Kari Lake's last election misconduct hope

Newsweek interviewed James Gardner in a story about Karl Lake’s last election-misconduct claim went to trial on Wednesday, with Lake trying to prove that Maricopa County did not properly verify signatures on ballot envelopes during Arizona’s latest gubernatorial election. Gardner believes Lake’s claims remain weak. Gardner notes Lake’s willingness to persist this far can be interpreted “not as flowing from any abiding commitment to the rule of law — she exudes disdain for the law — but as a way of signaling to Donald Trump and his supporters the depth and intensity of her loyalty.” Gardner adds: “That kind of a signaling would indeed be the coin of the realm in the kind of strongman authoritarian regimes that Trump is promising to impose if he is reelected. In an actual liberal democracy, it is a perversion of the norms of democratic citizenship.”