The lunatics are running the asylum at the Arizona Republican Party. Well, “Chemtrails” Kelli Ward is the Chair of the Party, the most vocal advocate of the Big Lie, and the orchestrator of a slate of fake GQP electors as part of Trump’s Coup Plot to overturn the 2020 election. The January 6 Commitee and the Department of Justice are investigating her and her husband, and her fellow Coup Plotters.

Brahm Resnik reports:

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Republican Speaker Rusty Bowers censured by Arizona GOP:

The Arizona GOP Executive Committee formally censured Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers Tuesday night, saying “he is no longer a Republican in good standing.”

In a tweet Tuesday night, Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward cited numerous reasons for the censure, including:

      • Bowers’ support of a bill giving tax-payer-funded in-state tuition to “illegal aliens” at state universities.
      • His support of a billion-dollar education spending bill.
      • His opposition to a bill stating only two genders should be named on government documents, and
      • His sponsoring of a bill that makes sexual orientation and gender identity a protected class.

Ward went on to say that Bowers has not been forthright in his interactions with others in legislative leadership and, in doing so, has lost the confidence of the majority of the Republican Party of Arizona.

The move comes after Bowers, along with other state election officials, testified  before the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection where Trump backers tried to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.

Bowers was questioned about a phone call from Trump and attorney Rudy Giuliani in the weeks after the November 2020 election where Giuliani floated a proposal to replace Arizona’s Biden electors by having the state’s Legislature instead choose those committed to voting for Trump.

Bowers refused, saying the scheme was illegal and unconstitutional. In an interview last year, he said he told the president he would not break the law to help him gain the presidency.

Bowers revealed a second call from Trump, saying the president phoned again on Dec. 4, 2020, but did not pressure him. He said Trump mainly made small talk, asking about his family and the upcoming holidays.

“But then he said, ‘I want to call you to tell you that I remember what you said the first time.’” Bowers said. “And I’m presuming it was about when I told him I wouldn’t. That I supported him, I walked for him, I campaigned with him. But I wouldn’t do anything illegal for him.”

Bowers said efforts by Trump’s backers have harmed the nation, undercut trust in elections and the right of people to vote their conscience.

“I just think it is horrendous. It’s terrible,” Bowers said. “The result of throwing the pebble in the pond, the reverberations across the pond, have, I think, been very destructive.”

Bowers was one of five recipients of this year’s John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage award for his refusal to consider overturning the 2020 election results despite pressure from Trump and his supporters.

Bowers is running for state senate, but told NBC News it would be a miracle if he wins his seat.

Correction to 12 News report which says Bowers still supports Trump:

The Desert News reported 10 days ago, Q&A: Rusty Bowers opens up on Trump, the Jan. 6 committee and his Latter-day Saint faith (excerpt):

DN: What do you foresee is the future of the Republican Party?

RB: If I was antifa or some other hard left group, you might be asking me that, too, if they, after the next election, started raising their profile in an intimidating way. I don’t know that it makes the party go away, but it certainly whittles down the membership of the party until maybe they’ll be happy when they finally can fit in a phone booth. I don’t think it’s helpful. When the (Arizona) party chair comes out in a primary and tells everybody what a jerk I am and what a RINO I am, and to vote for my competitor in this election, and that’s the chair? We’re supposed to be neutral in the primaries, and then you jump behind your candidate in the general! But it’s just on its head here. Trump lies and claims that I told him that our election was bogus, and that he was really the president. I mean, the guy is trying to undermine a basic institution of our governability, that is our ability to vote and have trust in it. And it’s terrible. It’s terrible, and I think it affects the party. I’ve talked to many people who say, “We were Republicans, but we’re out of there now. We don’t want any part of it.” And it’s sad. It’s sad.

DN: I wanted to ask you about Mr. Trump. In your testimony, you said that his efforts to overturn the election were “illegal” and the effects were “horrendous.” You spoke about some of his supporters harassing you and your family, and just recently, Trump called you a RINO and endorsed your challenger. But you also recently said that if Trump is the GOP nominee in 2024, you will support him. Why is that?

RB: That’s a false choice. Why would we focus on that? And I’m not gonna let you box me. I am a conservative. I have a heart that wants to help people in need and feel that we should do that. I want a candidate who has character, who wants to help other people and still maintain their principles, and who is an upright individual. After Trump’s childlike behavior in the first debate (in 2020), many Arizona women wouldn’t vote for him, and he lost the election. That election wasn’t stolen. He lost it. And they went, they voted in Arizona, 60,000ish of those women, 18 to 40, with small children. They just said, “We just can’t do it.” So they voted down-ballot Republican, but they didn’t vote for him. Or some of them even voted for Biden.

I don’t want the choice of having to look at (Trump) again. And if it comes, I’ll be hard pressed. I don’t know what I’ll do. But I’m not inclined to support him. Because he doesn’t represent my party. He doesn’t represent the morals and the platform of my party. And I just see it more and more all the time. That guy is just — he’s his own party. It’s a party of intimidation and I don’t like it. So I’m not going to be boxed by, “Who am I gonna vote for?” Because that’s between me and God. But I’m not happy with him. And I’m not happy with the thought that a robust primary can’t produce somebody better than Trump, for crying out loud.

DN: OK. The Associated Press reported that you plan to vote for Trump. Was that a false report?

RB: It’s not a false report. I know Bob Christie. He’s my AP guy. And I did say it. But it’s just that you get used to, as a defensive mechanism, when people say, “Who are you gonna vote for,” you usually say, “Well, you know, whoever the nominee is for my party,” rather than saying, “I’m voting for X, Y or Z.” I don’t like to be boxed. And so as kind of a sad evasion, I just said that. And it gets me out of a discussion and into a hotter fire. So I’d say it wasn’t a false report. He did quote me, and I’ve talked to him since. I give grace to people, Mr. Benson. If somebody gets in a fight with me, I’ll give them grace. We’ll say we’re sorry to each other. We’ll try to be amicable. So that’s my nature, is to extend some grace and not be hard in judgment against everybody or anybody. But I feel like people are being pinned both ways. I will be supporting somebody in the primary other than Mr. Trump. But it will be a Republican.

I would suggest that this interview is the real reason for the censure resolution, and that Donald Trump himself probably personally requested it.

A party chair is supposed to remain neutral in party primaries. Where is the party outrage against “Chemtrails” kelli Ward?

When the Democratic Party has chosen sides in a primary in the past, there is always outrage form the party regulars. Been there, seen that.

The Arizona Republican Party has previously censured Sen . John McCain and Sen. Jeff Flake, so really this is just par for the course.




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