Kari Lake isnt going quietly

Friday Letter No. 517 / November 18, 2022
Updated at 8:41 a.m. E.T. with correction of Sen. Cornyn's name

Kari Lake's loss of the Arizona governor election is just as damaging as Mitch McConnell's failure to deliver a Republican Senate majority. More on that in just a second. Kari promised on Day 1 to call the legislature into special session to pull up the state's corrupt, sleazy election law by its roots and start over by ending the shady practices that allow Democrats to win elections in perpetuity.

Arizona voters – if we can trust the vote count – said no thank you, we like things just as they are. And so did voters in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nevada.

The Arizona election is headed for a recount, but don’t expect a different outcome. Recounts merely recount the same votes and may correct counting errors. They don’t reveal fraud.

If you wonder why election officials can't count the votes in a congressional district 10 days after an election – something a class of 30 sixth graders could accomplish in a couple of days using pencils and adding machines – consider that these districts are almost exclusively controlled by Democrats.

Voters – as computed by the people who control the counting – said thanks, but we like things just as they are.

You can blame bad messaging, underfunding, or anything else. But it’s the voters who voted. They have spoken in clear support of the status quo.

So now, Arizona will continue to manipulate its elections in 2024 in ways unchanged from 2020 or 2022. But if Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania continue to do the same, as expected, it really won't make any difference. The only thing that could change this morbid outlook is for constitutional conservatives to vote in such overwhelming numbers that the left has no chance. Republicans demonstrate over and over that they aren't willing to do this.

With help from his pals in corporate media, McConnell blames his failure on bad candidates. It's true that two or three of Trump's endorsements were poor picks. But even as never-Trump retiring Sen. Pat Toomey noted the other day, Mehmet Oz was a good candidate in Pennsylvania and should have won. Can anyone step forward here and convince me that John Fetterman – whose wife is emerging as the real candidate who might replace him in the Senate once it becomes clear to even Democrats that he is unfit to serve – was the better choice?

Newt Gingrich lays the Senate loss squarely at McConnell's feet, calling him singularly responsible.

Trump is a fair target of those who think he cost Republicans control of the Senate. Republicans will have to make that call as the 2024 campaign unfolds. But nobody did as much damage as McConnell, who squandered millions protecting liberal (Heritage Action for America rating of 37), Uniparty Republican Lisa Murkowski from Kelly Tshibaka, the conservative challenger clinging to a slim lead under Alaska's indefensible rank choice voting scheme.

And he pulled precious millions from BG Don Bolduc in New Hampshire and Blake Masters in Arizona. Both could have won had it not been for McConnell, a petty, corrupt fossil who long ago outlived his usefulness. As we and others reported before the election, McConnell was more interested in retaining power – even in the minority – than in reversing America's long, sad decline.

And don't forget Lindsey Graham, who stupidly called for a national ban on abortion – just as unconstitutional as Roe. As Julie Kelly reported at American Greatness, exit polls showed abortion only second behind inflation as the top issue. Of those who chose abortion, 76 percent voted for Democrats.

The failure to remove this ossified relic McConnell as Senate Minority Leader is certainly a turnoff to rational political leaders like Tulsi Gabbard, who left the Democrat Party over its insanity. A liberal on many issues, she is nonetheless a refreshing rising star in our view. She ranks high for her furor over corruption in the Biden Administration and our involvement in endless foreign wars while erasing our national borders. Our borders are now gone, kaput.

But don’t expect her to become a Republican as long as McConnell and other unprincipled mealy-mouths are running the show.

We can't expect Tulsi to suddenly jump into the GOP tent, but we should be grateful for her principled patriotism, regardless of her party affiliation. But it has to be nauseating to her watching this party be ruled by someone of McConnell's shameful ilk.

The parties are realigning, with both losing members who no longer fit. McConnell, Romney, Murkowski and four retiring Senators (thankfully), aren't comfortable in the Republican Party anymore, and we should help fuel that uncomfortable feeling in them. We don't yet know the outcome of the Senate race in Alaska, but Tshibaka would constitute an important rightward nudge of the GOP caucus.

Looking ahead to 2024 and beyond, conservatives must start right now developing a game plan for primary challenges to Uniparty Republican Senators Cassidy, Romney, Ernst, and Corny. The fumigation is just beginning.

Editor's note: We will move a special Thanksgiving Friday Letter on Wednesday for all paid and free subscribers. It will be the President's thanksgiving Proclamation. No, not the President you may be thinking of.

The Friday Letter is published at USSA News