FALSE PROPHET
Kari Lake
2024 Senate Candidate, Arizona
Former news anchor and 2024 Republican senate candidate in Arizona, Kari Lake took fellow False Prophet Donald Trump’s playbook for undermining elections after she lost the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial race. She was subsequently sued for defamation after accusing an elections official of intentionally sabotaging the election.
Her actions during her final years as a news anchor made her transition from journalism to conspiracy theorist politico clear.
In 2018, she amplified an unverified rumor of voter fraud, and in 2019, she was heard promoting her profile on the far-right social network Parler. In 2020, she shared COVID misinformation via social media and reportedly resisted announcing that President Biden won Arizona on election night. She left her final anchor position only three months before announcing her gubernatorial run after a video emerged of her attending the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) under questionable circumstances.
During her 2022 Trump-endorsed run for governor, she accused Democrats of having “a demonic agenda,” and called for her Democratic opponent as well as unspecified journalists to be jailed for election crimes. At the time, Lake said that if elected she would not recognize federal gun laws, would ban vaccine mandates, and would ensure “election integrity” -- a troubling claim from a candidate the Washington Post reported “said no or did not respond” when asked if she would accept 2022’s election results and continues to deny the results to this day.
A January 2023 Arizona Republic column reflecting on Lake’s gubernatorial campaign equated Lake with “shady, self-serving televangelists.” The columnist wrote: “After getting beat and launching her crusade Lake said, ‘God is on our side. We are truly fighting pure evil right now.’ That’s not a politician talking, it’s a cleric. Saving Arizona is only a rallying cry, a call to arms. It’s not the goal. The goal is to maintain the impression that Arizona needs to be saved, and that Lake is the only person who can do so. With the help of generous congregants, of course. God help them.”
In April 2024, Lake promised supporters a bumpy six months leading up to the election, saying: “We’re going to put on our helmet or your Kari Lake ball cap. We are going to put on the armor of God. And maybe strap on a Glock on the side of us just in case.” NBC News reported that the rally included a raffle of an AR-15-style rifle.
Her rhetoric exemplifies the permission structure created by MAGA Republicans and many on the right that allows supporters to connect the dots in a way that justifies potential political violence. After the event, NBC News spoke with multiple Trump and Lake supporters who believed that the country is on the verge of another civil war.
Lake’s Christian Nationalist Rhetoric
Her slogan is “God, Guns, and Glory.”
Said: "God has given us all an ability, a talent, and this is the moment to use it… We're in the eleventh hour to save this country. We need to wake up and get moving and save it right away."
On the need for God in government: "People are not tuned into God right now. As a society, we've pushed God out. We can't utter the name 'God' in schools. We cannot write 'God' in social media. We've pushed God out, and we're seeing the consequences of that. It's not pretty. I think we need to bring God back into our hearts and homes.”
Lake initially endorsed an antisemitic, homophobic politician, Oklahoma state senate candidate Jarrin Jackson, who says "all Jews will go to hell," that being LGBTQ is "the gateway to pedophilia," and that "the Jews" are evidence that "evil exists.” She eventually withdrew the endorsement under pressure.
Has appeared on Christian nationalist movement leader and fellow False Prophet Steve Bannon’s show ‘War Room’
In contrast to her stated support of law enforcement, Lake’s campaign hired a man convicted of battery against a police officer and accused of plotting to kill an FBI informant.
Lake’s Christian Nationalist Policy Positions
Lake’s proposed education policy states that she will “align state standards” to the Hillsdale 1776 curriculum, a curriculum developed by a Christian college in Michigan to “end the progressive indoctrination of students being undertaken in concert with the a-historical and factually inaccurate 1619 Project curriculum.” The 1619 Project examines the role of slavery in American history, whereas the president of Hillsdale says that racism should not even be acknowledged in schools.
Demonizes migrants as her number one issue priority: “Day 1: I take my hand off the Bible, give the Oath of Office and we Declare an Invasion on our Southern Border.”
Opposes the right to abortion access, tweeting, “Roe v Wade and the culture of abortion is over. A new chapter of Life has begun. A chapter where we help women become the Mothers they are meant to be. Thank you God.”
Has spoken out against the LGBTQ community, hypocritically slandering drag queens as "groomers" despite previously attending at least 15 drag shows as a fan
Has supported similar stolen-election conspiracy theories and lies as spread by fellow False Prophets and Christian-nationalist movement leaders Rev. Franklin Graham, General Michael Flynn, Bishop Joseph Strickland, strategist Steve Bannon, and Pastor Tony Perkins.