Krysten Sinema Leaves Democratic Party

[lpetrich]

Kyrsten Sinema's campaign spending report includes a Saudi hotel and Taylor Swift merch - Feb. 3, 2025, 12:17 PM PST

Of the almost $700,000 Sinema’s campaign reported spending in the final three months of 2024, about one-tenth was spent on “lodging,” including more than $20,000 at the swanky Le Méridien in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Another $756 went to a limited liability company linked to Marriott operating in the country, according to her campaign finance filing. The filing shows Sinema's campaign spent $4,000 more on car services to two foreign companies, one in London and one in Paris, although it’s unclear where the services were incurred.

Saudi Arabia???

Source: FEC Disclosure Form 3 for Sinema for Arizona - I indeed found a Saudi Arabia entry.

Back to the article.

Sinema’s campaign also spent almost $19,000 at the Edition Hotel in New York City, mostly around Election Day, according to the filing, as well as thousands more at other luxury hotels in the mountain resort towns of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Park City, Utah; the St. Regis in San Francisco; the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas; and a Ritz-Carlton without a location specified.

Her campaign filing also showed more than $15,000 spent on airfare over that period, without providing more information about the destinations.

In fairness to her, her biggest expense was security. "... and Sinema's committee reported spending about $140,000 on security services (including travel), all paid to a security firm based in Sinema’s Arizona. She spent $81,000 more on travel expense reimbursements to the same firm."

Other spending:

The Sinema campaign spent $11,000 on meals related to meetings, including at a handful of well-known Washington eateries, according to the filing. One $2,000 payment went to the Salt Line, a popular seafood restaurant near the Washington waterfront. Another $15,000 went to event catering, including almost $800 at an Arizona winery where Sinema had interned.

The campaign also spent about $10,000 on car services (including $2,700 to Uber), more than $6,000 on automobile insurance and $1,600 at singer Taylor Swift’s official gift store for “event gifts.”

 

[lpetrich]

Kyrsten Sinema's campaign pays big for travel as Senate career ends - 5:04 a.m. MT Feb. 3, 2025 - reports on KS's previous opinions on Saudi Arabia:

Before Sinema began her Senate tenure, she condemned Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, over the brutal slaying and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey months earlier.

U.S. intelligence concluded in 2021 that the prince approved the assassination.

In December 2018, Sinema sounded a tone that didn’t suggest she viewed the kingdom as a travel destination.

“I think that Congress has a real role to play here,” she said in an interview with Arizona’s Family 3TV at that time. “I would encourage the Senate and the House to make sure that we’re holding Saudi Arabia accountable.

So why go to some fancy Saudi hotel? Especially since she doesn't dress like she'd be very at home there.

 

[lpetrich]

Keith Olbermann Overshares On Dating Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Tells Her To Resign - September 27, 2022

“Countdown” podcast host Keith Olbermann said he used to date Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and urged her to quit her seat Tuesday after she praised her professional friendship with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Olbermann, formerly of ESPN and MSNBC, fired off several social media posts that called attention to his relationship with Sinema and his belief that she had strayed from her progressive values.

Keith Olbermann on X: "When we dated, ..." / X

When we dated, in 2010-11, Kyrsten was a legit progressive, far to my left.

Now she has embraced the Political Industry where there is only process, not policy, and never people.

Perfect solution: she can be the next host of @MeetThePress

noting
Sahil Kapur on X: "McConnell introduces Sinema ..." / X

McConnell introduces Sinema at McConnell Center.

SINEMA: "Despite our apparently differences, Sen. McConnell and I have forged a friendship, one that is rooted in our commonalities, including our pragmatic approach to legislating, our respect for the Senate as an institution."

Sinema: "In Washington, our politics have become increasingly radicalized, spiraling steadily downward into bitter and tribal extremism."

She says "some political leaders on both sides of the aisle have let the loudest & more extreme voices in each party dominate the discourse."

.@SenatorSinema: "For too long, political games in Washington — on both sides of the aisle — stopped progress from protecting our communities and keeping families safe and secure. So common sense proposals were tossed to the side by partisan lawmakers who chose politics."

Later,
Keith Olbermann on X: "Yes, I briefly dated ..." / X

Yes, I briefly dated Kyrsten Sinema and we were friends for nearly 8 years and after her delusional performance yesterday, she should resign from the Senate. You cannot campaign with and for Mitch McConnell and get away with it.

