Thursday, February 1st, 2024
ARIZONA -– This special edition of The Lake Tapes looks at the last week of Kari Lake’s nightmare Senate campaign that “[upended the] Arizona GOP” and turned the state party into an “absolute clown show.”
Kari Lake’s actions last week sparked a new wave of concerns from Republicans about the viability of her Senate candidacy, pointing out that if Lake wants to “appeal to a broader audience and more of the moderate, centrist Republicans […] this isn’t the way to do it,” and “Kari is toast.”
Kari Lake’s “absolute clown show” week culminated in Kari Lake receiving “boos” and “jeers” from the AZ GOP rank and file at their state committee meeting.
Roll the tape on the past week of Kari Lake’s nightmare Senate campaign…
Jake Tapper: “It’s The Godfather, Arizona politics edition…”
Fredricka Whitfield: “Ok! Lots of scandal here!”
Dan Abrams: “In the audio, it sounds like conversation straight out of House of Cards!”
Kyung Lah: “So wipe the mud off your screen everybody!”
Kari Lake: “I’m going to be the biggest fucking pain in these people’s ass. Go back and tell them that. I’m running and I’m going to be the biggest pain in their fucking ass.”
Fredricka Whitfield: “After leaked audio surfaced of former chairman Jeff DeWit trying to convince Kari Lake not to run for the U.S. Senate seat.”
Rachel Maddow: “She contends that the then party chairman tried to bribe her to stay out of Arizona’s Senate race this year. He says that he resigned because she’s threatening to release ostensibly more damning recordings if he didn’t resign.”
Vaughn Hillyard: “Campaign all but blackmailed him into this resignation.”
Ron Hansen: “Sort of a mess. It feels like the Republican Party is struggling to get on the same page.”
Video: Kari Lake receiving boos at the Arizona Republican state committee meeting.
John David Hayworth, Jr.: “That now Arizona politics will have a section all its own akin to the Florida Man stories.”
Rich Lowry: “He’s right. She threw away a totally winnable gubernatorial race with pretty high stakes on policy in Arizona.”
Ron Hansen: “The party seems to be sort of in chaos.”
John David Hayworth, Jr.: “Not good for the party.”
Video: Kari Lake receiving boos at the Arizona Republican state committee meeting.
Dan Abrams: “I mean, this is nuts.”
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