Get ready for the stupidest things you’ll hear all day…
The Republican Party is officially backing Kari Lake in Arizona’s highly competitive U.S. Senate race this year.
After months of running a charm offensive to mixed results, Lake impressed party officials and donors at the National Republican Senate Committee’s winter meeting at The Breakers luxury resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
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Politico reports Lake, despite her antagonistic history, stressed her apparent desire to unify the party and reach out to those whom she’s alienated. The NRSC endorsed her on Tuesday, gifting the gubernatorial loser party resources in her latest political quest.
“Kari Lake is one of the most talented candidates in the country,” said Montana Sen. and NRSC head Steve Daines.
That’s a description that some Arizona Republicans may disagree with. For months, Lake has struggled to mend relationships she napalmed as a conspiracy-obsessed gubernatorial candidate in 2022.
One GOP official told the Arizona Republic Lake’s “charm offensive has turned out to be offensive with no charm.”
Former U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon, whom Lake accused of being “OK with special needs kids being raped” after he opposed her plan to install cameras in school bathrooms, told The Washington Post he would never help her.
“She employs the politics of personal destruction, and she’ll say anything — the most vile things in the world — to get ahead. And I’m sorry, I just can’t forget that,” he said.
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Just last month, Lake seemingly blackmailed former Arizona GOP chairman Jeff DeWit into resigning from his post. A 10-minute recording of a conversation between Lake and DeWit, in which he tries to convince her to drop out, mysteriously leaked.
DeWit told Lake there are “very powerful people” opposed to her, and asked whether she would consider accepting payment to withdraw. He says Lake told him another “damaging tape” would leak if he stayed in his role.
“I received an ultimatum from Lake’s team: resign today or face the release of a new, more damaging recording,” he said in a statement, per the New York Times.
But at the NRSC retreat, Lake apparently assuaged concerns about her combative and conniving ways. She’s credited with hiring professional consultants, and downplaying election conspiracies (Lake lost the gubernatorial race to Democrat Katie Hobbs by more than 17,000 votes, and still hasn’t conceded).
However, Lake may be avoiding election conspiracies out of legal necessity.
Much like her idol Donald Trump, legal issues are piling up for the MAGA anti-drag queen. She’s being sued for defamation by one of Maricopa County’s top elections officials, after she falsely accused him of tampering with the 2022 gubernatorial election results.
Lake has lost every court case related to the 2022 election, and the State Bar of Arizona is proceeding with cases against her attorneys.
Senate Democrats, for one, say they’re pleased to see their Republican colleagues rally around the former newscaster.
“We’re thrilled by the NRSC’s choice to endorse Kari Lake. She’s an election loser despised by Arizona Republicans, and brings massive baggage and disqualifying flaws to the campaign,” the DSCC posted on social media.
“Lake is the perfect candidate – to lose the race.”
While Lake says she’s interested in unifying Republicans, she’s definitely not looking to unify the country. She attended the Super Bowl Sunday in Las Vegas, and took her culture wars right to Allegiant Stadium.
“The Star-Spangled Banner” and “Black National Anthem” were performed before the big game. Can you guess which song Lake ripped on social media?
The obvious answer is… correct!
The last time Republicans supported Lake, it ended disastrously. Even though the Republican Governors Association funneled millions of dollars to her losing campaign, she still attacked outgoing Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and walked out of a RGA conference to attend an event hosted by pillow magnet/conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell.
In a sign that Lake isn’t actually looking to moderate, she’s hired a Christian nationalist as campaign chair. Floyd Brown is a far-right operative who wants Christians to take over America, and the proprietor of racist attack ads.
One of his groups, for example, released an attack ad on Barack Obama falsely claiming he was registered as a Muslim student in Indonesia.
Once a reliable red state, Arizona is now purple, with a Democratic governor and one Democratic senator (Kyrsten Sinema switched her registration to “Independent” last year.) The 2024 senate race promises to be one of the most competitive in the country.
The likely Democratic nominee, Rep. Ruben Gallego, is out-fundraising Lake. Sinema’s entrance into the race could complicate matters as well.
Politico reports Senate Republicans view Lake’s nomination as inevitable, which might be the real reason why they’re rallying around her now: they’re out of options.
But hey, Republicans have nothing to worry about. Lake is a changed woman.
She’s now cool, calm and collected. You know, a real unifier!
Err… never mind!
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