If the midterms prove anything, it’s that Trump’s election-denying strategy doesn’t work. It didn’t work in 2020 and is even less popular now. Across the board, election-denying Republicans lost their bids for office. The American people have spoken, and they’re tired of B.S.
Yes, Kari, you were right about one thing: We know B.S. when we see it.
But there is another reason Kari Lake, governor wannabe of Arizona, is barking up the wrong tree by claiming the election in Arizona was “botched.” Her misguided rhetoric has fueled a web of conspiracy theories throughout Arizona that caused several counties to postpone certification until the final deadline of Nov. 28.
Among the counties protesting the certification of the vote were Cochise County, Maricopa County, and Mohave County — all notably red counties. Despite the intense and often absurd rhetoric from angry protesters, which included promoting the idea that election officials in some counties were “traitors” and calling for the nullification of midterm results, election officials have now certified the results in all but one county: Cochise County. That’s a problem.
Bannon and QAnon pundits join Lake in claiming the AZ election was stolen
In the Trumpian tradition of shooting themselves in the foot, Cochise County Republicans are taking advice from Steve Bannon. On Nov. 14, Bannon asked a couple of QAnon-linked political quacks to weigh in on the governor’s race in Arizona. One of them, True the Vote co-founder Gregg Phillips, said he’d met with Kari Lake the night before and they had both agreed “‘… it’s time — now is the time to fight,’ adding that ‘we will not allow’ Democratic gubernatorial nominee and current Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs ‘to certify her own stolen election.’”
They conveniently forget that the secretary of state is responsible for certifying the election. That’s her job. They also seem unaware that failure to certify by the next deadline means that over 125,000 votes will not be counted. That’s not a successful strategy for a group claiming the goal of ensuring that every legal vote is counted.
The consequences of such a failure are dire, but only for Republicans. If predominantly red Cochise County is not included in the final count, it could flip a U.S. House seat and the state schools chief from Republican to Democrat.
This may seem like a long shot, but Kari Lake has Steve Bannon on her side in this political theater of the absurd. This team of political losers may not know what they’re doing, but they do it with confidence.
The irony is that Hobbs will likely save them from themselves.
Secretary of State Hobbs sues Cochise County for failure to certify election results
It’s one thing to delay certification to protest results — it’s another to fail to certify altogether.
According to Hobbs, if Cochise County fails to certify by the next deadline, “… the Secretary of State’s office won’t have a choice but to complete the canvass by Dec. 8 without the rural county’s votes.” That’s Arizona law. And unlike Steve Bannon, Kari Lake, and the conspiracy theorists at True the Vote, Katie Hobbs knows the law.
Katie Hobbs also wants every legal vote to be counted — she’s not just saying it because it sounds good. Hobbs is doing everything in her power to ensure Cochise County certifies its election even though she knows that throwing out those votes would likely mean a more significant lead in the gubernatorial race for her and the potential to flip both a House seat and a state office from Republican to Democrat.
As much as I admire Hobbs, a part of me wishes she’d leave the Republicans to their own devices. To turn an old expression on its head: With enemies like these, who needs friends?