Kari Lake is Too Trumpy Now for Donald Trump

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Photo: Lev Radintty Images/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Ge

Since 2015, Donald Trump has transformed the GOP in his image. But one of his top sycophants may have erred by taking the Be like Trump command not only seriously but literally.

Kari Lake is a TV news anchor who is a candidate for governor of Arizona. He claims, in Trumpy fashion, that he lost the 2022 election because he was a victim of election fraud (actually, he got fewer votes than Democrat Katie Hobbs). Lake reportedly ended up on the shortlist for Trumps 2024 running mate thanks to his slavish display of MAGA devotion, from personally vacuuming the red carpet for Trump to suggesting the shed bear arms to defend him from the US legal system.

But now, several Trump aides have told the Daily Beast that he’s relishing the idea of ​​him becoming vice president:

He is a shameless, ruthless demagogue who wants power and will do whatever he has to do to get it, a Trump adviser told The Daily Beast.

This adviser added that, in recent months, Trump has been less enthusiastic about Lake himself.

Two Trump advisers who spoke to The Daily Beast said the heart of Trump’s frustration with Lake is that, in his eyes, she always craves attention.

As one of the advisers said, she a spotlight hound.

Both of these descriptions apply to Trump himself, of course. But apparently, he feels there is only room for a shameless, demagogic attention-seeker on the Trump 2024 ticket:

While Lake checks the running-mate box of being an extremely loyal Trump supporter, his ability to outwit the former president may be his downfall.

One of Trump’s two advisers, who has spoken to Trump about the matter, said the former president didn’t appreciate Lake running around saying he should be VP.

That he didn’t make him a national speaker tells you all you need to know, the same adviser added. He was an obvious choice.

A third Trump adviser, who has also spoken to Trump about the matter, said they believe Trump sees his efforts for the vice presidency.

It’s possible that it’s actually Trumps staff who soured on Lake, not the former president himself. The Daily Beast story contained complaints about Lake from three Trump advisers. Last week, People published an innuendo-laden article attributed to a political source who claimed that Lake practically lives at Mar-a-Lago and appears there more than Melania Trump. Framing Lake as a political and possibly even romantic threat seems like a good way to turn more members of Trump’s inner circle against him.

And if Trump agrees with people making negative comments about Lake, he doesn’t show it. Winning Team Publishing, co-founded by Donald Trump Jr., just released Lakes book, Unafraid. The book launch was held at Trumps Bedminster, New Jersey, resort last week. During the event, the former president called Lake a brave woman and pronounced her book excellent. He brags: I read it last night. I am a fast reader.

WATCH: President Trump joins @KariLake for her Book Launch and tells the crowd she read the book in one night

This is a great book and she is a brave woman

Get your copy on Amazon or at https://t.co/JiXPweP5en pic.twitter.com/8FzdycyoMG

— Kari Lake (@KariLake) July 5, 2023

Hours earlier at the Truth Social, Trump said he actually knew the book was good because he wrote part of it:

So did Trump write an introduction to Lakes’ book without even reading it? It’s probably best not to get caught up in details like that. The point is that Trump is a fast reader and an amazing writer and someone in Trump’s world wants to make sure that Kari Lake doesn’t absorb too much attention that is coming her way.

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