What if you held a protest and no one but kooks showed up? Well, it might look a little like what happened outside the Arizona state capitol on Friday. On the heels of Donald Trump’s super-low-energy “Puppet Show and Campaign Launch” event, the sight of this phlegmatic phalanx stirs hope that MAGA is fixing to Thelma & Louise off a cliff in a windowless white van long after anyone had any interest in chasing them. I’ve seen more people spontaneously gather in parking lots to watch two squirrels fight over a Twizzler. C-SPAN probably cut away from this to air a live shot of Chuck Grassley loofahing his undercarriage.
In other words, the big #AZRevote protest that was supposed to add rocket fuel to Kari Lake’s own “stop the steal” efforts was nothing but a sore loser soiree that might have been sparsely attended if only a few more people had shown up.
Newsweek:
Lake has refused to concede in what she claims was a "botched" election, and has filed a number of lawsuits in a bid to overturn the result.
Her supporters organized a protest outside the state capitol at 9 a.m. MST, claiming "hundreds of patriot groups" would unite to "protest the uncertifiable results."
However, video from the scene, in a tweet by Ron Filipkowski, showed no more than 50 people turned up, including one man waving a large Confederate battle-standard.
Gee, might Americans—not counting traitorous Americans who still wave the flag of an illegitimate, brutally racist government that tripped on its own dick more than 150 years ago—be a little tired of all this “stolen election” nonsense?
It would appear so.
Get a load of this, for instance:
Wow. This is more like the energy you’d expect from people who were one stamp away from a free footlong mere months before Subway canceled its Club Card promotion. If Lake doesn’t float down like Glinda the Good Witch in a gleaming Vaseline bubble pretty fucking soon, people are gonna start drifting away.
Of course, if you thought that was pathetic, you’re going to shoot milk out of your nose after seeing this—even if you’re not currently drinking milk. That’s how bad it is.
Here was professional elections grifter David Clements scolding the crowd for not being bigger:
CLEMENTS: “Are you willing to do it, that’s the question? I’m not even from Arizona, for crying out loud. I left my three kids and my wife. We’re staying here until you get a new election. It’s that simple. Brazil’s teaching us Americans on how to do this, folks. It’s almost been 30 days and they have 3 million people outside, and because we’re so fat and comfortable, shopping. … But they’re not scared of you because they’re not scared of this. We haven’t done enough, so dig in, dig in, dig in. This is just the beginning, folks. This is just the beginning. So if you’ve got friends—I don’t have many left—but if you’ve got them, get them. Bring them here. … So let’s just keep this energy going.”
Keep this energy going? Is that even possible? This protest already looks like the heat death of the universe. Is there any energy to build on?
Of course, the Arizona GOP ran a slate of election deniers who could have warped the state’s elections for decades to come, but they didn’t fare well. Lake, secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem, and Senate candidate Blake Masters all lost, while attorney general hopeful Abe Hamadeh’s race is likely headed to a recount, with Hamadeh currently trailing his Democratic opponent by around 500 votes. In fact, all across the country, election deniers did poorly. Meaning American democracy might still have a fighting chance after all.
Yes, even in Arizona. Believe it or not.
Sen. Raphael Warnock is still defending his Georgia seat, and the Dec. 6 runoff is coming fast. If you can—and if you aren’t too tired from saving America on Nov. 8—please rush a donation to Team Warnock now! You can also write letters to Georgia voters with Vote Forward! Let’s finish up strong!
Check out Aldous J. Pennyfarthing’s four-volume Trump-trashing compendium, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link. Or, if you prefer a test drive, you can download the epilogue to Goodbye, Asshat for the low, low price of FREE.