‘Stop the Squeal!’ Jim Acosta Praises ‘Peaceful Transfer of Power’ After VA Election, Scolds GOP to Stop ‘Hysteria’ Over Stolen Elections

CNN’s Jim Acosta praised the “peaceful transfer of power” that occurred after Republican Glenn Youngkin’s victory over Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the Virginia gubernatorial race, and called on Republicans to stop promoting “hysteria” over stolen elections.

“Did you notice the peaceful transfer of power at the Capitol this past week?” said Acosta to begin the segment. “No, not in Washington, I’m talking about the capitol 109 miles away in Richmond, Virginia.”

Acosta played a clip of Youngkin meeting with the state’s current governor, Democrat Ralph Northam, with Youngkin praising Northam’s “willingness to be so helpful as we head towards this next stage in Virginia’s future.”

“Now that’s how it should be done,” Acosta said approvingly.

However, he continued, it does “make you wonder” what would have happened if Youngkin had lost, mentioning how former President Donald Trump told his supporters the day before the election that “they must get out and vote because of the, quote, margin of fraud in Virginia,” and similar comments by Steve Bannon, who claimed Democrats were trying to steal the election.

Fox News, said Acosta, had been “totally irresponsible” about the Virginia election, playing a clip of Newt Gingrich saying that Republicans “can’t afford to have a really tight election” and had to “win by a big enough margin that you can’t steal it.”

Acosta also took a swipe at Tucker Carlson for “suggesting that the fix was in,” playing a video of the Fox News host complaining about Fairfax County having a delay in reporting their vote totals to rescan the ballots. “Trying to figure out how many votes they need apparently, just kidding,” says Carlson in the clip.

“Tucker’s always just kidding or asking questions,” said Acosta drily. “If you adjust your tinfoil hat just right, he sounds very sincere.”

“But the usual bad faith actors on Fox were just amplifying the far more volatile rhetoric in other corners of right-wing media in days leading up to the election,” he continued, cuing up several clips of conservative talk radio host John Fredericks and his guests “whipping up plenty of hysteria,” claiming that the Democrats were “going to try to steal” the Virginia election.

“But the Democrats didn’t steal it in Virginia,” said Acosta. “They lost. And then they conceded.”

The CNN host noted McAuliffe had released a statement congratulating Youngkin on his victory:

He didn’t act like a sore loser. He didn’t call for an insurrection…And now the peaceful transfer of power in Richmond is well underway. There was no riot in Richmond, thank goodness, right? As a Virginia kid, I was pretty happy about that.

But where would we be if Youngkin had lost? It’s hard to say. Maybe it would’ve been just fine. We’ll never know.

Incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) had won reelection by about the same margin that the Republican Youngkin had, Acosta pointed out, but his Republican challenger had yet to concede.

“Our democracy is in big trouble if only one of our two major political parties accepts the election results when they win,” said Acosta, adding that the “one lesson” that stuck with him was that our system of government “while far from perfect, worked pretty well last week, despite what happened back in January,” so “perhaps some in the MAGA movement and on Fox can now have a little more faith in their fellow Americans and in our democracy.”

“Enough with this ‘stop the steal’ nonsense,” Acosta concluded. “If you win, great. If you lose, move on, please! No more whining, no more sore losers, no more lies. Just stop the squeal!”

Watch the video above, via CNN.