Former President Donald Trump reportedly confided in at least five people that Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake was spending too much time at his Florida resort, according to the Washington Post, whose sources spoke anonymously.
Trump has endorsed Lake in the race against Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego, characterized by the former President as an “ultra left-wing extremist.” Trump also says of Gallego: “He’s the worst. He’s bad. He’s so bad.”
Lake, who has long exhibited a Laura Loomer level loyalty to Trump, is that certain type of MAGA candidate whose emergence is impossible to imagine without Trump’s endorsement. Most famous for contesting elections she has lost, including the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election, Lake is predominantly running on an “election integrity” platform — impugning Arizona’s election integrity in the press and in the courts, though without winning results in the latter.
[Arizona remains a sore spot in Trump’s electoral history, with FOX News calling the state early for Joe Biden in 2020, leading to great animosity between Trump and the network.]
If Lake is worried about Trump abandoning her, she doesn’t show it, posting a video of Trump’s fulsome endorsement of her on X, a video in which he calls Lake “fantastic.” Trump’s main Arizona concern, according to the Post, is that growing suspicion that he may have picked a loser in Lake, which could in turn cost him the state. But as her video share shows, it appears too late, even if Trump has regrets, to withdraw his Lake support — Trump’s bet on Lake is already posted.
President Donald J. Trump recorded a message for the grassroots patriots at the @AZGOP State Convention.
He truly loves our state. And he endorsed me for U.S. Senate because he knows I will NEVER stop working to put Arizona First.
Let’s Make America Great AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/BQ44Jp1ZI1
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) April 28, 2024
Trump tells Arizonans in the video that their state will essentially select the next president and that Arizona voters also have a chance — by electing Lake — to push the Republican Party into a Senate majority that could greenlight a second Trump administration’s Project 2025 initiatives. Or as Trump puts it: “we need every one of you to pour your heart and your soul into helping achieve a glorious victory in Arizona.”