Sadly, it’s over. The Republican candidate for governor, Jack Ciattarelli, has conceded the election 10  days after Election Day in one of the closest governor’s races in New Jersey history.

The only chance we had to get rid of a governor many have called a tyrant and a criminal is over. We will now have the same Gov. Murphy for the next four years.

Murphy showed zero class after the election as did others.

People tore apart the only Republican candidate who had the chance to stop him. You’re complicit in another four years of the very so-called criminal tyrant that you claimed you despise.

On Murphy’s part, it was for acting as though Ciattarelli was some stop-the-steal Trumper reject for simply asking in a close election for all the ballots to be in and counted before conceding. Murphy called this “dangerous” and an attack on the “integrity of elections.” In truth it was quite the opposite.

The classlessness on the part of others?

All those who railed for years against Murphy then did everything they could to sabotage Ciattarelli‘s election chances. There are many of you. Things like calling him a coward and a RINO and a weak candidate simply because he wouldn’t drink the same Flavor Aid of the hard-core Trump crowd. God forbid Jack Ciattarelli was never an alt-right jackass extremist.

So many of you screamed in outrage over shutdowns and masking rules but when you had a way out with a Trump administration vaccine, you wouldn’t take it, would you? Just like you screamed outrage against Murphy himself and when you had the chance to replace him you wouldn’t.

People tore apart the only Republican candidate who had the chance to stop him. You’re complicit in another four years of the very so-called criminal tyrant that you claimed you despise.

Nice going folks.

The only class act in this whole thing was Jack Ciattarelli. No, I did not agree with him on every issue. But I voted for him in the primary and I voted for him in the general election.

One of the things that impressed me the most about Jack is the night of the gubernatorial debate on New Jersey 101.5 when he faced Hirsh Singh. The issue of abortion came up.

This man a coward? No, a true class act that Jersey should have had as its next governor.

Now to appreciate what happened in that moment you have to first understand that when you’re trying to win your party’s nomination to become the Republican challenger all conventional wisdom says you need to be less moderate, more conservative and play to that base delicately.

Just like the hack Hirsh Singh, many dyed-in-the-wool Republicans, the kind who vote in primaries, see abortion as an absolute black-and-white issue. Many believe abortion should be illegal even in proven cases of incest and rape. Which if you have an ounce of heart you realize is absolutely disgusting.

And when it came up in that debate, after Singh spewing all the necessary rhetoric that conventional wisdom called for, there was Jack Ciattarelli willing to face the fire. He said without hesitation, “I cannot look a woman in the eye and tell her that she has to carry her rapist’s baby. I can’t do that.”

He knew this could damage him. He knew this was not the general election but the primary. And yet he was that honest.

This man a coward? No, a true class act that Jersey should have had as its next governor.

Another class move on his part came after the election in explaining his reasons for waiting to concede, when he urged people to not believe in every rumor they see on the internet and not to play into the hands of those already claiming the election was somehow rigged.

Mistakes? Yes, they were looking into any discrepancies especially with that new system in place. But he showed class and leadership in warning against falling prey to the lowest common denominator about rigged elections.

These cowards are everywhere. They are your relatives. They are your friends.

The real cowards in the last couple of years are those who are so far up Trump’s ass that they might as well be polyps and continue to spread lies about there being evidence of a stolen election when there was none.

 

The true cowards the last few years are those who try to serve their own desires and their own Trumpian brand by downplaying a pandemic, being dismissive of 750,000 dead Americans, claiming wearing a mask does nothing, fear-mongering that a vaccine developed under Trump’s own administration is more dangerous than the pandemic when it has actually been scientifically proven to be generally safe and effective, and having no moral qualms about continuously lying.

We had one of these types call into our show Thursday night. A woman who first lied that the vaccine was still under emergency use only authorization. It’s not. It’s been fully approved.

There was no reasoning with her. Then she went on to claim incorrectly that it’s the vaccinated people that are the problem because they are “shedding” the vaccine and making people sick. She was NOT talking about breakthrough cases. She has no idea how the vaccine works and no clue that when you get vaccinated you’re not given the virus. There’s nothing to shed.

Cowards lie to suit their own false narrative.

These cowards are everywhere. They are your relatives. They are your friends. They are your school superintendent or the guy who rang you up at the grocery store.

By turning their backs on Ciattarelli they’ve bought themselves another four years of the tyrant they claimed to hate.

And Jack, if you ever happen to read this, perhaps New Jersey just didn’t deserve you. Stay classy, my friend.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.

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