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GOP doubts grow over Kari Lake’s future in Arizona | The Hill
From last July, How an Obama-backing Arizona news anchor became Trump’s pick for governor - "More than a dozen formerly close friends, colleagues and associates say social media and a refusal to back down morphed Kari Lake into a true MAGA believer."
“It’s done in Arizona,” said Arizona Republican consultant Chuck Coughlin.
“I think the enormous amount of ill will that she’s going to create as a result of the appeal — I mean, it’s OK to file a case, but then some of the stuff she’s been saying on media and posts and just the degradation of the Arizona institutions — I think is really going to hurt her out here,” Coughlin added. “And I don’t really think she’s got a future in terms of her own electoral space here in Arizona.”
Trump used his own baseless claims about losing the 2020 election to keep his followers interested.
From last July, How an Obama-backing Arizona news anchor became Trump’s pick for governor - "More than a dozen formerly close friends, colleagues and associates say social media and a refusal to back down morphed Kari Lake into a true MAGA believer."
ThenAs Lake heads into an Aug. 2 primary, her main Republican opponent is trying to make the race about authenticity, questioning whether Lake, who once donated to former President Barack Obama’s campaign, could have genuinely shifted so far on the political spectrum toward Trump and the far right.
Many of those who were closest to Lake before she went MAGA tell NBC News that her evolution was gradual.
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When Donald Trump emerged as a candidate in 2015, Lake began privately sharing sympathies for his candidacy and his rejection of “political correctness,” according to several friends. She posted that December after Trump’s Muslim ban proposal: “All those railing against Trump are calling him a ‘bigot,’ ‘racists,’ ‘dillusional,’ ‘a nazi,’ etc., but none are making suggestions on how to stop the very real threat of further attacks on American soil, that are likely in the works right now.”
Lake is described by her one-time friends as having always been stubborn and eager to debate even inconsequential subjects. “No one wanted to go up against her because she could never admit she was wrong,” one former colleague said. “It was when her Twitter following exploded — when she started getting fed, when she started getting love. She wielded power with those followers.”
Another source formerly close to Lake isn’t surprised to see her where she is now. “[Lake] had the personality that was kind of prime for this. We just hadn’t had Trump before.”
Defensive? So she was outraged that anyone would ever say that she was wrong?In early 2016, she defended high school students who spelled out the N-word with T-shirts intended for a senior class photo, calling the students’ decision a “mistake” that didn’t warrant public outcry.
Then in 2018, Lake falsely asserted that a grassroots movement calling on the state government to invest more in public education was actually a front to legalize marijuana. That time, she faced public backlash, deleted her post and apologized for making “an incorrect conclusion.” But several close friends recall that she was privately defensive about promoting the unfounded claim.
Diana Pike worked as KSAZ’s human resources director for more than two decades and said that Lake increasingly pushed back against management over the years.
“She couldn’t have a one-on-one where she didn’t eventually get irritated that you didn’t support or you didn’t see her side of it,” Pike said, adding: “If she’s not going to get it, she’s going to stomp her feet and pout.”