In 2016, when batshit crazy former Arizona legislator Kelli Ward took on John McCain in the Republican senate primary, the media called it one of the ugliest races in the country. Ward was a horrible legislator and an equally horrible senate primary challenger, as I wrote the other day.
During the contest with McCain she and her frothing supporters regularly called the former POW a “traitor,” even going so far as to say he should be “hung by the neck until dead.” During an interview on InfoWars, she suggested to Sandy Hook denying host Alex Jones that McCain’s team may plant a bomb in her car.
Ward and McCain are of the same party, of course, but still the 2016 primary was nastier than many GOP-Dem contests. McCain jabbed Kelli Ward for her conspiracy mongering and screwball statements, which any opponent would do—she’s looney Judge Roy Moore on steroids. But it was the dishonest ways Ward twisted McCain’s record to suggest he supports selling baby parts from Planned Parenthood clinics, that he’d grant amnesty to Mexicans, or that he helped to pass Obamacare, among other charges, that lent the race its ugly tone.
And Donald Trump loves the ugly, which is one reason he, Steve Bannon and other white supremacist goobers are supporting Kelli Ward in this year’s primary. Another reason is that incumbent Republican Senator Jeff Flake, like Bob Corker and John McCain, challenged the big orange stain.
No doubt with Breitbart Nation and the White House backing Ward, she would have leveled another round of ugly, untrue accusations against Sen. Flake, especially the amnesty charge. That’s moot now, with Flake dropping out—unwilling to get down in the sewer with nativists. He also knew he couldn’t win the primary without changing his Trump tune—something Flake wasn’t willing to do.
Now consider: That’s how Kelli Ward and other antiestablishment shitbrains treated John McCain and Jeff Flake, members of their own party. Ward did lead Jeff Flake in the primary polls by a lot, and she seemed assured of the GOP nomination. That’s not so certain now, as other Trumpers, including several congressmen as scary as Ward (Gosar, Schweikert, or even Arpaio) may now decide to jump in the race. Needless to say, that primary will be one disgusting race to the bottom.
And then there’s the 2018 election itself, where one of these knuckle-dragging, mean-spirited, Trump-loving Republicans, probably the worst of the lot, will face either a Muslim or an agnostic bisexual—both women. We can hardly wait.
On the one hand, if Muslim Phoenix attorney Deedra Abboud could somehow win the Democratic nomination, Kelli Ward’s team would shift into full scary terrorist mode. Expect to see ads full of smoking Twin Towers, orange-suited American prisoners with a sword at their neck, and Abboud in her hijab with “Sharia Law” captions. Just this week the Council for American-Islamic Relations in Arizona announced that popular but controversial Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour will keynote their annual event, and the haters’ heads exploded. Imagine a Muslim senate candidate!
More likely, however, since she announced last month, US Rep. Kyrsten Sinema will be the Democratic nominee—one of the bluest Blue Dogs in Congress. She’s not Muslim but then she’s nothing; that is, Sinema is the only member of congress who’s ever checked “none” for religious affiliation. When Sinema was in the Arizona legislature, she described herself as an unbeliever. The tasteless ads write themselves: Kelli Ward or whoever will be the god-fearing Christian candidate of family values battling the forces of Satan. Bet on it.
And then there’s Sinema’s bisexuality—again, something she’s been open about since her time in the state legislature. Sure, homophobes ranted about her “sin,” but Sinema’s sexual preferences never really became a viable campaign issue, and her bisexuality obviously never stopped Sinema from winning a congressional seat twice. But with an opponent like Ward, or whoever survives the GOP shit match, we’ll see the LGBTQ community dragged into the predatory mud. Think Roy Moore. Think Westboro. Lock up your kids!
Sure, the far-right GOP will smear the Democrat with everything they lobbed at McCain—amnesty, Obamacare, abortion—but with a Muslim or unbelieving bisexual in the race, it’s impossible to overestimate how despicable 2018 will be. Your TV set, mailbox and email inbox will need to be fumigated.