I’ve mentioned how the Republican Party will, and is, ripping itself to pieces through the purification ritual known as RINO, that is, ejecting a member because they are Republican In Name Only. However, that tendency also will increasingly inflict external damage to itself, as we see in this news report from AZ Central:
Kelli Ward, the bomb-throwing [metaphorically speaking! HW] conservative former state senator and loyalist to President Donald Trump, upended the race to lead the Arizona Republican Party by beating the establishment favorite and incumbent GOP chairman, Jonathan Lines.
In doing so, Republicans from across the state on Saturday chose a more right-wing vision headed into the 2020 election cycle where Arizona is poised to reach battleground status.
The election could have far-reaching implications for how the party messages to voters and how it spends money on races.
As the general electorate of Arizona drifts toward the center, as exemplified by the victory of Democrat Kyrsten Sinema in the race for seat of retiring Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) at the mid-terms, the Arizona Republicans, blind to the political landscape, continue flying along to the rightward extremes.
I see this as another step in the trip to rebuilding the GOP – by first self-flooding it with an explosive element (Ward), which will not lead to the victory they may envision. Political extremity and purity in that extremity are not the recipe for turning lead into gold – only for tying that lead weight to the ankle and throwing them into the lake.
