 I am pleased to announce that one of the most frightening, unhinged Republicans went down in flames. And by now, you all know who I'm talking about. Of course, Kerry Lake was defeated by Democrat Katie Hobbs in Arizona's gubernatorial race, 50.37% to 49.63%. So it was very close. But close or not, she lost and she will not be the next governor of Arizona. Now, of course, she is conspiracy mongering about the election, even if other Republican election deniers like Dugne Shriano, Tudor Dixon and others are conceding and they're not crying fraud. Kerry Lake is doing just that because, again, she's one of the biggest unhinged mega chuds that we've seen in quite some time. And what's funny is that in her, I don't want to say concession tweet, but her implicit acknowledgement, I guess that she lost, she teed up an attack for everyone that is just too good to be true. So she tweeted this out, Arizonans know BS when they see it. Now, I don't have to explain this, right? She is saying that her results are BS and she definitely won and it was stolen from her. But the way that she worded it, it just, it makes it so easy to dunk on her and Twitter ruthlessly mocked her for that particular tweet. So I want to share just a couple of examples that were my favorites. Monica Lewinsky tweeted, probably the most astute thing she has said. Tim O'Brien writes, at least 50.4% of Arizonans knew. Philip Gorovitch writes, perfect concession, self-aware and concise. Eric Cohen says, self-ownership perfected. Erin Rupar writes, true, I think the election results confirmed this. Kyle Kalinsky writes, she's denying the results of the election, but worded it in a way where she sounds like she's calling herself a bullshit artist. Brian Tyler Cohen says, a rare moment of self-awareness here. Benjamin Dixon writes, that's why they voted against you. I mean, it's just so perfect. So what a wonderful way for her to go out. And I don't necessarily know if we've seen the last of her, but I certainly hope that she goes away. Now, I do want to cut to a political autopsy by NBC News reporter Vaughn Hilliard. So he followed Kerry Lake's campaign for a year, for over a year, like a year and a half, I want to say. And he is going to explain why she lost. And I think that his political analysis and the reasons that he gives as to why she lost, it speaks to a broader trend on the right in American politics that I do want to explore a little bit. But without further ado, let's listen to what he has to say as he kind of dances on her grave after she put him through hell, called him a bastard, just like went after him. And now he gets to explain why she lost. Enjoy. Covered Kerry Lake for the better part of the last year and a half here. And I think it was perhaps fitting to be here across from Mar-a-Lago today. I finally flew yesterday from Arizona here. And essentially, though, I felt like it was covering Donald Trump's campaign of 2024, but in Arizona over the last year. She predicated her campaign on trying to sell the big lie and trying to sell the conspiracy theories when she wonders how she lost this race. Look at it. This is the third election cycle in a row in which Arizonans rejected Trumpism in the final week of her campaign. Who did she campaign alongside? She campaigned alongside Steve Bannon. She campaigned alongside one of the chief promoters of Pizzagate. She campaigned alongside an individual who promoted the notion of the war on white people. She campaigned alongside State Senator Wendy Rogers, who just earlier this year was here in Florida speaking at a white nationalist conference, somebody who frequently spews anti-Semitism. This is an individual who just last week called her Democratic opponent, a pervert. This is an individual who suggested there should be perp walks for elections officials, criminal charges against individuals who oversaw COVID response in 2020 in Arizona. This is an individual who's celebrating putting a dagger into the quote, the McCain machine. She asserted that Cindy McCain wants to end America. She called Mike Lindell, one of the great patriots of our time. She said, Dinesh DeSousa is one of the greatest patriots in America. She suggested Paul Gosar was the kind of lawmaker our founding fathers envisioned. She called the media the right hand of the devil, the scourge of the earth. That doesn't sound like Donald Trump. I don't know what does. And ultimately, the big question was, was she going to be able to make that sell here? And the answer is no, according to Arizona voters. And when you look at that slate of election deniers from Tudor Dixon to Tim Michaels to Jim Marshawn to Nevada to Mark Fincham, she was the latest one to fall, essentially making it a clean sweep of those not only election are