I have written very little about the most frightening gubernatorial candidate this election cycle. Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania was terrible BUT I always saw him as a loser. Arizona is considerably redder than Pennsylvania and Kari Lake is a helluva campaigner as well as a wingnut firebrand. And that is why Scary Kari Lake is malaka of the week.

I wrote this post before the election was called for Katie Hobbs. I liked the first paragraph, so I left it intact, which is not a word I associate with Trumpism. Chaos is the secret word. It would have ensued if Scary Kari had triumphed. The voters did the sane and sensible thing in rejecting Scary Kari. Why is she so scary? She’s smarter than your average Trumper.

I saw Scary Kari interviewed on Showtime’s The Circus last month. Her language was extreme and inflammatory. I rewound it and watched her with the sound off. She looked plausible and charismatic. Her decades of experience as a broadcast journalist shone through. It’s why she won the Republican primary and came depressingly close to winning the general election.

It’s been a tough week for election deniers like Scary Kari. She delivers her scripted lines with absolute conviction, but does she believe her own rhetoric? I tend to be skeptical of people who are part of a movement built on lies. There’s also this NYT article describing who Lake was *before* becoming Scary Kari.

One longtime former co-worker in the television news business recalled that Kari Lake detested guns and practiced Buddhism. Another former local news anchor, Stephanie Angelo, who did not work with Ms. Lake but later became close friends with her, described Ms. Lake back then as “a free spirit” and “liberal to the core.”

 

“Her saying that abortion should be illegal — absolutely not,” Ms. Angelo said. “The Kari I knew would never have said that, and she wouldn’t have believed it either.”

That supports my cynical take on this so-called true believer.

I think Lake started off as an opportunist who jumped on the Trump crazy train and hoped to ride it into office. The more she repeated her “stop the steal” lies, the more she believed them. She’s not the first candidate to buy into their own rhetoric after months of repetition. Trump rallies can be invigorating if you go in for that sort of thing. Scary Kari and Leni Riefenstahl have a thing or three in common including flamboyant opportunism.

It’s uncertain if Scary Kari will accept the election results. The other day, she urged her supporters to protest outside the Maricopa County registrar’s office. The turnout was unimpressive compared to 2020. They’ve been riding this rigged election hobby horse for years now. It’s showing signs of breaking down after concessions from the likes of Mastriano and Oz. Isn’t it about time?

What’s next for Scary Kari Lake after losing? She worked for the local Fox outlet in Phoenix, so she might go national if Murdoch is still hiring fiery Trumpers. Lake has one thing going against her: she’s a brunette and Rupert likes blonds.

Here’s something for my New Orleans readers. Kari Lake is Helena Moreno’s evil political twin. Moreno used to be one of the lead anchors at WDSU-TV in New Orleans. She’s intelligent, telegenic, and the polar opposite of Kari Lake ideologically. Moreno is currently an at-large City Council member. She’s the frontrunner to replace the hapless Mayor Teedy at the next election. Helena good, Kari bad.

I’m glad sanity reigned in Arizona. Congratulations to Katie Hobbs for winning a race that was as tight as a tick. You didn’t think I’d get through an election post without using my favorite Ratherism, did you?

I suspect the GOP nominee has a few scares left in her. And that is why Kari Lake is malaka of the week.

I gave myself an earworm a few paragraphs back. The last word goes to Stephen Stills and Manassas.