True Believers in Trump’s election lies (irony intended) are flocking to Phoenix to watch the Arizona GOP’s clown show up close and personal.
“The hottest new destination for political tourists this summer,” The Hill says (here, irony probably intentional; it’s 115 degrees in Phoenix), “is a barren and crumbling arena surrounded by an empty parking lot, where off-duty law enforcement officials providing security lounge under a flimsy plastic tent to escape the punishing sun and triple-digit heat radiating off the cracked asphalt.”
“Inside Phoenix Memorial Coliseum, a parade of Republican legislators from across the nation have come to observe an audit of the more than 2.1 million votes cast last year in Maricopa County … ordered by the Republican-controlled Arizona state Senate. On Friday, Arizona legislators hosted colleagues from Georgia, Utah, Michigan, Washington and Oklahoma. Legislators from Pennsylvania, Alaska, Nevada and Virginia have already stopped in town to observe. A team of Wisconsin legislators will visit Saturday,” The Hill said.
They’re arriving just in time for a record heat wave.
It should be noted all these legislators are Republicans. Sore losers buying into a blatantly false belief, unsupported by any evidence, and rejected by Republican judges all across the country, that the election was “stolen” from Trump in places like Arizona, Georgia, and Michigan. And they’re in Arizona for only one reason: To explore ways to fabricate “evidence” to support their crazy conspiracy theories (see, e.g., “bamboo ballots”).
This is partly about creating excuses for the voter suppression laws Republicans are enacting everywhere they’re in control of legislatures, which the Biden administration has vowed to fight in the courts. But mostly it’s about screaming toddlers throwing a tantrum.
Sensible people won’t take the Arizona “audit” seriously. Nor will they see the GOP as a party that can be trusted with the serious responsibility of governing.
Tourists can always go to the Corn Palace. Maybe catch the rodeo or some show. If Nebraska was a purple state we could have America’s newest attraction: Watching people count ballots! Yee haw! Yep folks at the Corn Palace are a little jealous of happenings in Arizona. State of Nebraska tourist board may send a guy or gal down to pass out brochures. Corn Huskers are tough so the Arizona heat should not bother them…it is a dry heat. [Comment edited to improve clarity.]
This is a rodeo. It sure isn’t a credible recount.