'Need the chaos': Trump and Kari Lake buried in editorial for wanting U.S. to 'lose big'

Former President Donald Trump and failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake were blasted by columnist E.J. Montini in The Arizona Republic Wednesday for relying on — and fighting to perpetuate — chaos at the border as a "campaign strategy."

This comes as President Joe Biden and Senate Republicans have struck up a bipartisan plan that would tighten border security and implement several GOP policy goals — but it appears headed for a dead end as Trump heavily lobbies House and Senate Republicans to kill the deal and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has said he's unlikely to allow it a vote.

"A bipartisan deal to address the border problem is the best thing for the country," wrote Montini. "But it is the worst thing for Donald Trump, who has made the border crisis the key element — if not the only element — of his campaign. The same is true of sycophants like U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake, who follows, head bowed, in Trump’s footsteps."

"They want the chaos. They need the chaos," he continued. "And Speaker Johnson goes along. These are Republicans putting Trump over party, and then putting party over country."

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It's clear who is standing in the way of action on the border at this point, Montini concluded.

"President Joe Biden has said he is ready to sign the deal hammered out by Democrats and Republicans in the Senate," he wrote. "Trump and Lake, along with their Republican enablers in the House, don’t want that to happen. They know that such a deal could begin to alleviate the border crisis, which would be a huge win for the country. But they fear it also might be perceived as a win for Biden. In that case, they’d rather have the country lose. And lose big."