From the Twitterverse.
According to Gov. Doug Ducey, his putting an anti-Semitic white nationalist into office is better than having a Democrat (read about heroic nurse and veteran Felicia French) in office. He could not bring himself to condemn state Sen. Wendy Rogers for embracing the white Christian nationalist movement. Something the two of you share in common, Governor?
In 2020, @dougducey's PAC spent $500,000 to get Wendy Rogers elected. https://t.co/R9fDbN41yc
— Jim Small (@JimSmall) February 23, 2022
But hey, those tax cuts, amirite? https://t.co/Y9M7CaeXK7
— Jim Small (@JimSmall) February 25, 2022
Wow. Great journalism! Does @dougducey really think that @WendyRogersAZ is better for Arizona than hero nurse Felicia French? If #DoNothingDucey wants to improve education and the social safety net in AZ, all he has to do is resign. @SecretaryHobbs will do all of that 10x better! https://t.co/Yq1sXsphHC
— BlogForArizona (@BlogForArizona) February 25, 2022
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey was asked today how he feels about state lawmaker Wendy Rogers in light of her recent embrace of the white nationalist movement. Ducey told reporters it's better than having a Democrat in office. pic.twitter.com/0azqpni1hp
— Nick Martin (@nickmartin) February 25, 2022
Now Arizona lawmaker Wendy Rogers is calling for a ban of the @ArizonaMirror a local news outlet that launched in 2018. It was one of the Mirror's journalists, @jeremyduda, who asked Gov. Doug Ducey the question today. pic.twitter.com/7ZwMLEnlmJ
— Nick Martin (@nickmartin) February 25, 2022
This woman whines on social media all the time about “Cancel Culture!”, and “Censorship!” What a Hypocrite!
UPDATE: Jeremy Duda moves from Twitter to hard copy, Ducey: A GOP senator with white nationalist ties is ‘still better than’ a Democrat:
Gov. Doug Ducey said he has no regrets about spending $500,000 to elect a Republican state senator with open ties to the white nationalist movement because it’s still better than having a Democrat in her seat.
“I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish. And she’s still better than her opponent, Felicia French,” he said Thursday.
By what standard of measurement? Wendy Rogers is one of the most vile individuals ever elected to office in Arizona. She was a perrenial loser until Gov. Douchebag rained a half-million dollars on her campaign in 2020. His comment is pure GQP tribalism. To paraphrase “Dear Leader,” Wendy Rogers “could shoot someone in the middle of Washington Street and not lose the governor’s support.” (At CPAC on Friday she was inciting hanging the political opponents of white Christian nationalists. Any comments, Gov. Douchebag?)
Ducey’s political action committee, Arizonans for Strong Leadership, spent millions in 2020 to help the GOP maintain control of the legislature, including nearly $500,000 to help Republican Wendy Rogers win the race for the District 6 Senate seat in northern Arizona. Rogers won nearly 55% of the vote against Democrat Felicia French, a victory that kept the Senate in GOP hands by a single vote.
Since taking office, Rogers has become known for openly embracing the white nationalist wing of the Republican Party, including the “groyper” movement. That movement emerged after the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, with the goal of pushing the GOP further into the white nationalists orbit and making the movement’s far-right views more acceptable to the American mainstream.
One of the leaders of the groyper movement is Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust denier with a history of making racist and anti-Semitic remarks. Rogers is openly supportive of Fuentes, and was listed as a speaker at his America First Political Action Conference III this weekend.
Asked if he’s still happy with his decision to aid Rogers’ campaign, Ducey on Thursday emphasized to reporters that he needs a governing majority in the legislature. Republicans have only a 16-14 majority in the Senate, which would have become a 15-15 split had Rogers lost her race.
Asked for his thoughts on the wing of the Republican Party that Rogers represents, Ducey reiterated, “She’s better than Felicia French.”
French spent 32 years in the Army and Arizona National Guard, where she worked her way up from private to colonel. A registered nurse, she is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan and has worked as a medical evacuation helicopter pilot.
Rogers tweeted her appreciation to Ducey after a video of the governor’s comments began circulating on Twitter.
“Thank you, Governor,” she wrote.
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