Thread by @Monaheart1229

Northam is scheduled to have a press conference at 2:30 ET today, he's said that he will NOT be resigning. He's acting like a member of the GOP, and that is the worst possible thing he could do. #NorthamResign #SaturdayThoughts
nytimes.com/2019/02/02/us/…

2-"Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia, facing intense pressure to resign from fellow Democrats after admitting that he posed for a photo in a racist costume as a medical student more than 30 years ago, was calling state Democrats on Saturday to say he did not think it was him in the

3-"picture and that he would not resign. Mr. Northam, who apologized on Friday night, was increasingly isolated, but in phone calls on Saturday morning he said he had no recollection of the yearbook image of two men, one in blackface and the other in Ku Klux Klan robes.

4-"Late Saturday morning, his office announced that he would provide a statement to the news media at 2:30 p.m. In addition to calling state Democratic officials, Mr. Northam has been calling former classmates at Eastern Virginia Medical School in an effort to determine more

5-"information about the picture — and to survive a crisis that is threatening his year-old governorship. With the governor and his top advisers gathered in the executive residence next to the State Capitol in Richmond, the Democrat familiar with Mr. Northam’s calls said the

6-"governor was determined to prove it was not him in the photograph and was even considering using facial recognition software. The governor, this Democrat said, wanted to take responsibility on Friday night, which was why he apologized for appearing in the picture without

7-"acknowledging which person he was in the image. But most Virginia Democratic leaders said privately that he would still have little choice but to quit because he had lost support from nearly all his allies in the State Capitol. On Friday, the state Legislative Black Caucus

8-"and both the House and Senate Democratic caucuses called on him to step down. At first the black caucus, a strong ally of Mr. Northam, who was elected in 2017, held off. But after an emotional meeting with the governor Friday evening, the caucus said in a statement,

9-"“It is clear he can no longer effectively serve as governor.” The statement prompted others to call for resignation. Among them were former Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Mayor Levar Stoney of Richmond, both longtime allies of the governor, who spoke with him by phone before

10-"issuing their statements. If he steps down, Mr. Northam would be the first Virginia governor to resign since at least the Civil War. Under the Virginia Constitution, Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairfax, a Democrat and the second black person to be elected to statewide office in

11-"Virginia, would assume the governorship. Mr. Northam’s overnight political implosion began with the surfacing of a photograph from 1984 in his Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook, showing Mr. Northam and another man, one in blackface and the other in white Ku Klux Klan

12-"robes. The governor, in issuing his apology, did not say which costume he had worn, but offered his “absolute commitment to living up to the expectations Virginians set for me when they elected me to be their governor.” With African-American voters a crucial constituency for

13-"national Democrats, many of the announced and likely 2020 presidential candidates called for Mr. Northam’s exit. On Friday, they included Senators Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.

14-"By Saturday, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. added their voices. “There is no place for racism in America,” Mr. Biden tweeted. “Governor Northam has lost all moral authority and should resign immediately, Justin Fairfax is

15-"the leader Virginia needs now.” Other official or potential Democratic candidates who called for Mr. Northam’s resignation included Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio; Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; and Julián Castro, the former housing secretary and former mayor of

16-"San Antonio. The controversy was the latest agony over race to befall Virginia, a state that in modern times often seemed to have moved beyond its 400 years of slavery and a 20th-century embrace of segregation, only to be painfully reminded that the past isn’t always past.

17-"Mr. Fairfax stepped off the rostrum of the State Senate last month to protest lawmakers honoring Robert E. Lee. While running for governor, Mr. Northam learned his ancestors had been slave owners. “My family’s complicated story is similar to Virginia’s complex history,” he

18-"told The Richmond Times-Dispatch. And in 2017 white supremacists carrying torches marched in Charlottesville, prompting President Trump to say there were “fine people” on both sides. Some Democrats initially expressed optimism that Mr. Northam could remain governor.

19-"By nightfall, though, there was mounting certainty that the costume picture, as well as the surfacing of an earlier yearbook that revealed that Mr. Northam was nicknamed “Coonman,” a racial slur, as an undergraduate, would leave Mr. Northam crippled. “Virginia has a

20-"particularly sordid history with racism from the first enslaved Africans on our shores, to the capital of the Confederacy to massive resistance to the struggles African-American Virginians face today,” Representative A. Donald McEachin, Democrat of Virginia, said in a

21-"statement on Friday. “In light of that stain on our Commonwealth and the work that still needs to be done, I ask the governor to step aside,” Mr. McEachin, who represents Richmond, added. “While I acknowledge his efforts on behalf of all Virginians and the good he has done as

22-"a senator, as our lieutenant governor and now as governor, Virginians have too much to overcome and too much healing yet in front of us.” ~NYT, 2/2/19

23-You know, that this info took such a long time to come out is highly suspicious & there are a # of theories as to why. Just fyi: this is the sort of thing that Roger Stone is known for doing, & the GOP are going to gun for our party in many ways from this point on. Heads up!