 

[lpetrich]

This is a big surprise. I expected KS to become some consultant for some lobbying firm, as Joe Crowley had done after AOC primaried him. But this???

Kyrsten Sinema’s next gig: Working for crypto - POLITICO - "The former senator is joining an advisory council to one of the largest crypto exchanges, alongside a senior adviser to Trump."

Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Chris LaCivita, President Donald Trump’s 2024 co-campaign manager, are joining cryptocurrency firm Coinbase’s Global Advisory Council, as the industry continues to look for legitimacy in the new Trump administration.

Exclusive: Former Senator Kyrsten Sinema Joins Coinbase’s Global Advisory Council at the Wall Street Journal, with its steep paywall

Sinema's post-politics future tied to crypto, business interests

Coinbase Global Inc. announced Wednesday that Sinema was part of its global advisory council, along with Chris LaCivita, the co-campaign manager for President Donald Trump’s 2024 reelection. Bill Dudley, the former president of the New York Fed, and Luis Alberto Moreno, an international finance expert, are also joining the council.

“I think one of the most important things for the crypto community is to get a piece of legislation passed in both the House and Senate, in a bipartisan way, and signed by President Trump,” Sinema told the Wall Street Journal, which first reported her new post.

“The good actors want a regulatory framework so they know where they can act and what to stay away from. It also provides an opportunity to police the bad actors.”

But I suspect that this cryptocurrency company wanted her for her experience in politics and her connections. Here is another possible reason: rewarding her for her "service" to them while in office:

Sinema raked in at least $500,000 from crypto-backed firms, according to a 2023 tally by the Intercept. She received nearly $10,000 from the CEO and an engineer with Coinbase in September 2023.

It was part of a campaign war chest heavily fueled by the finance industry in the period after Sinema quit the Democratic Party in late 2022 and was coy about seeking a second term as an independent.

The Trump Admin seems to like cryptocurrency.

Crypto’s fortunes may get a lift in an era dominated by Trump, who launched a meme coin days before reentering the White House.

Investor interest in that asset alone quickly topped $14 billion, though it has slumped back to $5 billion in market capitalization. A similar Melania Trump-themed token is worth $334 million.

 

[bilby]

So why go to some fancy Saudi hotel? Especially since she doesn't dress like she'd be very at home there.

Ha! The dress code in Saudi Arabia is very strict, but like all Saudi law, it is only for the poor. Rich and powerful people are effectively exempt from everything, and even the Saudis now recognise that the west has rich and powerful women*, who are consequently treated as "honorary men", for diplomatic purposes.

Cheap (and even mid-priced) Saudi hotels would likely make a western woman wearing ordinary western clothes feel very uncomfortable. Fancy hotels? If you can afford the room rates, they can turn a blind eye to anything.

Saudi Arabia (and indeed the rest of Arabia too) is very much like Victorian England. Lots of harsh laws and oppression of the poor, but the ruling class - even foreigners of the ruling class - can do whatever they please.




* Those crazy western infidels are beyond any understanding.

 

[Derec]

Loren, why this level of obsession with Sinema? AOC might start to feel jealous ...

 

[lpetrich]

So why go to some fancy Saudi hotel? Especially since she doesn't dress like she'd be very at home there.

Ha! The dress code in Saudi Arabia is very strict, but like all Saudi law, it is only for the poor. Rich and powerful people are effectively exempt from everything, and even the Saudis now recognise that the west has rich and powerful women*, who are consequently treated as "honorary men", for diplomatic purposes.

* Those crazy western infidels are beyond any understanding.

Western Compounds and Expat Housing in Saudi Arabia - WanderWisdom

Most expats find themselves living in Western compounds in Saudi Arabia (KSA). This expat housing is like living in a small, self-contained holiday village (or prison, depending on your point of view). The better ones have multiple pools, restaurants, markets, and so on. Within the compounds, the dress is Western, some going as far as banning any form of Saudi dress, and Saudis certainly are not allowed on at all socially!

Outside these foreigner ghettos is another story entirely.
Where Do Expats Live in Saudi Arabia? A Guide to the Top Locations - ARAB MLS - "Women must also have a male guardian, or mahram, who accompanies them publicly." - unless declared an honorary man - KS would have to be an honorary Chris Sinema.