This is a scene totally out of Network or better yet Ron Burgundy. Kari Lake is the former Fox News Phoenix anchor who is running for governor of Arizona. She worked for Fox for 22 years and then had an epiphany about how “journalism is dead” to hear her tell it. To hear others tell it she “lost her way as a journalist” and became a conspiracy theorist.
Trump-endorsed AZ Gov candidate Kari Lake releases an ad where she smashes Chris Cuomo’s face in with a sledgehammer. She seems to think she is running against the media. But she doesn’t care what they say about her. Really. That’s why she made this ad. Because she doesn’t care. pic.twitter.com/uOv837xmg9
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) October 27, 2021
Lots of ways to interpret this and none of them portray very much mental health. The most obvious shot to take is that she hates the media because she didn’t get as far in the business as she would have liked. Success and failure are relative concepts, always. Lake resigned in March after a number of embarrassing incidents. Nobody is quite sure what happened to her but she fell in love with Donald Trump and conspiracy theories and that’s the first step down the garden path, alright. Phoenix New Times:
Her resignation marks the inevitable end of a saga in which Lake burned through the credibility she had established over two decades as a news anchor by increasingly embracing the right-wing misinformation sphere inhabited by former-President Donald Trump’s fervent supporters. […]
If there’s one thing Lake loves to amplify, it’s a poorly vetted conspiracy theory. There was the time in 2018 she tweeted that teachers’ efforts for better pay were secretly a ploy to legalize marijuana — based solely on a joke T-shirt. In recent months, she’s retweeted news about power outages at the Vatican and in Pakistan, which conspiracy theorists have claimed were signs that the Pope was being arrested for child sex trafficking.
She’s also helped push unverified claims about voter fraud, further spreading a myth that Trump supporters have used to try and overturn the presidential election. In 2018, she boosted a random Twitter user’s unverified claim that the person had received a pre-filled-out ballot. In November, Lake posted a Twitter thread quoting what she called a “sobering interview” by election-conspiracy-theory-pusher Sidney Powell, who is now facing a huge defamation suit related to her claims that the election had been stolen in a scheme connected to Venezuela, Cuba, and China. […]
So where’s Lake getting this stuff? We’ve all heard stories about older family members who’ve fallen down the wormhole of right-wing misinformation online, only to emerge as a QAnon supporter or a COVID-denier. Lake seems to be living that spiral.
The former news anchor was an early adopter of Parler, a want-to-be Twitter favored by Trump supporters and right-wing extremists. The service lost its hosting following the attack on the U.S. Capitol after it couldn’t reign in threats of violence on its platform, but Lake was undeterred. Along with many hardcore Trump supporters, she opened an account on Gab, an even more marginal site beloved by QAnon converts and neo-Nazis. Lake even appears to have paid $100 to the site for a yearly membership.
“Hope Gab is more civil than Twitter,” she wrote in her first post on January 9.
There, Lake seems to have adopted an even looser standard for fact-checking, sharing articles from propaganda outlets like the Epoch Times.
With this history, it was unsurprising that her resignation from Fox10 came in the form of a video hosted on Rumble, a video platform used by Trump supporters.
And now she thinks 22 years of Fox News and a conversion to conspiracy theory qualifies her to run a state of 7 million people. As Arizona Central points out, “She’s certainly on brand at the moment for our beloved Arizona, the birthplace of bamboo ballots and unending election audits.”
“I don’t think Lake has any idea what she’s doing,” longtime Republican strategist Chuck Coughlin told me. “But that’s obviously not a requirement to win a primary in either party.”
Tragic but true. I can’t wait to see her ads, though, if this is her debut. This is yet another GOP primary that is going to be lit.
“I don’t think Lake has any idea what she’s doing,” longtime Republican strategist Chuck Coughlin told me. “But that’s obviously not a requirement to win a primary in either party.”
Well that is just flat out wrong.
It has quite obviously become the main requirement to win a primary in the Republican party.
It has also, quite obviously been a disqualifying factor for even competing in a Democratic Party primary.
What an irritatingly inaccurate example of the ‘bothsidersim’ seemingly now established in our mainstream media. Trying to equate the lunatic, far-right extremist incompetent unpopular, reviled, and moronic current Republican Party and it’s aberrant behavior with the sane, competent, calm, intelligent and hugely popular policies of the Democratic Party is a pathetic attempt to try the ‘They’re all the same corrupt politicians’ trope that has done so much harm to our democracy.
That’s why I can’t watch Chuck Todd unless he’s standing on a ledge threatening to jump. I’ll tune in with a beer in hand.
Agreed! A totally uncalled-for comment.
Well, I think the mainstream media ought to treat her with all the respect she’s due, and NOT cover a single moment of her campaign. (I’m not sure if it would be legal or not, but with every single one of her ads that play on TV or radio–or even in a newspaper–there should be a disclaimer to the effect of “This candidate chooses to attack the media and yet, she takes to the very same media to pass along her message.” Hell, if I were a station approached to take her ads, I’d ask her why she wants the station–a part of the mainstream media she so despises–to run her ads. Just waiting to see if her head explodes from the logical paradox would be worth it.)
Wayyyy too much logical reasoning Joseph. Try talking to ur dog, if u have one. They will have a better chance of understanding you.
The Scott Jackson comments illustrate the pernicious effects of the comment section. He actually attacks the legitimate arguments with shallow, throw away comments and ridicule. He attacks a legit newsman and ridicules a commenter in his second post in an attempt to discredit rational argument.
I expect readers of this platform to see through his deceptive efforts.
You’re attacking everyone here. Are you aware that makes you a troll?
“a legit newsman”…ROTFLMAO
So you must agree with Mr ‘both sides do it’ Mr todd, & ur fearful leader who said the marching nazi thugs in Virginia had ‘good’ people carrying torches & beating up unarmed people protesting against the statue representing the traitors of the confederacy. Aren’t u sweet? Guess u also think the terrorist attack our capital was a normal tour. U probably agree with Mr.,run to cancun, cruz that nazi salutes are as American as apple pie. My five uncles, who dodged bullets in WW2, to stop the murderous sons of bastards(4u joe to avoid ur critique), would love to ‘chat’ with ur friends. Unfortunately, they are now dead. But go ahead ahole,(both sexes joe have one so it’s fair to use), & enjoy the priviledges they paid for with sacrifice. By the way which branch of our military did YOU serve in???? Waiting Mr patriot. & waiting. & waiting. & waiting.