Scathing AZ column urges Trump to ‘Take Kari Lake. Please’

Following an Axios report that Kari Lake is on Donald Trump’s short list of 2024 VP candidates, an Arizona Republic columnist is urging the ex-president to pick the former newscaster and losing candidate in the Grand Canyon state’s 2020 gubernatorial election to be his No. 2.

“Here in Arizona, we know that Kari Lake would be the ideal vice presidential pick for the MAGA ticket,” Laurie Roberts wrote in a column the outlet published Tuesday in which she notes that Lake “checks all the right boxes” for a Trump vice presidential pick.

By aping Trump’s conspiracies about election fraud in the 2020 and 2022 elections and joining the ex-president on attacks on John McCain and the FBI, Roberts writes that Lake has shown that “there is no one better suited to continue and amplify Trump’s campaign of grievance than Arizona’s reigning MAGA queen.”

A Twitter account associated with Lake confirmed that she won a CPAC vice presidential straw poll over the weekend.

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Lake’s “war room” account on Saturday tweeted: “BREAKING: Out of 30 contenders, @KariLake wins @CPAC straw poll for Vice President. We’re flattered, but unfortunately our legal team says the Constitution won’t allow for her to serve as Governor and VP at the same time.”

Lake, who Roberts notes described Steve Bannon as a “modern-day George Washington” during a CPAC event over the weekend, is among four candidates – all female – who’ve climbed to the top of Trump’s VP shortlist, according to the Axios report.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and ex-South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who announced her own presidential bid last month, are the others.

“Lake is basically Trump in high heels, a camera-ready rage machine who could offer a shot of adrenaline to his flagging MAGA movement,” Roberts said.

"It’s said that Arizona did a lot to put Donald Trump on the political map," she concluded. "Now he can return the favor to the Grand Canyon State. Take Kari Lake. Please."