Let me tell you why Missy Smasal, the supposed rising star of whatever’s left of the sane Democratic Party, won’t be getting my vote. It’s not that she’s a coward who wouldn’t share the stage with her fellow Democrat, Jake Denton, her primary opponent, offering no reason. No, that’s a mere appetizer in a buffet of political cowardice and hollow rhetoric.

She refused to offer a single, miserable, handshaking, fake-smiling appearance where the two of them could pretend to care about the poor bastards they’re supposed to represent. Instead, Missy hides out in rooms full of fat-cat donors, cozying up to high-profile endorsements that make her feel like a real contender. Missy spends her time with people who write checks, not with people who need change.

But let’s not stop there. Let’s talk about her so-called “qualifications”. She’s got a résumé that reads like a military recruiter’s wet dream: former Navy officer, former business owner, all-around overachiever. That’s all well and good if you’re looking to win a “Most Likely to Have Peaked in High School” award. But newsflash, Missy: your past doesn’t mean a damn thing in the present. Being a Navy veteran and a former business owner doesn’t automatically qualify you for the snake pit of Congress. It’s like saying you’re qualified to perform brain surgery because you once played Operation as a kid and didn’t buzz the nose.

Missy Smasal, the absentee candidate with a knack for vanishing when it matters most, was at it again. This time, she pulled her disappearing act at a June 28th news conference in Chesapeake, VA — a prime opportunity to show she’s got the guts to stand up to the bloated orange menace and his frothing horde of sycophants.

The event was packed with military veterans and the Democratic Party of Virginia, all rallying to counter the Trump circus. And there, right on the lineup, was Missy’s name, bold as brass, listed as a speaker.

But when the time came to take the stage, to speak out against the lunacy and defend whatever scraps of sanity we’ve got left in this country, where was Missy? Not in Chesapeake, that’s for sure. No, she pulled a classic Houdini, vanishing without a trace, leaving the crowd to wonder if she’d ever really intended to show up in the first place. No heads-up, no excuse, just a big, fat nothing. The silence was deafening, the absence glaring.

This is the real Missy Smasal, folks: a politician who talks a big game but won’t even show up when it counts – bailing on a critical moment to stand up to Trump and his band of merry fascists. It’s all well and good to boast about past accomplishments, to flash your Navy credentials and tout your business experience. But when it comes to the present, when it comes to showing up and doing the damn job, Missy is nowhere to be found.

And don’t get me started on the excuses—because there are none. No one was alerted, no reason was given. It’s almost as if she thinks she can just ghost her way into the United States Congress, relying on her past and her connections to other party politicians to carry her over the finish line. But this isn’t a beauty pageant where you win points for what you did a decade ago. This is a fight for the future of the country, and if you can’t even show up for a skirmish, you sure as hell won’t be there for the war.

The last thing we need in Congress is an absentee representative, hiding behind past glories and cozying up to party bigwigs while doing jack-all in the present. Missy Smasal has shown us exactly who she is: a candidate who won’t show up when it matters, who thinks she can coast on her résumé and her donor connections without ever having to do the work.

Well, I’m not buying it, and neither should you. We need fighters in Congress, not a ghost candidate who disappears when the heat’s on. Missy has already proven she’s not up to the task.

We deserve better and that sure as hell isn’t Missy Smasal.

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