President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before departing the White House, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump is calling for Jay Jones, the Democratic Party’s nominee for attorney general in Virginia, to drop out of the race after he sent “SICK and DEMENTED” text messages about shooting and killing a Republican lawmaker.
The president, in a Truth Social post on Sunday, said Jones’ comments were so vile that even some of his fellow Democrats agree he must resign.
Trump branded Jones as another “Radical Left Lunatic” after it was reported Jones texted he would put “two bullets to the head” of Todd Gilbert, the former Republican speaker of Old Dominion’s House of Delegates, back in 2022; Jones said he would shoot Gilbert twice rather than use them on Adolf Hitler or Pol Pot. Jones accidentally sent the texts to a Republican colleague, Carrie Coyner, but even after realizing his mistake, he doubled down, saying he would go to Gilber’s funeral just to “piss” on his grave.
Here is what President Trump had to say about it on Sunday:
It has just come out that the Radical Left Lunatic, Jay Jones, who is running against Jason Miyares, the GREAT Attorney General in Virginia, made SICK and DEMENTED jokes, if they were jokes at all, which were not funny, and that he wrote down and sent around to people, concerning the murdering of a Republican Legislator, his wife, and their children. Abigail Spanberger, who is running for Governor, is weak and ineffective, and refuses to acknowledge what this Lunatic has done. Even Democrats are saying it is “RESIGNATION FROM CAMPAIGN” TERRITORY. Democrat Jay Jones should drop out of the Race, IMMEDIATELY, and the People of Virginia must continue to have a GREAT Attorney General in Jason Miyares who, by the way, has my Complete and Total Endorsement — JASON WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!
President Trump’s response comes two days after National Review’s Audrey Fahlberg reported the scoop about Jones’ text messages.
Fahlberg reported that, in a subsequent call between Jones and Coyner that Jones reportedly “doubled down on the call, saying the only way public policy changes is when policymakers feel pain themselves, like the pain that parents feel when they watch their children die from gun violence. He asked her to provide counterexamples to disprove his claim.”
“At one point,” reported Fahlberg, “he suggested he wished Gilbert’s wife could watch her own child die in her arms so that Gilbert might reconsider his political views, prompting Coyner to hang up the phone in disgust.”
After the National Review story went live, Jones issued the following statement acknowledging the authenticity of the texts and blaming his opponent, incumbent Republican Jason Miyares, for their publication.
“Like all people, I’ve sent text messages that I regret and I believe that violent rhetoric has no place in our politics,” began Jones. “Let’s be clear about what is happening in the Attorney General race right now: Jason Miyares is dropping smears through Trump-controlled media organizations to assault my character and rescue his desperate campaign. This is a strategy that ensures Jason Miyares will continue to be accountable to Donald Trump, not the people of Virginia. This race is about whether Trump can control Virginia or Virginians control Virginia.”
While the president said Democrats are calling for Jones to resign, the New York Post on Sunday reported local Dems in Virginia are “shamelessly” standing by him.
Issac Schoor contributed to this story.
The post ‘SICK and DEMENTED!’ Trump Demands Virginia Democrat Quit State AG Race After Fantasizing About Shooting GOP Lawmaker first appeared on Mediaite.
