Trump’s 'carnivorous pack of followers' will 'eat their own' in 2024: Arizona columnist

Arizona's political landscape is radically different from what it was 30 or 40 years ago. The Arizona of the past was a deep red state that was synonymous with the GOP conservatism of Sen. Barry Goldwater and his successor, Sen. John McCain.

In 2023, Arizona is a swing state with a Democratic governor (Katie Hobbs), a Democratic U.S. senator (Mark Kelly), an independent U.S. senator who used to be a Democrat (Kyrsten Sinema), and a Democratic attorney general (Kris Mayes). The Arizona GOP, however, has taken a far-right ultra-MAGA turn and moved away from the traditional Goldwater/McCain conservatism of yesterday.

In a biting opinion column published on October 30, the Arizona Republic's E.J. Montini argues that Donald Trump's "carnivorous pack of howling, growling, backbiting followers" are getting ready to "cannibalize" each another in 2024.

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"It shouldn't surprise anyone that MAGA sycophants like Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar and failed governor candidate and current U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake, who supported one another in previous elections, are at loggerheads when it comes to who should replace retiring Rep. Debbie Lesko in Arizona's heavily Republican Congressional District 8," Montini explains. "Gosar is backing failed Republican U.S. Senate candidate Blake Master…. Lake, on the other hand, is backing failed Arizona attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh."

Montini argues that Lake's endorsement of Hamadeh "doesn't come because she particularly likes Hamadeh, but because she did not like the fact that Masters thought of challenging her for the Senate nomination."

"The competition must seem odd to casual observers," Montini writes. "Masters and Hamadeh are of the same stripe, the same breed. Essentially, they're the same person. They share a lack of qualifications, a fealty to Trump and a history of losing. But this is a different kind of pack. They eat their own."

READ MORE: Advocates slam Kari Lake's 'blatant lies'

Read E.J. Montini's full Arizona Republic opinion column at this link.