The Arizona primary elections are just a week away, and Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is already making whine from sour grapes. During a speech to the North Valley Constitutional Republicans, she repeatedly claimed without evidence that the upcoming election was rigged, and not even in the good way, where she wins. No, it’s rigged in the un-American way where more people vote for the winner, who isn’t her.
I’m telling you right now, anybody trying to steal this, first of all, we’re already detecting some stealing going on, but you guys know I’m a fighter, right? We’re not gonna let them steal an election.
You read that correctly: Lake’s campaign is “detecting some stealing” going on in the election. That sounds like a crime! She should contact the proper authorities, but baseless slander at a campaign event is more fun, I guess.
PREVIOUSLY: Kari Lake’s Gonna Burn In The Arizona Sun Voting In Person Like Her Trump God Intended!
It’s usually losers like Donald Trump who set up stolen election narratives before all the votes have been cast. Based on which polls you believe, Lake is actually well ahead of Karrin Taylor Robson, the Republican establishment pick because while she’s also terrible she’s at least reasonably coherent. The Phoenix-based Data Orbital has Lake leading Robson 43.5 percent to 32.4 percent (11.8 percent are undecided divas). This is terrible news if you prefer Republican nominees who aren’t full-time residents of “The Twilight Zone.”
Robson’s campaign insists the race is still competitive according to an internal poll from Public Opinion Strategies, which shows Lake and Robson tied at 43 percent. It’s not encouraging if the best results from your internal poll is a tie. That’s like your mother telling prospective dates that you have a “great personality.” A Republican strategist, however, claims “POS is basically the gold standard” of polls. (Public Opinion Strategies might want to avoid abbreviations.)
Lake’s election theft rhetoric is especially inconvenient because this is the Republican primary, so she’s implying that her fellow Republicans would cheat their way into office with the help of Hugo Chavez’s ghost. Why would she do this if polling shows her in the lead?
Presumably, Lake is appeasing the mad MAGA king himself. Trump headlined a campaign rally for Lake last Friday, where he trashed outgoing Republican Gov. Doug Ducey.
“Your Governor Doug Ducey has done nothing to help absolutely nothing to help,” said Trump in front of adoring supporters who booed Ducey. “He’s all talk and no action and you’ll see what can happen when Kari Lake becomes governor.”
Ducey’s apparent lack of “action” was not helping Trump steal the election he lost. However, Ducey’s approval rating is about 43 percent among Arizona Republicans while Trump is at 77 percent. Trump’s former wingman and personal Judas Mike Pence appeared at a competing rally for Robson.
In Peoria, Pence called Robson the “clear conservative choice for Republicans in Arizona,” and he pointed out that during the 2016 election, Lake was an Obama supporter who had posted on Facebook that Trump and Pence’s inauguration day should be a national day of mourning and protest. He recalled that she had encouraged people to use the hashtag #NotMyPresident.
Lake has claimed she left the Republican Party in 2006 because of Iraq and Afghanistan. She voted for John Kerry in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008. She started down the MAGA path in 2012, though, just like many born again Trumpists. Pence is also not entirely honest about Lake’s seemingly anti-Trump Facebook post. She still worked in TV news at the time and was possibly pursuing a larger story, not expressing her personal political opinions.
It’s truly pathetic that the guy Trump almost got killed is arguing that a candidate doesn’t love Trump enough. Pence suggested that Lake had supported Hillary Clinton in 2016, and that really set off Lake, who called Pence a “liar” and said Clinton is “disgusting” and should be in prison, for … email-related felonies? Who even knows.
Next week’s primary results will disappoint either Trump or Pence. That’s probably the worst part about their split. You can’t hurt both of them at the same time.
[The Daily Beast / Arizona Republic]
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