'They’re gonna tear me apart': Swing state primary devolves into MAGA fever dream
A swing state MAGA showdown is devolving into a far-right fever dream as temperatures spike and Republicans battle to prove to angry constituents who loves Donald Trump the most, according to a new report.
Horns, prayer, threats of evil Democrats, election conspiracy theories, deep state conspiracy theories, the QAnon Shaman, a pro-Hitler radio show, Tesla coils, 114-degree heat and a Trump-themed speakeasy all appear in Slate's reporting on the Arizona Republican primary Tuesday in Congressional District 8.
"The race became a contest of right-wing fanaticism," writes Alexander Sammon. "It may be the most paranoid and incensed and embittered primary race happening in the country."
Sammon spent several days in the battleground district going to political rallies and restaurants to cast his gaze on the five conservative candidates vying for the chance to claim Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko's seat.
The candidates are Abe Hamadeh, an Army reservist who still refuses to concede he lost the 2022 attorney general’s race; Blake Masters, whom Sammon describes as "Peter Thiel’s political pet project;" Anthony Kern, a state lawmaker under indictment for serving as one of Trump's fake electors in 2020 and known for pro-Hitler radio show appearances; Trent Franks, a politician who lost his seat for offering a staff member $5 million to let him impregnate her; and Ben Toma, the Arizona House speaker.
When the five Republican candidates appeared at a Trump-themed hangar speakeasy for a meet-and-greet with voters earlier this month, the messaging was eerily similar, Sammon reports.
According to Sammon, Toma assured the crowd, "He was a zealot."
“I was there on Jan. 6,” Kern reportedly said before promising to defund the Justice department and calling for a Chase Bank boycott. “It was a fantastic event."
ALSO READ: Boebert, MTG and far-fight friends derail Speaker Mike Johnson’s summer plans
When an older woman in the crowd railed against President Joe Biden for forgiving student loans, the candidates were reportedly outraged.
“They’re buying votes!” Kern declared. Masters added, “They’re just evil."
Sammon credits some of the race's intensity to the high temperatures in Maricopa, where nearly 400 people may have died from heat-related causes.
"The heat is also driving people crazy," he writes. "The National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine has a whole lengthy file on the ways in which this has proved to be true: 'Hot summer temperatures can make you anxious and irritable and dull your thinking.'"
Jacob Angeli-Chansley, the “QAnon Shaman" who painted his face and donned horns during the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021, was also running for a while as a Libertarian, Sammon reports.
Sammon met Angeli-Chansley at a Chipotle to discuss his prison sentence, storming the U.S. Capitol, Tesla coils, conspiracy theories such as Operation Paperclip ("a government program to bring scientists in Nazi employ to the U.S. after World War II") and the horns he said the FBI won't give back.
“The feds will just take your s--- and shoot your dog,” Angeli-Chansley told Sammon.
“Did they shoot your dog?” Sammon asked.
“No,” Angeli-Chansley replied.
Sammon wraps up his whirlwind tour with a conversation with Gregory Whitten, the Democrat in the race who has already secured his party's nomination by running unopposed.
Whitten, unlike Masters and Hamadeh, is from District 8, has about a decade's experience in politics and said he was ready to hear the concerns of any political group, Sammon writes.
“My job is to make sure the district is taken care of," Whitten said.
Asked what he expected from the Republicans in coming campaign months, he told Sammon, "They’re gonna tear me apart."