On January 22, 2026, X user LHGrey (@grey4626), a self-described artist, writer, and forensic psychology expert, posted a lengthy thread titled "VIRGINIA'S DESCENT INTO HELL: DEMOCRATS' 2026 LEGISLATIVE ABOMINATION UNMASKED."
Under former CIA officer now Governor Abigail Spanberger, Democrats control the General Assembly, enabling what the author portrays as a radical legislative assault on liberty, elections, and societal norms. The thread frames these actions as a deliberate authoritarian strategy, drawing parallels to historical regimes like Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and Venezuela.
The author begins with a dire warning, arguing that the 2026 session's bills represent "psychological warfare" to erode sovereignty and entrench one-party rule. Categorized into sections, the thread dissects alleged proposals bill-by-bill, emphasizing themes of chaos induction and state dependency.
In the "ETERNAL ELECTION RIGGING" section, the author claims Democrats aim to fortify electoral fraud. Key bills include HB111 (banning voter roll cleanups), HB968 (criminalizing hand-counting), HB773 and HB82 (extending mail-in ballot counting), HB493 (legalizing internet voting), HB965 (joining the National Popular Vote Compact), and others like HB964, HB963, and HB1014 (restoring felon voting rights). HJ4 allegedly gerrymanders districts, while HB967 creates a state Voting Rights Act. The author likens this to Soviet-style vote manufacturing, psychologically inducing voter helplessness.
The "CRIMINAL CODDLING" category accuses Democrats of unleashing predators. Bills such as HB863 (abolishing mandatory minimums for serious crimes), HB357 (easing bail), HB853 (parole for violent offenders), HB244 (slashing robbery penalties), and HB1070 (barring prior conviction mentions in trials) are cited as inverting justice, fostering chaos akin to Weimar Germany's collapse.
Gun control is dubbed "SECOND AMENDMENT SLAUGHTER," with HB217 (assault weapons ban), HB21 and SB27 (manufacturer liability), HB1094 (11% excise tax on guns/ammo), HB207 ($500 suppressor tax), HB1359 (purchase licensing), HB1015 (stripping rights for misdemeanor hate crimes), and HB969 (funding a gun control center). The author views this as subjugation, echoing tyrannical disarmaments.
"TAX RAPE AND WEALTH EXTERMINATION" details economic burdens: SB730, HB1179, HB900, and HB978 (new sales taxes on services), HB1074, HB979, and HB378 (millionaire surtaxes), HB334 and SB66 (local sales tax hikes), and HB61 (racial/gender preferences in contracts). This is portrayed as Marxist redistribution fueling resentment.
Finally, "CULTURAL MARXISM AND WOKE TYRANNY" lists HB1245 (funding transgender surgeries), HB1374 and HB22 (punishing VMI for resisting DEI), HB333 (mandating Jan. 6 education), HB1314 (ending police immunity), and bills shielding immigrants or unionizing workers. The author invokes Gramsci's institutional capture.
Analytically, the thread employs forensic psychology insights—grooming, learned helplessness—to depict Democrats as "precise predators." While unsubstantiated here, these claims reflect post-election conservative fears in a flipped Virginia. If enacted, they could spark resistance, as the author warns of civil war. This thread encapsulates polarized discourse, urging vigilance beyond state lines.
Love him or hate him for being a Republican, former Governor Glenn Youngkin’s ‘Common Sense’ legacy didn’t take long to decimate. This is a warning to Donald J Trump and the Republican controlled congress of Speaker Johnson and Majority Leader Thune, that they too can have executive orders washed away with a new opposition party in control.
Editorial comments expressed in this column are the sole opinion of the writer
>Bans future attempts to clean up voter rolls (HB111) >Makes it illegal for state agencies distributing federal dollars to NGOs to investigate whether they're engaged in fraud (HB1369) >Makes it illegal to hand-count ballots (HB968) >Allows mail-in ballots to be counted one week after election day (HB773) >Allows for absentee ballots to be received and counted for three days after election day (HB82) >Gerrymanders the state with a 10-1 or 9-2 Democrat Congressional map (HJ4) >Creates a state-level equivalent of the VRA (HB967) >Eliminates the requirement that large last-minute campaign contributions have to be publicly reported at least 24 hours before election day (HB1348) >Removes the State Board of Elections' ability to dispatch law enforcement officers to collect vote tallies from a locality that refuses to publish them (HB1321) >Joins the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact for allocating Virginia's electoral college votes in presidential elections (HB965) >Automatic restoration of voting rights for felons after they're released from prison and the mentally handicapped (HB964, HB963, & HB1014) >Allows for votes to be cast "electronically through the internet" (HB493) >Public funding of political campaigns at the local level (HB162) >Abolishes all mandatory minimum sentencing for rape, manslaughter, assaulting a law enforcement officer, possession and distribution of child pornography, and all repeat violent felonies (HB863) >Makes it harder for judges to deny bail, even in the case of things like aggravated assault, armed robbery, and drug trafficking (HB357) >Gives convicted murderers, rapists, and terrorists a chance to get out of prison early (HB853) >Drastically reduces the criminal penalty for robbery (HB244) >Bars prosecutors from mentioning a criminal's prior convictions during the guilt phase of a trial, even if it's for the same crime (HB1070) >Transfers the Department of Juvenile Justice from the Secretary of Public Safety's purview to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (SB21) >Reduces the amount of time that the Commonwealth can