or Republicans who are worried the Trump party is turning into a rump party, the Arizona GOP serves as a cautionary warning: Things can always get worse.
In case you missed it, political writer Jon Gabriel sounded the alarm in a recent AZ Central political column.
“The Arizona GOP had less than $50,000 in cash reserves as of March 31. That’s not much money to fund crucial expenses such as rent, payroll, and campaign operations. Four years earlier, it had close to $770,000,” Gabriel wrote.
“The cobwebs in the bank vault aren’t as important as all the money wasted. The party blew $300,000 on ‘legal consulting,’ much of which focused on overturning Trump’s 2020 defeat. All they have to show for it are a Democratic governor and U.S. Senate delegation,” Gabriel continued.
The obvious conclusion is that election denial hurts the deniers. This is true for multiple reasons. First, obsessively worrying about having a future election stolen from you can divert energy away from voter contact programs that might actually prevent, you know, losing elections in the first place.
Second, in the aftermath of a loss, pretending you won guarantees zero lessons are learned, even as it continues eating up money (in, say, legal fees) and diverts attention from future elections.
Third, donors don’t want to give money to a crazy party. As Gabriel writes, “If they [Republican party bosses] waste their money on Cyber Ninjas and futile lawsuits, they can’t be shocked when donations dry up.”
This is a national problem for Republicans, but Arizona has had it twice as bad. First, when Trump claimed he won the state in 2020, and next, when Trump’s disciple Kari Lake followed his same script in 2022.
But as Arizona demonstrates, election denial isn’t the only thing to fear from a MAGAfied GOP.
Arizona’s GOP Went All-In on Trump’s Big Lie—Now It’s Broke (msn.com)