Politico: “Donald Trump’s proclamation that he’d ‘soon’ visit Virginia as the state’s gubernatorial race comes to a close was so unexpected that few outside his inner orbit knew it was coming and the Republican candidate’s own campaign was left searching for details. Aides to Glenn Youngkin, who is in the last week of a tight race against Democrat Terry McAuliffe, said they were caught off guard by the former president’s Wednesday afternoon statement. Trump confidants, meanwhile, were initially coy about whether he was being serious, with staff noting his penchant for mischief-making and trolling by tweet. Within a few hours, there was some clarity. Trump wasn’t actually planning to stop in the commonwealth, at least not imminently, according to aides.”

“A late appearance by Trump in Virginia would be a gift to McAuliffe, a disruption for Youngkin and a final test of how both campaigns have tried to navigate Trump and his polarizing powers. That would have been especially true if Trump had gone to Arlington – which his statement said would be the site of his stop – a place where he won the same percentage of the vote in 2020 as liberal Portland, Ore. In the end, however, a swing through Virginia won’t come before the votes are cast. And critics of Trump said they suspected he wasn’t visiting precisely so that he could take credit after the fact for a Youngkin win or play Monday morning quarterback should Youngkin lose. ‘He wants to have the ability to call himself the winner no matter what happens, so staying away preserves all his options in the aftermath,’ said Tucker Martin, a former GOP consultant in Virginia.”