OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump continues to make endorsements of GOP candidates he believes will prioritize his ‘America First’ policies.
As such, he has offered full-throated support for Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate and former Phoenix-area newscaster Kari Lake.
Trump appeared at a rally with Lake and other Arizona Republicans he is backing over the weekend, where he declared that she will become President Joe Biden’s biggest headache if she wins her race, which looks increasingly likely.
Lake “will be one of the fiercest voices in the country” standing up against Biden, Trump said, going on to blame Biden’s lax immigration and border enforcement policies for the massive increase in illegal crossings since he took office, Breitbart News reported.
Trump also said that Lake, as Arizona governor, “will do whatever it takes to protect the people of Arizona.”
“No one understands better than Kari how to fight back against the Fake News media and the Radical Left,” Trump asserted. “The media is terrified of Kari because they know that as your Governor, she will be one of the fiercest voices in the country standing up against Joe Biden’s Open Borders catastrophe.”
He also repeated previous calls for drug smugglers to get the death penalty when convicted of the crime.
“If you look at countries throughout the world, the only ones that don’t have a drug problem are those that institute the death penalty for drug dealers,” Trump will say. “If we are going to stop this scourge, it is time to get brutally tough on the dealers, traffickers, and narco-terrorist cartels who are stealing millions of lives. And yes, in many cases, drug traffickers should receive the death penalty.”
Trump also spoke well of Blake Masters, his endorsed GOP candidate running against U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly (D).
“Mark Kelly is also culpable for the runaway inflation that is crushing Arizona families—he voted in favor of all Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi’s lunatic socialist spending bills, and he voted to support Biden’s war on American Energy,” Trump will say.
“Blake is a titan of the business and technology world and a brilliant mind who truly supports the MAGA movement and the America First agenda,” Trump said. “He brings exactly the kind of toughness, courage, and intellectual firepower we need in the Senate to take our country to the next level.”
“It is so important to bring patriots like Blake to the Senate. The Senate needs new energy and some real courage,” Trump added, going on to rip Democrats who control the country’s public school system and their “Marxist educators.”
“One of the first things we will do is to stand up for parents’ rights. It is time to finally and completely smash the radical left’s corrupt education cartel,” Trump said. “Our children are captives to unhinged Marxist educators who are pushing inappropriate sexual, racial, and political material on our children from the youngest possible age.”
Meanwhile, Lake has a commanding lead in the GOP primary race, which will take place early next month.
“2022 #AZGov Republican Primary Poll: Kari Lake 40% Karrin Taylor Robson 35% Scott Neely 3% Paola Tulliani-Zen 2% Undecided 21% @OHPredictive ~ 515 LV ~ 6/30-7/2,” Poll Tracker reported on Twitter.
Robson is backed by current GOP Gov. Doug Ducey and former Vice President Mike Pence.
“The poll comes after former Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) dropped out of the race last week, making the primary election essentially a two-woman race between Lake and Robson,” Breitbart reported.
A press release announcing the poll explained:
About a week ago, Salmon pulled himself out of the race, leaving both Robson and Lake fighting for undecided voters. In the recent survey, Arizona likely voters were asked whom they would vote for, both with and without Salmon as an option. With Salmon still in the line-up – earning 6% support – Arizona likely voters placed Kari Lake 8 points ahead of Karrin Taylor Robson (31%), showing an increase in support compared to April for Lake (+10%) and Robson (+9%), but a drop for Salmon (-5%). With the former Congressman removed from the list, Robson benefits most with a +13% growth since April compared to Kari Lake’s +11%.
