Arizona Republican gubernatorial hopeful Kari Lake got into a testy exchange with Fox News’ Bret Baier over the allegation that she was once a fan of drag queens.
On Monday, Baier asked Lake about a June 20 article from The Washington Post that stated, “Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who has attacked drag queens as dangerous to children, attended the shows of drag queen Richard Stevens for more than 20 years and once hired him to perform at her home, according to Stevens.”
“Do you care to address that?” he asked.
Lake’s response was bizarrely combative as she attacked Fox News, accusing the network of promoting a defamatory story about her.
“I do care. I actually do care to address that, and I’m really shocked. I’m actually appalled that Fox News would take a defamatory story like that, and we are pursuing legal action against this drag queen, I’m appalled that you would bring that up when you have not talked about our stolen election,” Lake shot back.
Watch the video below:
Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has a tantrum on Fox News after Bret Baier won't validate her blatant lies about voter fraud. pic.twitter.com/JOwWb7EMKf
— Kat Abughazaleh (@KatAbughazaleh) June 27, 2022
Baier interrupted to note that prior to the question about the Post’s story, he asked her three questions about the 2020 election.
“Let’s address this story in The Washington Post. Every candidate takes tough stories,” Baier said.
As he spoke, Lake was heard saying, “Wow.”
“I’m happy to address it. I’m happy to address it. But I’m really disappointed in Fox. I thought you were a little better than CNN,” she said. “This is a person who I covered for decades, for decades, 20 years. And he has never been in my home. He says he has been in my home for a drag show? That’s ludicrous. He has never been in my home. He’s lied.”
She added, “We tried to serve him defamation papers. And he’s so shady that we can’t even track him down because he’s not even welcome at the places he worked.”
When Baier asked about pictures that appeared to show Lake next to a drag queen, she tried to get back to talking about her unfounded claims that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election.
Finally, Lake denied the allegations.
But when Baier tried to cordially wrap up the interview, Lake couldn’t help but take another shot at the host, “Here you have me on and try to bring a defamatory story out. It’s really sad.”
If the allegations are false, this should not have been that big of an issue. She simply could have denied them and moved on. But instead, she decided to go with her tired, automatic response of just attacking reporters and claiming that the 2020 election was stolen.
Let’s get this out of the way: There has been no evidence of widespread fraud in the election. Even a Republican-backed group audited the vote in Arizona and concluded that there was not widespread fraud that tilted the results in the state in President Joe Biden’s favor.
Arizona currently has two Democratic senators for the first time since 1952, and voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in 2020 for the first time since 1996. So it is clearly not a ruby red bastion of Trumpism.
Lake is currently the front runner for the party’s nomination for governor, which could be incredibly inconvenient for Republicans heading into the general election.
It seems voters in Arizona are tired of Trump and his brand of politics and would once again reject his hand-picked candidates if they decide to focus on the last election to soothe his bruised ego rather than putting forward ideas to address the issues currently confronting voters in the state.
If Lake wins the nomination and wants to run on false claims that the past presidential election was stolen — in what appears to be a play to keep the former president happy — and attack reporters who don’t ask questions about something that did not happen, that’s her prerogative.
But Republicans shouldn’t be surprised if the state continues to vote for Democrats while Republicans act like sycophants who just want Trump’s favor, rather than showing that they truly care about their would-be constituents.
