LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. – Arizona GOP Senate hopeful Lake Kari told supporters they could “put on a Glock” to prepare for the intensity of the 2024 campaign and urged military and law enforcement veterans to be “ready,” as its race is intensifying in a key battleground state.
“We need to send people to Washington, D.C., who the swamp doesn’t want there,” Lake said near the end of a speech Sunday to a crowd of Arizonans in Mohave County. “And I can think of a few people they don’t want there.” First on this list is Donald J. Trump; the second is Lake Kari.
She described her resistance to the Washington “swamp,” saying, “They can’t bribe me, they can blackmail me.” That’s why they don’t want me in Washington, DC. And that’s exactly what President Trump wants me for, they’re fighting with him.”
“He is ready to sacrifice everything that I am. This is why they are coming after us with legal action, they are going to come after us with everything. This is why the next six months are going to be intense. And we have to tie our – let’s see. What do we want to attach? asked Lake as some in the crowd laughed. “We’re going to fasten our seat belts. We’re going to put on our Kari Lake helmet or cap. We will put on the armor of God. And maybe strap a Glock to the side of us just in case.
“We’re not going to be victims of a crime,” Lake continued. “We are not going to have our Second Amendment taken away. We are certainly not going to see our First Amendment taken away by these tyrants.”
Earlier in his roughly 30-minute speech, Lake gave another warning about the time between now and Election Day.
“The next six months are going to be difficult. If you’re not ready to take action, and I feel like with so many veterans and ex-law enforcement, active law enforcement” – Lake paused to request a show of hands – “…you’re ready for this,” Lake told his supporters. “It’s going to be a wild ride, the next six months. This is the time when we must save our country.
Lake’s campaign declined to comment when asked to clarify the point of her remarks and whether she was implying there could be political violence in the next six months.
Although Lake did not explicitly warn against political violence, this is how one of his supporters interpreted his rhetoric.
“They’re going to do everything they can to disrupt the election, whether it’s another pandemic or inciting civil war,” said Geenee Roe, 63, when asked about the speech. Lake afterwards. The event included a raffle for an AR-15 style rifle.
NBC News asked a Lake Havasu City resident, who plans to vote for Trump and Lake in 2024, if she thought another American civil war was a practical possibility.
“All the signs are there,” said Roe, who believes the political left is trying to put the MAGA movement in trouble. “Saying MAGA people are bad, that we’re inciting riots — and everything that happened with J6, it was definitely a set-up,” Roe said, referring to the debunked conspiracy theory which the January 6 riot at the Capitol was a ploy to frame. Trump and his supporters.
Lake’s comments came in northwest Arizona’s Mohave County, which defeated Trump with 75% of the vote in the 2020 presidential election. The Senate hopeful is aiming for an even bigger margin in 2024.
“If Mohave County is running at 100 percent or close to it, they can’t cheat their way out of Maricopa County no matter what they do,” Lake said, building on an iconic talking point .
Lake has continually dismissed the results of the 2020 election, which saw President Joe Biden narrowly defeat Trump in Arizona, as well as the results of the 2022 election, which saw his gubernatorial bid fail by a slightly wider margin . Lawsuits and other reviews of the results have found no evidence of fraud or malfeasance affecting the election results. And in March, Lake decided not to contest liability in a defamation suit filed by a Republican election official in Maricopa County.
Stephen Richer, the Maricopa County clerk who plays a key role in election administration, filed a defamation suit against Lake in June, alleging that she had “repeatedly and falsely accused” him of having caused his electoral defeat in the race for governor won by Democrat Katie Hobbs. . Lake’s legal team recently filed a motion for default judgment stating they do not dispute his guilt. She will instead argue against damages in this case.
She continued Sunday to question the integrity of Maricopa County’s election results.
“You all know what’s going on in Maricopa County. I mean, you know, you know, the garbage they push there,” Lake said of Arizona’s most populous county, where Richer and the Republican-controlled Board of Supervisors hold elections local.
“We’re going to need all of these counties outside of Maricopa County to step up, and I’m counting on Mohave County to lead the way,” Lake said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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