"When Karrin Taylor Robson, a Republican candidate for governor, launched her first campaign ad last week, I did a double-take.
Was this the same woman who Republican consultants pitched as the anti-Kari Lake, the “moderate” in the race who wouldn’t peddle Q-Anon conspiracies and Trump fantasies?
If so, we’re in trouble.
In Robson’s first ad, she stands near the border at night, her white face gleaming, her voice a whisper as she speaks of the so-called failures of the Biden administration. The ad cuts to footage of brown people walking behind her during the middle of the day, people she identifies as “illegal immigrants,” (though I highly doubt she or her team questioned any of those individuals) as she promises to “finish the wall.”
Her second ad isn’t any better. A scary voice-over man makes claims of a “border invasion” while she sports goggles and a gun and declares herself a “true Trump supporter” who will “safeguard our elections.” She highlights her statements with footage of Trump autographing the border wall and grainy video of what appears to be the Trump-inspired protest that happened outside of the Maricopa County Elections Department.
The ads are so over-the-top that Robson comes off as more of an SNL caricature of a politician than as someone who has a real understanding of the responsibilities of a governor or the problems facing our state, which include soaring rent and housing prices as well as under-resourced and short-staffed schools, none of which is mentioned in her ads.
But Robson’s ads could have easily been filmed — word-for-word — by Kari Lake, who never misses the opportunity to brand herself as the Trump-endorsed candidate who still rejects the results of the 2020 election.
Or Matt Salmon, who is trying to win the nomination by out-Trumping Lake and reminding voters that what differentiates him and Lake is that he’s a lifelong Republican while she was once a Democrat, a truly unforgivable sin.
There is no daylight between these three candidates. They behave like the fictional Stepford wives, individuals who have lost their own identities and are completely submissive to one man, Donald Trump.
To be sure, candidates from both sides of the aisle use similar, partisan talking points when appealing to the base.
But what’s different this time around is that Lake, Robson, and Salmon aren’t simply parroting similar policy proposals. In fact, I’d say they’ve abandoned policy altogether in favor of campaigns centered on one thing: hero-worship of a twice-impeached, mob-inciting, ex-president.
This is scary as hell for those of us (and this includes a good number of Republicans) who want to maintain democratic elections and avoid another January 6."
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