LOSING FAITH: Trump wants Kari Lake OUT of Mar-a-Lago
The campaign rhetoric of the GOP Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake is an echo of Donald Trump’s, right down to her knockoff version of his “stolen election” stories.
So, why does the former president want to keep his distance from her?
It turns out there’s more than one concern that Trump has about Lake’s proximity, and the primary one is her electability. She’s spending a lot of time at Mar-a-Lago, where she can piggyback on Trump’s support and his network of billionaires to find the support she needs if she wants to win in November.
Trump, though, reportedly feels that she’s spending too much time at Mar-a-Lago, abandoning the voters who may be more concerned about whether their next Senator has been around to hear their concerns than about whether she can pull megadonors at events in another state. The Washington Post reports:
“At one point last year, after grumbling for months that she was at his Mar-a-Lago Club too often, Trump gently suggested to Lake that she should leave the club and hit the campaign trail in Arizona, according to a person with direct knowledge of his comments. Trump has also asked others if she can really win in Arizona and if she might drag down his own poll numbers as he seeks the presidency again in 2024, advisers said.”
The unidentified insiders did not mention the financial aspect, but it’s a known fact that Trump’s campaign is struggling with cash flow, especially as his PAC keeps pouring money into his legal bills. He’s even demanding a percentage of donations given to other candidates if they’re leaning on his name in their campaigns! Lake, by the way, was the recipient of over $1 million at a fundraiser earlier this month, held at Trump’s home, according to ABC.
There’s no official word on whether Trump took a percentage of that, or if he has expressed any feelings about playing the role of host for another candidate to enrich her campaign.
Electability and campaign cash are just two of the concerns for the man who is both a criminal defendant and the Republican frontrunner, though.
Back in January, early musings that Trump was irritated with the Arizona candidate began to emerge as the state GOP sought a new leader after Jeff DeWit, the previous chair, resigned in disgrace over backlash from Lake releasing a recording of him urging her to drop out of the Senate race.
It’s not just the fact that DeWit was reportedly a Trump favorite and dedicated ally. You have to add in the fact that the warning he gave in the recording — that “people back east” were worried about whether the voters would go for her — was rumored to be a reference to Trump’s feelings in particular.
Whether or not that recording was a disclosure of matters Trump had privately communicated, he apparently had big feelings about the leak. Not only did Trump gripe and complain about leaks throughout his first campaign and his presidency, but he’s currently sitting in criminal court where at least one hot mic recording (the Access Hollywood recording in which he boasts about sexually assaulting women) has been entered into evidence.
When Lake leaked, he reportedly grumbled to advisors about her “recording everything,” and said it was “good to know.”
At the same time, he’s embroiled in another criminal case, for improperly keeping government documents and obstructing efforts to return them to their rightful place, in which photos, security camera footage, and other inside peeks at his home have played a role. He can’t be happy about someone who uses recordings in an opportunistic way being inside the gates.
As for Lake, she seems to be working to quietly mitigate any controversy. On her social media, both personal and campaign accounts, she’s posting and reposting the same video clip of Trump endorsing her, and working to emphasize her connection to him.
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
The only way to really make America great again is for American voters to reject the candidacies of both Trump and Lake — and anyone else who supports them.
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