Jon Skolnik, Salon

Meghan McCain on Wednesday dialed back her excitement around the Arizona's GOP gubernatorial primary after pro-Trump Kari Lake, one of McCain's political enemies, made an overnight comeback in the polls.

On Tuesday, early results showed Karrin Taylor Robson, the Arizona Board of Regents member running against Lake, ahead by 8 percentage points. As a result, McCain, a critic of Trump, took to Twitter to celebrate.

"Wow…Lake is getting crushed so far!!! Incredible!" she wrote in a since-deleted tweet. "Everybody better tune in to primetime if this lunatic loses cause she's gonna go absolute insane on live tv. Like one for the books, makes Trump look normal insane."...

Since the beginning of his campaign, Blake Masters, the conservative venture capitalist turned U.S. Senate hopeful from Arizona, has been drawn to the kind of rhetorical extremism that now animates the Republican Party, bandying insults and talking points of the kind that require no specialized knowledge or experience but nevertheless leave an indelible impression on Republican voters. As far back as 2015, Masters told The Washington Post, he'd been entranced by the rhetoric of Donald Trump, a loud misogynist, who during one of his presidential debates proudly embraced accusations of sexism rather than deny them.

"You've called women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals," then-Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly said to Trump during a 2016 GOP debate. "Your Twitter account ––"

"Only Rosie O'Donnell," Trump interjected, before getting rapturous applause from the crowd. ...

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, on Tuesday said that a recently-surfaced video of Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., running away from the Capitol riot was "not his greatest moment."

"You know, I haven't heard what his explanation is, but obviously that was not his greatest moment in that hearing," Romney told Insider shortly after the January 6 committee played footage of Hawley fleeing in its latest hearing.

It isn't the first time Romney has attacked Hawley over his possible role in inciting the riot....

Over twenty state attorneys general, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, have signed onto a lawsuit arguing that the Biden administration is using federal funding for meals to illegally force schools into complying with the federal government's anti-discrimination policies.

The suit, originally mounted by Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery, centers on the Department of Agriculture's school meal program which requires that participating schools "investigate allegations of discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation." Evidence suggests that LGBTQ+ and students of color face the highest rates of food insecurity.

"Whether you are grocery shopping, standing in line at the school cafeteria, or picking up food from a food bank, you should be able to do so without fear of discrimination," Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Deputy Under Secretary Stacy Dean said back in May, when the policy was first rolled out. ...

A top Pence aid tore into Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who is under an investigation for the possible sex trafficking of a minor, after the lawmaker suggested that former Vice President Mike Pence has no chance of becoming the next next president of the United States.

Gaetz's comments came last week during the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida, where the firebrand delivered a medley of inflammatory remarks designed to rile up his base.

"Let me just say what everyone here knows," Gaetz said at the event, garnering cheers from the crowd. "Mike Pence will never be president."...