While the March 19 primary is taking place in Arizona, now without a national issue, Kari Lake, one of the figures of the Trumpist right, gathered his supporters in Frontier Town, a reconstituted western setting for tourists, with 50 kilometers north of Phoenix. The photo of Doctor Anthony Fauci, Joe Biden’s former public health official, considered the architect of containment during the Covid-19 epidemic, is displayed behind prison bars. That of Hunter Biden, the president’s son, accused in particular of illegal possession of weapons, on the stages of the fake saloon.
The former television presenter ran for governor in 2022. She lost, but never admitted the result. Neither do his supporters, even if the prospect of legal action moderates the accusations. No one proclaims from the podium that the election was “stolen”. The speakers are content with allusions to “ what happened “. The message, however, has not changed. The 2020 and 2022 elections were rigged. The next ones have every chance of being one. “The Biden administration brought in 10 million illegal immigrants. They are trying to import future voters,” asserts Jake Hoffman, one of the eleven “false voters”, who participated, in 2020, in the plot aimed at preventing the victory of Joe Biden – and still a member of the local Senate. “This is the final battle”adds Abraham Hamadeh, another member of the group of denarii who refute Biden’s victory. “The Marxists have crossed the bridge. They are at the castle gate. »
The evening is mainly used to raise funds. The party coffers are empty. In November, the local branch had to appeal to the national committee to avoid bankruptcy. “They are trying to put us out of business. Like they do with Trump and Rudolph Giuliani”adds Abe Hamadeh, a 32-year-old lawyer, who filed yet another complaint, at the end of December, against Democrat Kris Mayes, accused of having “usurped”, in 2022, the position of attorney general that he coveted. Kari Lake, who is now running for senator from Arizona, is herself being sued for defamation, similar to the model followed against Trump’s former lawyer. Maricopa County’s elections official, Republican Stephen Richer, grew tired of being accused of knowingly printing ballots too small for voting machines to read.
The MAGA faction in force
Eight months before the presidential election, Arizona once again promises to be one of the most contested states in the country. Joe Biden won in 2020 by the narrowest of margins: 10,457 votes – counted and recounted – out of nearly 3.4 million. A shock in a state which had not voted for a Democrat since Bill Clinton in 1996. It has since become the emblem of the efforts of Trump supporters to discredit the electoral process. The Democrats, who are due to welcome Joe Biden on Tuesday, March 19, in Phoenix, hope to repeat the feat of 2020. On all sides, we are preparing for the worst. “If the Democrats win, the Republicans will claim there was fraud. It is now part of their identity, explains Professor Brooks Simpson of Arizona State University. The difference is that this time, the outgoing president will post the national guard in front of the Capitol. »
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