Donald Trump almost certainly approved the sacking of would-be acolyte Kari Lake who was booed by a Republican crowd last week.
The story starts with Jeff DeWit, a former Arizona Treasurer, state treasurer for the Trump campaign, Trump-appointed chief financial officer of NASA and until recently Republican state chair.
According to a recording released by Lake, DeWit came to her and said that powerful people wanted her to drop out of Arizona’s 2024 U.S. Senate race for the seat currently held by Kyrsten Sinema.
So, who did DeWit mean by powerful people?
DeWit didn’t get as far as he did in business and politics by being a complete idiot. DeWit certainly knew about the ongoing relationship between Lake and Trump. There were Lake’s frequent visits to Mar-A-Lago. There were Trump’s endorsement of her campaigns.
To the extent that there were any adults in the Trump-verse, DeWit was one of them.
So, let’s say a liquor distributor who is a big donor to Republicans in Arizona, or some such lesser deity, felt that Lake should get out of the race. DeWit would not have communicated the “get out” message to Trump’s friend Lake without approval from Trump.
Since DeWit went ahead and gave the message to Lake, it had to be approved by Trump if not originated from Trump himself.
Lake took the unexpected action of telling the world about the message and forcing DeWit’s resignation as leader of the Arizona Republican Party. It did not play well, and delegates to the recent State Committee meeting booed Lake.
Why would Trump want to be rid of Lake? Her election loss and then her loss of perhaps a thousand court cases paints her as a loser. Trump himself is a loser and doesn’t need the reminders. Also, her hanging out at MAL probably got old.
This is yet another lesson in Trump’s concept of loyalty. “Worship me and give me your money and I will decide when to dump you unpaid for your efforts on my behalf.” It is the first, second and third rule of Trumpville.
Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb may hope the stars are aligning for his big endorsements by the Republican faithful. No. “Mark, you still are an unknown rural sheriff that no one cares about. Pitching Lake onto the trash pile is orthogonal to you. It means unrelated.”