Kari Lake campaigns with the Confederate flag? Is she crazy? (Don't answer that)

What’s worse than a U.S. Senate candidate who pretends she won the 2022 election campaigning with a legislative candidate who pretends he’s a combat pilot?

How about a U.S. Senate candidate who pretends she won the 2022 election campaigning with a legislative candidate who pretends he’s a combat pilot and doing it underneath a Confederate battle flag?

On Friday, London’s Guardian posted a photograph from Kari Lake’s recent swing through the Trumped Store in Show Low — the one where she campaigned with Steve Slaton, who insists that he flew choppers over Vietnam in combat, never mind that he joined the Army three months after the last U.S. combat troops left Vietnam and military records show he was a helicopter mechanic in Korea.

Low and behold, right there, front and center behind her during that May 31 “meet and greet”: A Confederate battle flag.

Lake spoke with Confederate flag behind her

No kidding.

There she was, in front of a flag that’s a fan fav of neo-Nazis and white supremacists everywhere.

You’ve got to wonder on what planet this woman who seeks to represent Arizona thought it would be a good idea to stand in front of a Confederate battle flag as she waxed on about it being “time to save this great Republic.”

Sorry, Charlie: MAGA soldiers are not real soldiers

I don’t know if this is part of Lake’s campaign to win over moderate Republicans and independents as she runs around screaming about stolen elections and border “invasions” or if she’s subliminally sending a message to the basest part of her base.

Or if she really is just that dumb. (See: That time she marched into a Scottsdale rally to the song “American Woman,” which is is not exactly an ode to, well, American women.)

The optics are bad, but what was she thinking?

It’s hard to tell from her campaign’s flip response to the Guardian what she was thinking.

“The Kari Lake campaign does not respond to British propaganda outlets,” it snipped. “We stopped doing that in 1776.”

Or from her campaign’s response to The Arizona Republic.

“Kari Lake went to a store. The campaign doesn’t own the store.”

No, Slaton — the far right legislative candidate/“combat veteran” with whom she was appearing — owns the store, which sells the Confederate battle flag. (You can pick yours up for a mere $20).

As optics go, it’s a disastrous one.

Unless, of course …

Reach Roberts at [email protected]. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @LaurieRobertsaz.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake campaigns with Confederate flag. Who is she appealing to?