The former Virginia governor is tweeting about gators.

/ Twitter

Virginia’s former Governor Terry McAuliffe tweeted a photo of a triumphant crab on top of an albino alligator with the crab captioned “Terry McAuliffe” and the gator tagged as “Donald Trump.”

What does it all mean?

It seems like we’ve got our gajillionith Democratic presidential candidate. (Okay, fine, there are 18 announced so far with more in the wings). But McAuliffe is likely the biggest contender from the D.C. region—he lives in McLean, Virginia.

While McAuliffe has announced his support of Medicare for All, he says that a federal jobs guarantee and universal free college are “idealistic but unrealistic policies” in a recent Washington Post op-ed. He would likely run on his record of jump-starting Virginia’s economy. McAuliffe has a long history as a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee and presidents like Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

Which brings us to the alligator. It’s an oft-told tale from McAuliffe’s origin story.

While raising money for Carter’s 1980 campaign, McAuliffe asked for $15,000 from the Seminole tribe in Florida. Here’s McAuliffe in a 2014 profile:

Chief James Billie told him, ”Ok, Terry. I’ll give you the fifteen grand, but you have to take part in an ancient tribal custom.’

“I thought we were going to smoke a peace pipe or something. But he wanted me to wrestle an alligator.”

The story made national news, and McAuliffe was on the cover of Newsweek. Prior to the three-minute match, Chief Billie, who now wears one of his thumbs on a necklace around his neck (alligator incident), gave McAuliffe a tutorial on best practices.

“Had to do it,” McAuliffe says. “No question. I made a commitment and couldn’t walk away from it—couldn’t do it. It’s not my nature. Once I say I’m going to do something I do it. If you don’t have your word you’ve got nothing.”

An alligator’s tail is very powerful. “The tail can snap your vertebrae. But (an alligator) also has very weak muscles to open their mouths, so you straddle it and hold his mouth shut as he’s trying to twist you off so he can bite you,” McAuliffe says.

Three minutes later: “Did that, got the $15,000, went out and had a great time in Miami. I’ll do anything once, not twice,” McAuliffe says.

And he appears to be riding this wave.

McAuliffe says he is “close” to making his decision on whether to run for president. At a construction trade union event this week, he made this point:

“Of all the candidates running, how many have actually wrestled a 280-pound, 8-foot alligator for a political contribution for $15,000?” McAuliffe said. “How many? I’m your man, folks. Nobody else can do it. If I can wrestle an alligator, I can sure as hell wrestle Donald Trump, boy, and that would be worth it. And you’d pay money to watch that debate!”

https://twitter.com/TerryMcAuliffe/status/1116341318387736576

This isn’t the first time McAuliffe said he’d get down and dirty with Trump.

After the 2016 presidential debate where Trump hovered behind Hillary Clinton, McAuliffe told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews he wouldn’t stand for it: “Listen, this guy got in my space, you want to get in my space, I’ve always said, Chris, you punch me, I’m gonna punch you back twice as hard. And it wouldn’t be hard to do it.”

McAuliffe even included an alligator in his gubernatorial portrait.

https://twitter.com/JWPascale/status/951459024809144322

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