By Alexander Lomax
Honest question: does the Arizona GOP know how embarrassing they are?
How could you otherwise explain that so many of them have followed state party chairwoman Kelli Ward’s lead into the abyss of unnecessary conflict, paranoia, and conspiracy? Surely they can read and interpret election results; Arizona voters rejected such insanity. Instead, Ward has doubled down.
Photo by David Wallace/The Republic
I applaud her for her success with grabbing the spotlight and garnering attention. I also give her kudos for being an exceptional recruiting tool for Democrats. But if you are a company with a need for skilled and educated labor looking to relocate, does such insanity impact your decision? When a good portion of our legislators (and certainly the loudest) are wallowing in the QAnon mud, why would any well educated person choose to be subservient to these quacks?
In short, the young, educated, and skill folks that politicians dream of bringing here via high wage jobs can’t stand that garbage. They want no part of that brand.
Perhaps even more nuts? Several of the Crazy Crew of our Legislature have dreams of higher office. Some ambitious Republicans, such as AG Brnovich, have had the wisdom to stay out of the morass. Some like Kimberley Yee went Full Trump early on but have wisely stayed silent since the election. Yet Republicans like Kelly Townsend seem to be too stuck in their social media bubbles to realize that Arizona has repeatedly rejected extremist politics for two election cycles now. Let alone Ms. Ward herself; her apparent belief that she has a chance for any statewide office is an impressive level of delusion.
For the sake of our economy and our well-being, we should be proud that our state’s electorate rejects bomb throwing. Why some of our legislators continue to make us look bad at the national level and kill their own aspirations in the process is incredibly puzzling, but we would do all of Arizona a favor to tell them unequivocally to end their game. One would think that after losing elections, they would need to expand their following. But if they want to further shrink the size of their tent? As an old saying goes, don’t interfere with your opponent when they’re in the middle of making a mistake.