Kari Lake, who lost a race for Arizona governor in 2022, partly because 30,000 Republicans voted against her (see details here), is one of America’s most strident election deniers after Trump himself.
A British reporter for Australia’s Sky News who disputed her assertion that American elections are “corrupt” drew forth the following tirade:
“I wouldn’t expect you, coming from Australia, to know one damn thing about our country. I wouldn’t expect you to understand what’s happening in our country because I can see you’ve come at this from a left agenda … and you don’t understand what it means to shed blood for your freedom like we did here, when we broke ourselves free from a tyrant called King George. So when you learn a little bit about our history, then I’ll have a conversation. But you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
(Read story here.) It’s nice to know she’s up on history through 1781 — even got the British king’s name right! — but nothing here indicates she’s heard of the world wars, so let’s bring her up to speed.
First order of business: Read up on Gallipoli. Australians were dying in the First World War more than two years before the first American soldiers reached France. Also Anzac Day, which Aussies observe to commemorate the sacrifices of Australian and New Zealand troops for, you guessed it, freedom — including ours.
Second order of business: Read up on the Battle of Britain, the Battle of the Atlantic, the British troop landings at Normandy, and Brits and Australians slogging through the jungles of Burma and New Guinea. For freedom, theirs and ours. Check a map; Australia is a lot closer to Japan than we are. They faced possible invasion.
And what’s this “we”? She didn’t fight those wars, or serve in the military, or shed blood for freedom. For her, the fight for freedom is strictly vicarious. Or, to put it another way, stolen valor. She’s made no sacrifices for our country’s freedom, and as an election denier and Trump-coup supporter, she’s actively trying to subvert it.
Freedom includes, among other things, our right to choose our leaders. In 2020, the American people elected Joe Biden; and in 2022, Arizonans didn’t elect her. She should accept that. Patriotism includes being a graceful loser. Being a whiny loser isn’t patriotic at all. It’s a repudiation of the countless soldiers, sailors, and airmen who bought her freedom for her.
But that’s okay; as one of those veterans, I don’t really mind her whining, or even her lying. This is a free country, and people can believe and say whatever they like, even when they’re wrong. I just wish she’d learn some recent history and stop being so ignorant.
Ignorance, especially the self-righteous kind, grates on me. Being an educated person, I can’t help that. It’s just me.