compel a convicted criminal to pay court fees from 60 years to 10 (SB180) >Taxpayer funding for transgender surgeries (HB1245) >Bans most discretionary state contracting under $100K from going to businesses owned by White men and allows state agencies to award contracts to women or minority-owned firms that are 5% more expensive than a bid from a business owned by a White man (HB61) >Punishes VMI for adopting an anti-DEI stance (HB1374 & HB22) >Abolishes all Confederate-themed license plates (HB1344) >Eliminates the tax-exempt status for all Confederate history groups (HB167) >Renames Columbus Day to "Indigenous Peoples Day." (HB858) >Makes it illegal to approach within 8ft of somebody within 40 feet of an abortion clinic (SB137) >Enshrines a Leftist narrative about January 6 and teaches it in public schools (HB333) >Allows localities to adopt rent control measures (HB1177) >Increases the sales tax in Northern Virginia, adds an additional sales tax for home deliveries, raises the car tax for electric vehicles, and imposes new sales taxes for streaming services, concerts, gym memberships, nail salons, barber shops, tanning beds, tatoo parlors, dry cleaners, shoe repairs, carpentry, painting, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, landscaping, and housekeeping work for homes, swimming pool maintenance, travel agencies, and shipping services (SB730, HB1179, HB900 & HB978) >Creates a new tourism tax on event entrance fees (HB550) >Raises the hotel tax in Arlington (HB524) >Imposes a new 7.75% tax on incomes over $1 Million (HB1074) >Creates two new tax brackets, one over $600K at 8% and another over $1 Million at 10% (HB979) >Imposes a 3.8% investment tax on top of state income taxes (HB378) >Allows every locality to raise the state sales tax by 1% (HB334 & SB66) >Raises the sales tax for Stafford County (HB1000) >Rounds up all state and local taxes by the nearest 5-cent increment (HB954) >Allows localities to outlaw gas-powered leaf blowers (HB881) >Imposes a new personal property tax on electric-powered lawn equipment (HB557) >Limits the ability to use self-driving or autonomous vehicles (HB1124) >Allows state and local government to implement traffic and speed cameras (HB1330 & HB994) >Puts speed cameras on state highways (HB1220) >Requiring a license to buy a firearm (HB1359) >"Assault weapons" ban (HB217) >Strips gun rights from anyone convicted of a misdemeanor "hate crime" (HB1015) >Making it illegal to shoot a firearm on lot sizes less than 5 acres (HB926) >Expands "gun-free zones" (HB626) >Shrinks concealed-carry reciprocity with other states (HB24) >Holds firearm manufacturers liable for gun deaths (HB21 & SB27) >Imposes an 11% sales tax on all firearms and ammunition (HB1094) >Imposes a $500 sales tax on firearm suppressors (HB207) >Drastically raises the physical requirements to operate a firearms store (HB907) >Makes it harder to obtain a concealed carry permit (HB916) >Creates a new taxpayer-funded state propaganda "center" for the sole purpose of promoting gun control (HB969) >Ends qualified immunity for police (HB 1314) >Targets ICE by banning the use of facial coverings by law enforcement officers (HB7) >Makes ICE agents liable for civil lawsuits filed by illegal aliens (HB1314) >Prohibits ICE from arresting illegal migrants outside of courthouses (HB1265) >Establishes a state propaganda commission to publicize the supposed negative impacts of ICE raids in Virginia (HB1264) >Creates a state-mandated playbook for how schools must respond to ICE showing up on their campus and bans school employees from assisting ICE (HB1260) >Unionizes government employees and gives them collective bargaining rights (HB1263) >Unlimited taxpayer-funded home purchases for government employees (HB164) >Preferential hiring in State government for Federal employees laid off by DOGE (HB494) >Defers property taxes for Federal employees during shutdowns (HB915) >Hikes Minimum Wage to $15/Hour (HB1) >Eliminates the minimum wage exemption for farm workers (HB20) >Mandates the hiring of a new bureaucratic position ("Career Coach") in every single public school (HB138) >Mandates "mental health screenings" for all public school students between 6th and 12th grade (HB355) >Drastically curtails home school and private school independence from the Virginia Department of Education (HB359) >Raises the salaries of school board chairs and vice-chairs (HB382) >Free public school education for illegal aliens (HB912) >Allows out-of-state Indian tribe members to receive in-state tuition (HB287) >Lets students graduate high school despite failing grades (SB147) >Eliminates nearly all academic benchmarks for college students to continue receiving financial aid (SB167) >Somali daycare fraud pilot program (HB259) >Expands the eminent domain powers of the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority (HB446) >Reclassifies Solar farms as an "agricultural operation", thus granting it protections under the Right to Farm law (HB1091) >More than triples financial penalties from the Department of Environmental Quality to comply with environmental regulations (HB1350) >Mandates all localities adopt an "environmental justice plan" (HB256) >Allocates $100 million in taxpayer funding for the production of "sustainable aviation fuel" (HB1230) >Eliminates the ability of a health insurance provider to charge a premium for smokers (HB220) >Adds a new insurance mandate to cover over-the-counter condoms (HB1182) >Mandates "unconscious racial bias" trainings for nurses to retain their license (SB22) > Bill to remove tax exemptions to any group associated with Confederate heritage (HB167) > Virginia Democratic state rep Jessica Anderson has introduced (HB1369), a one page bill that would ban VA from requiring nonprofits to verify whether people are eligible for certain federal taxpayer benefits.
