoses occurred during the Trump administration when the borders supposedly were closed.”
“Where does the intersection of closing the border and an increase in fentanyl deaths come into play here?” Kutner asked the governor.
“Here we go,” Youngkin said, before laying into the reporter.
“You and I will have nice conversations until I see you trying to play politics on an issue that is really disturbing to me,” Youngkin said.
“Their children lost their lives, they lost it due to fentanyl, they lost it because it was poisoned,” the normally mild-mannered governor barked. “And it is coming across our border. We all know this. Do not try to undermine this article by playing politics.”
Data from the National Institutes of Health found that the rate of increase in fentanyl overdoses slowed between 2017 and 2019, while Trump was in office. Overdoses picked up again in 2020 amid government-mandated COVID lockdowns.
Kutner claimed in response that the Virginia Department of Health found overdoses had declined each year since 2021, under President Joe Biden was in the White House. But data from the National Institutes of Health shows that nationwide, fentanyl overdoses continued to rise in 2021 and 2022, the latest year available. Virginia was an exception.
“Do you know how long I’ve been working on this? When did I become governor?” said Youngkin, who was elected in 2021.
As Kutner struggled to understand a chart, Youngkin queried, “Are you a mathematician?”
“Are you?” the reporter countered.
“Yes, is the short answer,” replied Youngkin, who has degrees in mechanical engineering and business administration.
Read the full exchange between Youngkin and Kunter here:
REPORTER: Peak in fentanyl overdoses occurred during the Trump administration when the borders supposedly were closed. Where does the intersection of closing the border and an increase in fentanyl deaths come into play here?
YOUNGKIN: I’m not sure you’re right.
REPORTER: Even in our state, the peak was in 2021. It was rising from 18 up to 2021.
YOUNGKIN: Sorry, who was president in 2021? So don’t premise a question with a false narrative. We know where this is coming from. It’s coming across an open border. The Biden administration opened the border and allowed this to happen. And anytime you want to take a deep dive on drug seizures coming across the border go talk to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
REPORTER: Were they seizing less during the Trump administration and thats what was leading to the increase in deaths?
YOUNGKIN: The increase in deaths has happened during the Biden administration.
REPORTER: No, the increase started during the Trump administration. In Virginia they started to go up in 2018.
YOUNGKIN: You premised the question incorrectly. Here we go. What we do know is there has been a systematic effort to bring fentanyl into this country, and at the end of the day it has absolutely rocketed while this border has been opened. And every Virginia parent here will talk to you about what happened to their child. Don’t try to undermine–
REPORTER: I’m not undermining! VDH numbers–
YOUNGKIN: You and I will have nice conversations until I see you trying to play politics on an issue that is really disturbing to me. Their children lost their lives, they lost it due to fentanyl, they lost it because it was poisoned. And it is coming across our border. We all know this. Do not try to undermine this article by playing politics.
REPORTER: These are your VDH numbers.
YOUNGKIN: Don’t even try it. 2021 is the peak. Don’t even suggest–
REPORTER: There’s an increase there–
YOUNGKIN: Are you a mathematician?
REPORTER: Are you?
YOUNGKIN: Yes, is the short answer. 2020, 2021, peaks in 2021. Fentanyl starting coming across the border at an extraordinary rate. It comes from China through California, gets flown into Virginia, trucked up our highways and we seize it every day.
REPORTER: So the decrease that we’re showing in 22 and then 23, there’s no part–am I missing something?
YOUNGKIN: These are overdoses. Do you know how long I’ve been working on this? When did I become governor? If you want to have an in-depth statistical discussion and decide who is responsible for overdose deaths in Virginia, I’m happy to go get our secretary of public safety out here and he will take you on a deep dive. But at the end of the day we understand where the fentanyl comes from, we understand that it comes from China into Mexico it comes across our border. It either goes to California and is flown into Richmond, or it comes up our highway system… We interdict a lot of it. The fact that the federal government has not closed our border and continues to allow fentanyl to come across this border is a travesty, and anybody who tries to suggest differently is trying to make a political excuse for a failed administration in Washington.
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