Taking A Selfie with the Invaders

The scene opens in the desert night, on a dirt road surrounded by darkness. A car with an open passenger door and bright headlights is parked in the background. In the foreground, a blonde woman addresses the camera. She is not the kind of perky blonde you associate with Hollywood sitcoms, nor is she the authoritative newsperson type. Rather, she’s the lean, hungry, skeletal kind who makes you fear for the safety of Dalmatian puppies. “Here we are in the Yuma sector of the international border with Mexico,” she solemnly intones.

Her name is Karrin Taylor Robson and she’s running for the Republican nomination for Arizona Governor. She explains why she’s on the border. “It is evidence of a failed border policy,” she declares, adding, “Arizona is on the front line of this border crisis.” It’s a campaign video.

Cut to another desert scene. This time the sun is shining. Karrin is back on camera. A young woman and child walk past, followed by two young men with backpacks. Unlike the candidate, all wear facemasks. They are, at most, two or three paces behind her. There is nothing unusual or concerning about them, but Karrin has a warning:

“Behind me are illegal immigrants that were just dropped off on the Mexican side of the border,” she tells the camera, “And here they are crossing into America.” It looks like an ordinary family outing, but Karrin declares, “The invasion is well underway.”

Now, stop a minute and consider what I just described. Karrin Taylor Robson, who desperately wants to scare Arizonans into voting for her because of what she describes as an invasion on the border, illustrates the danger by taking a selfie with the invaders!

Robson describes herself as a “conservative outsider” who is pro-life, pro-gun (seemingly unaware of the contradiction), and anti-immigrant, promising to finish building Donald Trump’s border wall and to send the state national guard to protect it. She wants to spend tens of millions of Arizona tax dollars to build a wall and deploy an armed force to protect us from people so frightening that she takes a selfie with them. But they present a danger, right? Let them in and who knows what will happen? My God, they are likely to work on our farms, helping provide groceries. They are likely to build our houses, clean our toilets, landscape our yards and take care of our kids. They must be stopped – after taking a selfie with them, of course.

Robson describes herself as a loyal supporter of Donald Trump – and that’s a problem. She’s not Trump’s girl. Last September, Trump endorsed a rival, former Fox News Anchor Kari Lake, in the Governor’s race. There are also four guys running in the Republican gubernatorial primary, but all eyes are on the two women in the ménage -a-Trump.

Robson may have a name identification – actually, misidentification – advantage. She might be gambling that the voters will confuse Karrin Taylor Robson with Marjorie Taylor Greene. Don’t laugh: that can work in a Republican primary.

Julie Erfle of azmirror.com, was surprised by Robson’s over-the-top border selfie. “Was this the same woman who Republican consultants pitched as the anti-Kari Lake, the ‘moderate’ in the race who wouldn’t peddle Q-Anon conspiracies and Trump fantasies?” she asked. “If so, we’re in trouble.” No, we’re in Arizona. We are the same state that sent Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs to embarrass us in Congress. The Chairperson of the Arizona Republican Party is Kelli Ward,

“Honest question: does the Arizona GOP know how embarrassing they are?” asked Alexander Lomax in a guest opinion in the Arizona Progress and Gazette, a right-leaning website. “How could you otherwise explain that so many of them have followed state party chairwoman Kelli Ward’s lead into the abyss of unnecessary conflict, paranoia, and conspiracy? Surely they can read and interpret election results; Arizona voters rejected such insanity. Instead, Ward has doubled down.”

And that was before Arizona Senate President Karen Fann and Republican senators humiliated the state with the laughable “Cyber Ninjas” fake election audit. Crazy is as crazy does and Arizona Republicans have been baptized in the church of crazy. They are also apostles of Donald Trump, which is a gift to Arizona Democrats. The Ukrainian invasion has finally unmasked Trump as the unpatriotic Putin stooge most of us have recognized since 2015, but Arizona Republicans continue to genuflect to him. May they keep it up.

Arizona voters have been generally to the left of the Arizona Republican party. While the GOP has maintained a hold on the Legislature for decades, statewide races frequently go to Democrats. In 2020, Arizona voters gave their electoral votes to Joe Biden and elected the second of two Democratic senators. Arizona voters, through the Initiative process, have voted to raise taxes to pay for education, to raise the state’s minimum wage above the federal level while also mandating sick leave, and overwhelmingly legalized marijuana.

Republicans have only a one seat advantage in both legislative chambers. That will change and the change could come this year when most voters realize that Democrats are interested in governing while the Republicans give us candidates who take selfies with invaders.

© 2022 by Mike Tully

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