Politics and entertainment are an unholy and volatile match, but it also seems to be a uniquely American one. At least in the era of Trump, or where Trump is still a part of the narrative. This Friday in Arizona expect a rilly big shoe, as Ed Sullivan used to intone. Here’s what’s going on in the Grand Canyon State when Mike “Elections Are About the Future” Pence takes on the Big Lie-er. Politico:
Former Vice President Mike Pence is endorsing Republican Karrin Taylor Robson in the Arizona governor’s race, pitting himself against Donald Trump in a primary that is emerging as a proxy fight between the former president and Republicans who resisted his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
It represents the latest breach in the relationship between Trump and Pence, and it’s the second time the two have collided in a primary. And Pence is slated to campaign for Robson on Friday — creating a dramatic split-screen moment opposite Trump, who is set to hold a rally for his endorsed candidate, former local TV news anchor Kari Lake, the same day.
Now this gubernatorial race is crucial, make no mistake. An OH Predictive Insights survey conducted just before Doug Ducey endorsed Robson showed Lake with a narrow lead. But it’s in many ways the sideshow. The main event is Trumpty Dumpty v. Mike Ponce — as Trump once hilariously mis-pronounced Pence’s name, not knowing that ponce means pimp. And pimp he did for Trump for many years. If the slur fits, wear it. Be that as it may, Pence is getting daring. He’s not the doormat to Trump anymore.
Pence, who is considering a bid for president in 2024, has been stepping up his criticism of Trump. During a March appearance before a Republican National Committee-hosted donor retreat in New Orleans, Pence made a veiled jab at Trump over his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Pence also spoke out against his relitigation of the last election, declaring that “elections are about the future.”
The former vice president has refused to rule out the prospect of running against Trump in the 2024 GOP primary.
And Pence’s sidekick kicked in his two cents.
Marc Short, a senior Pence adviser, pointed to the controversy [over drag queens] in a text message on Sunday, along with reports that Lake formerly supported ex-President Barack Obama, saying that Lake is “perpetrating a fraud on Arizona Republican primary voters who ultimately will not be distracted by a parade of clowns at the circus.”
Part circus, part zoo, plenty of clowns. Lots of wrestling match vibes. This is what the GOP dragged themselves down to when they put the TV game show host into play. This is who they are now.
To borrow a phrase from Stephanie miller’s show on freespeech TV, Mike pence is up to his albino eyebrows in trump’s disaster of a presidency.
I must say, I gamed out every scenario and I did not see this one coming, Pence v. Trump for the 2024 primary. Not at all.
This is a win-win for Pence. If his candidate wins the primary, he has coat-tails. If Kari Lake wins, the Democrat, for sure, wins the general.
Politics and entertainment an “unholy” match? Politics has always been the cheapest entertainment there is. Granted now it’s a horror show but that is still entertainment otherwise why would the Friday the 13th and the rest of those franchises bring in so much $$$?
Harry Kemelman said something about this in Someday the Rabbi Will Leave. I wish to heck I could remember it. lol