One-time Governor candidate Kari Lake roused supporters and discussed her election, during a “Save Arizona” rally Sunday night at the Orange Tree Golf Club in Scottsdale.
Wearing a red dress and sans podium, Lake spoke before a full house of several hundred supporters with just a microphone. The evening felt intimate, sometimes awkward, and far from rowdy, though Lake isn’t shy to speak her mind. At times it felt like the former news reporter is over her head, pressing issues that have been fumbled by the best, but willfully and fearlessly like there’s no tomorrow.
“I am not backing down, not one damn inch! We have amazing attorneys. One is an army veteran and one is a former Navy Seal! Those guys have a steel spine and they’re not afraid of anything and they’re patriots, and I thank God for them every day.”
“I want these fraudsters to know we’re not retreating.” She said her father taught her to “stay in the fight.” “We will not lose this country, not on my watch, and not on your watch!”
The event began at 5:45 Scottsdale time, against a Kansas City / Bengals Superbowl playoff game in it’s third quarter. Just under 10,000 watched Lake’s live feed. Ultimately, Lake would feign a win, and the Chiefs would really win, but only by three points!
These are some tight races!
Lake seemed friendly and likeable, if not a little condescending. Trump called and she shared the call with the audience; he didn’t say much.
Lake has a car salesman’s personality; a little over-friendly; she’s like a children’s storyteller on cocaine. She’s strong; on a football team, she’d definitely be quarterback!
Her weakness might be demeaning overconfidence. It’s not overconfident enough unless it makes everyone else in the room feel empowered by your strength, and it can feel like begging.
As the evening progressed, Lake talked about corruption. And, as you may imagine, it was the same talking points we all should already know.
9,593 watching Lake online
CIN 13 – KC 13
“They stomped on our sacred right to vote! These people are sick.”
Kansas City scores!
The crowd chants “Lock Them Up!”
“I’m an election denier!” (cheers)
“We question … our elections … and obviously we’re right!”
CIN 13 – KC 20
This woman is a Jack Russel Terrier that needs to run. Katie Hobbs refusing to debate her on a public stage must have felt like being denied air. Her heart is in the right place, and she seems capable, but Lake still comes off as a young candidate lucky to be where she is.
She gave an update on her lawsuit over the election results!
“We are going to win this legal battle!” (cheers, chanting “Kari, Kari Kari”) She said election supervisor Bill Gates and recorder Stephen Richer would rather “bury their heads up a donkey’s rear end” than look at evidence.
Lake told the crowd “They are hearing the evidence – I’m so excited about it – it is the first that’s being heard based on the merits. We are currently in the Arizona Court of Appeals. We have the strongest election lawsuit of our lifetime in the Court of Appeals.” “In three days, a three-judge panel … will begin pouring over the evidence in our case, the testimony in our case, and examining everything our incredible team of lawyers have put together … I’m so excited!”
Lake said 300,000 ballots lacked chain of custody, which she described as “the law which ensures that illegal ballots don’t get counted.” She showed “signatures” to display their poor quality – on a video screen, saying they were just four examples of 40,000 such ballot signatures.
Lake talked about analyzing ballot counting while it was going on, saying fraud in Maricopa County was massive. “The whole world witnessed what happened on election day in Maricopa County – it was absolute mayhem.” She said supervisors intentionally printed ballots the wrong size to jam tabulators “all day long.”
“Ballots got spit out! They got spit out over and over again!”
“Richer and Gates lied and downplayed what happened.”
4th down, What a catch! 35-yards!
Touchdown Cincinnati!
Lake continued … “A quarter of a million times our ballots were spit out and rejected. And they think that’s okay. Our election is rotten, and our election needs to be thrown out and re-done!” (cheers!) “We want a new election!” (Kari Kari Kari!)
“It’s not about me. It is about us, and it is about our children.”
Several times Lake referred to reporters in the room as if they were the enemy, in the third party, as “them,” while pointing to them, asking “Do any of you have children?” which felt awkward, particularly as the event, billed “Save Arizona,” was intended to draw a friendly crowd.
CIN 20 – KC 20
“I’ve got a message for Katie Hobbs in the Governor’s office … Don’t get too comfortable, sweetie!” adding “You know you’re a fraud!”
Then, calling upon her victory, though still a ghost:
“Kari Lake won!”
In the end, Lake rallied the crowd to “pray for our fake news media,” while the news reporters she was referring to were right in the back of the room, a dozen of them. She rides a tightrope when she misunderstands compassion, mixing it into her battle plans like she’s shaming a puppy in front of its mates. Lake made lots of eye contact and connections with the audience at the end of the “show,” while music played. I believe her strength is she’s genuine and “not-a-politician,” but I also believe she doesn’t know this is her strength, and will butt her nose into some tough adversaries in the coming years if she stays in politics. If she can find the ground, she can be great.
… and the Chiefs get the field goal for the win!
There’s a good chance Katie Hobbs belongs in jail, and if that’s true, the indomitable character Lake possesses is needed to compliment her weaponry. And she keeps it sharp. In this world of learn-by-meme, Lake also consistently appears professional and well-dressed, a corner she wins in, and unusually important in this era of the Internet!
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Mark Urso
mark@markurso.com
@A_Candle_Lit
Mark Urso is a former hippie who sees ideology today is divided not by political party or leaning, but by right versus wrong. A 1984 graduate of Boston College, Urso wrote news daily for 25-years, contributing stories regularly to AP, and hosted a live one-hour radio show with daily guests ranging from the annual cat show organizer to senators and celebrities. He can be found at Quora (3.8m views) and markurso.com.
As a az resident was wondering what Lake was up to, but don’t do msm. I appreciate your perspective/report, ty.