There’s a reason we call it the Uniparty — because Democrats and Republican “leadership” are one and the same. By day, Republicans like Ronna McDaniel and Kevin McCarthy stump for conservatism, and rail against corrupted and weaponized federal agencies; by night they dine on Maine lobster at state dinners with Emmanuel Macron and Hunter Biden, and laugh at their exploits.

Under Ronna McDaniel’s direction, the Democrats have made tremendous gain — both outside and inside the Republican Party. The “red wave” was nothing more than a “red trickle.” She has accomplished the exact opposite of what she should be accomplishing. There’s a divide, between America First conservatives and Establishment cronies, and everybody knows it.

Now, McDaniel the wolf dons her sheep’s skin again, pretends to be a patriot, and hawks her latest sleight-of-hand. In an article published by The Hill today:

‘We can’t hate each other so much that we forget what the Democrats are doing to this country,’ she [McDaniel] said.

McDaniel encouraged Republicans to vote Republican down the ballot rather than deciding on their votes based on the specific candidate.

‘We can’t be so mad at each other that we say, “I’m not going to vote for this Republican because they like this candidate or they’re a RINO or establishment of MAGA,”’ said the chairwoman.

Except, this is the exact attitude and “strategy” that turned Arizona blue. We’ve seen in real-time what happens when Establishment Republicans waterboard conservatives with unprincipled politicians, just because they have an “R” next to their name.

Martha McSally, the golden child of Mitch McConnell and self-proclaimed protégé of John McCain, lost three seats for Republicans — she vacated a seat in the House, allowing Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick an easy win; and then proceeded to miserably lose two Senate races (Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly). Enthusiasm for McSally was so low that at one point, the most boring race on the ballot (state mine inspector) received more votes than she did — a Republican Senate candidate, in a state with a Republican majority! McSally earned the moniker Martha McSpender, because she was a rubber stamp for big government spending, even when the funding went to Planned Parenthood. She voted for amnesty eleven times, and at one point received such a low score from one of the conservative rating agencies, she ranked below Ilhan Omar. Yet, when a real conservative became a primary challenger, McDaniel herself insisted he drop out. According to Politico:

The wheels of the party machinery have begun to whir in response to McSally’s entreaties. The Senate GOP campaign arm produced opposition research on McCarthy [the challenger]… Ronna McDaniel called McCarthy and asked him to stand down….

Arizona is ground zero for election issues, but that didn’t happen in a vacuum. It happened because McDaniel’s politics and influence have trickled down and infected the state party — in turn, conservatives are fighting the Democrats with a dull knife. We don’t have an apparatus that can actually win, and it seems as though that's by design.

Mark Finchem has been a legislator for years, and in 2016, even cosponsored a bill (HB 2456) which would have given Arizona’s electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote. If he and others had succeeded in passing this bill, Hillary Clinton would have taken Arizona. (Interestingly, one of the “others” was Katie Hobbs; but hey, Finchem isn’t a bad guy, he’s just good at working across the aisle.)

Since the debacle in 2020, Finchem has failed to sponsor an election integrity bill — but now he fundraises on securing elections?

No Party outrage on nearly destroying Arizona’s sovereignty? Or what’s undoubtedly a massive grift?

Arizona is a harbinger for any other state party that dares allow McDaniel’s “expertise” and “strategy” into their realm.

Image: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, unaltered.