gubernatorial candidates and Secretary of State candidates. And now Donald Trump is going to go and try to run on the very message that all these folks lost on. So Kerry Lake was the magaist, maga chud of all maga chuds. And she lost. Now, it might have been narrow. But again, she still lost. And I think that that matters, right? She even said something to the effect of Donald Trump is the most important man in my life. My husband is second. Like I'm paraphrasing, but she said something like that. Now, I don't think that she actually believes it, but she still said something like that. So she campaigned with Steve Bannon. She aligned with the extremists and she lost. So what does this tell us? I think that this indicates that we may be witnessing the beginning of the end of the maga era in American politics. And I say that not just because right wing media has sharply turned against Donald Trump, but because GOP voters are seemingly acknowledging that a lot of these losses are because of Donald Trump, because he propped up weak candidates that inadequately support them. And he continues to make American politics about him. And it seems like they're ready to move on. And the polls, believe it or not, are starting to reflect that. So take a look at this poll. Ron DeSantis is now polling ahead of Trump in Iowa, New Hampshire, Florida and Georgia. So the GOP base is acknowledging that Trump may not necessarily be their best bet and they're trying to, you know, move on to somebody else who is less bombastic, less of a lightning rod. And Ron DeSantis is more of a standard Republican, albeit much more savvy in the ways that he is a fascist, right? I think that one article, I believe from Vox, they put it best. They said that Ron DeSantis isn't necessarily like the next heir to Trump's throne. He is paving his own path and he's bringing urbanism to the United States, referring to Hungarian prime minister Victor Orban, who is a fascist, who did a lot of authoritarian things in Hungary and moved it to the right and essentially killed democracy. And Ron DeSantis is going to do that same thing in the United States. So one thing to look for is as the twenty twenty four election kicks off in the coming months, if not soon, if Trump announces the lower level candidates, we have to watch and see what they do. Who are they going to emulate? Is it going to be Donald Trump where they're talking about the stolen election? Or is it going to be Ron DeSantis where they make culture war issues? Their number one priority. See, it's not like Ron DeSantis is better than Donald Trump. I think that there are a lot of things that DeSantis could do that's more dangerous than Donald Trump. Donald Trump politically, when he's in office, isn't necessarily that big of a threat, at least compared to other Republicans, right? But he is a huge threat to democracy, whereas Ron DeSantis isn't a very clear and present threat to democracy. But when he's in power, he could do a lot of damaging things to consolidate his own power, for example, as the Florida governor. I mean, he redrew maps to his liking and then he won the state handily. Now he's bragging about that. So I think that he's much more savvy. I think he knows when to keep his mouth closed. And I think that overall he's more dangerous than Donald Trump, but he isn't as big of an immediate danger to democracy as Donald Trump is. He's not as overt in the election denialism like Donald Trump. So it's not necessarily a better era if the GOP is moving on from Donald Trump. It's just a new era with new threats and specifically threats to the LGBTQ plus community, namely trans folks who Ron DeSantis has made public enemy number one in his state. So, you know, this certainly signals perhaps the start of a new trend. It's not guaranteed yet. Trump may still be able to pull off a dub in the GOP primary in 2024. But are we starting to see cracks form in that MAGA wall? Yeah, we are. And I think that Kerry Legg's loss gives us further evidence of this fact because she went all in. She wanted to make it seem as if she was, you know, the personification of Donald Trump and Trumpism and MAGA chudism. And she went down. So voters are rejecting the conspiracy theories, the election denialism and the Trumpism, at least in some states. And that's certainly something that is interesting to watch. But just because Trump is gone, doesn't mean that democracy is going to live to see another day. We still have to fight because DeSantis is a threat in his own right. But either way, at least for now, I think it's worth celebrating Kerry Legg's loss because this was a big mouth unhinged buffoon. And to see her eat shit feels really good. I love it. Or turning notifications by clicking the bell. No way. It's very sad.