Critics spot Kari Lake in 'the swamp' as her husband’s cushy Kennedy Center gig is revealed

Kari Lake is under fire for seeming to be very much part of the same "swamp" she and President Donald Trump criticized during their campaign.

"Is this the swamp you’re always banging on about, [Kari Lake]?" posted Arizona lawyer and Democratic politician Stephen Richer on Twitter/X. Richer cited a recent report by Politico that Lake's husband Jeff Halperin is being paid $10,833 a month to produce social media videos for the Kennedy Center. Staffers are reported to jokingly observe that Halperin’s growing influence could indicate he will one day be the Kennedy Center’s president.

Tom Ryan, another lawyer who posts on Twitter/X, commented that Halperin is "another crappy [Arizona] connection," as he mentioned that "Kari Lake’s best friend, Lisa Dale, has been a disaster leading fundraising for The Kennedy Center." In light of this, Ryan wondered if "anyone [is] surprised" that the Kennedy Center also "hired Lake’s husband at a salary of $130,000 to do social media videos."

Lisa Dale, Lake's best friend, is according to Politico at least partially responsible for the nosediving ticket sales and myriad fundraising turmoils at the Kennedy Center. Trump hired Dale as the Kennedy Center’s senior vice president of development despite Dale's lack of fundraising or arts experience. Instead Dale's primary qualifications appeared to have been her work managing Lake's pair of Arizona campaigns, one for governor in 2022 and one for the Senate in 2024. Lake and Dale lost both elections.

Sources close to the Kennedy Center situation report that Dale has since underperformed at her job. She is reported to have exaggerated her successes with donors, missed important meetings and staffed her department with six unqualified people who were also hired because of their work with Lake's campaigns. Although Dale was expected to raise $100 million annually, and claims to have raised $130 million, current and former employees say the actual funds fall far short of Dale’s projections. During this same period, the Kennedy Center has also seen a drop in ticket sales, plummeting from 93 percent sold or comped in fall 2024 to 57 percent in fall 2025.

Officially speaking, Lake is not directly involved in the Kennedy Center, but is instead the Trump administration's head of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM). Lake is also harshly criticized for her handling of that role.

"During her 11 months as the de facto leader of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Kari Lake has wasted millions of dollars and done profound damage to America’s foreign broadcasters, and to America’s ability to communicate with the world," writes Anne Applebaum of The Atlantic, who has covered the Lake story.

Paul Fahri, a freelance journalist who has contributed to The Washington Post, posted on Twitter/X that "Kari Lake can’t even destroy things competently," pointing out how "from March 15 through July 18 alone, USAGM paid hundreds of people more than $69 million not to work" and that "as of August, more than 500 people were still on admin. leave, still receiving salaries and benefits.”

Fahri's sentiments were echoed by Arizona "Sunday Square Off" journalist Brahm Resnick, who asked "What is [Kari Lake] trying to achieve? The Arizona politician has wasted millions of dollars while blocking U.S. efforts to bring reliable news to repressive countries."