Here’s a screenshot from a recent hostage video political message posted on Gov. Phil Scott’s non-governmental Facebook account. And if there was any doubt about whether Scott is first and foremost a political animal, this video should remove it entirely.

The video was posted on August 6, five days before the primary, and it’s a brazen invitation for Republicans to vote in the Democratic primary. Specifically, Scott wanted Republican voters to tip the scales in the primaries for Chittenden County State’s Attorney and Sheriff. He openly supported Bram Kranichfeld’s bid to unseat incumbent Sarah Fair George (and let’s not forget that she would never have been chief county prosecutor if not for the fact that Scott himself appointed her, pause for ironic laughter), and incumbent Sheriff Dan Gamelin over challenger Kevin Bloom.

This is beyond the pale. It’s blatant meddling in Democratic Party affairs. I can’t say I’m ever surprised anymore at what our media fails to cover because there’s so goddamn much they don’t cover, but this ought to have been a big story before primary day. It should still be a big story.

I must acknowledge that I didn’t hear about it until today, when I listened to this week’s edition of “There’s No ‘A’ in Creemee,” the podcast co-hosted by Joanna Grossman and Andy Julow. (I don’t follow the governor’s Facebook feed, sue me.) They start discussing the Scott video at the 18-minute mark, for those with short attention spans.

Partial transcript of the Phil Scott video, annotated below.

We have open primaries in Vermont, which means you can vote in either the Democrat or the Republican election. I think having truly independent Vermonters vote too will lead to more mainstream, more middle-of-the-road choices in November.

Let me give you a couple of examples of why voting in this primary is so important: The Chittenden County state’s attorney and sheriff races. In all reality, whoever wins the Democratic primary will win the general election. Right now, there are no other candidates running. These races are consequential for public safety issues, and unfortunately, may be decided by just a handful of primary voters — if you don’t show up to vote.

So regardless of whether you’re a Democrat, Republican or independent, you need to vote on August 11th. And if I’m not on the ballot you choose, you can always write me in.

Lot to unpack there. Aside from the main point, that Scott has no business trying to influence Democratic primaries, the thing that jumped out at me was his self-appointment as the guiding light of “more mainstream, more middle-of-the-road choices.” I mean, good God, this is the guy who spent the last two election cycles endorsing every right-wing extremist who could help advance his fiscally conservative policies. To be fair, he had no choice but to endorse a bunch of wingnuts because his Vermont Republican Party has been taken captive by the far right.

And for much of his tenure, he has never lifted a finger to try to change that. He has completely failed to raise up a generation of Republicans in his own image. After distancing himself from the party during his early years as governor, he backed Michael Donohue for party chair in 2020 only to see him lose to wingnut incumbent Deb Billado. After that, he again stayed out of party affairs, although he did start endorsing wingnuts by the dozen in an effort to kill the Democrats’ legislative supermajorities.

To recap, Phil Scott doesn’t give a tinker’s damn about advancing “more mainstream, middle of the road choices” except when it comes to the Vermont Democratic Party.

Besides that, he is again putting the public safety issue entirely on reformers like State’s Attorney Sarah Fair George when, in fact, Burlington’s problems are duplicated in every corner of the state. Scott has demagogued officeholders with progressive views on law enforcement and criminal justice, which is a great way to deflect responsibility from himself and his administration. Issues like homelessness, substance use, and vandalism are on the very long list of problems that have gotten worse across the state during Scott’s governorship. Better to blame local officeholders, especially those with left-of-center views.

Speaking of progressive, that’s a word conspicuously absent from the governor’s video. It’s kind of like his talk of “working across the aisle” (implied binary) as a tacit denial that Vermont’s third biggest party actually exists.

Scott also employs “Democrat” instead of the correct “Democratic.” “Democrat” is a Republican creation that’s meant to subtly undermine their opposition. If he’s such a good moderate, the governor should stop saying “Democrat.”

Now, let’s consider his subtle acknowledgment of his own party’s failings. George and Gamelin are virtually certain to win in November because ” there are no other candidates running.” Well, whose fault is that?

Why, it’s the Vermont Republican Party’s fault. The VTGOP has routinely failed to promote candidates for office in Democratic areas and on the statewide ballot. The Chittenden County Republican Committee could have identified candidates for sheriff and state’s attorney but did not. It conceded the November result before the first shot was fired.

Finally, the thing about “you can always write me in” just grinds my gears. I guess he thinks he’s that irreplaceable, that big of an electoral draw, that people who might otherwise take advantage of our open primary by grabbing a Democratic ballot might be put off by the loss of a chance to support Phil Scott. Plus, extra bonus, a significant write-in tally for Scott would add to his precious image as a nonpartisan, across-the-aisle kind of guy. Even if it’s Republicans who wrote him in.

We don’t know how many Chittenden Republicans took his advice and voted in the Democratic Party. Grossman and Julow did note a pretty large drop in Republican primary votes in the Chittenden Southeast Senate district from 2024 to 2026, but it’s not certain if those lost Republicans took Scott’s advice and it’s unclear whether a larger trend was at work. This kind of tactical voting is a popular topic among the talking head fraternity, but it tends to not work very well in real life.

In the end, Scott’s grand strategery didn’t make a difference in his two spotlighted races. Gamelin won in a walk. George beat Kranichfeld by a close margin, but not that close. Unofficial results give her a 3.1 percentage point edge over her opponent.

Still, the governor should be called to account for his meddling. How would he feel if, say, U.S. Rep. Becca Balint told Democratic voters to pick up a Republican ballot and vote for the possibly rabid Mark Coester over the somewhat more rational Gerald Malloy? Or if statewide officeholders like Charity Clark or Mike Pieciak had urged supporters to take Republican ballots and write in their names in a bid to usurp the Republican nomination? I think Scott would have cried foul. I’m even more certain that the Vermont Republican Party would have raised a stink.

Well, let’s put some well-deserved stink on Phil Scott, who ought to butt out of Democratic politics.