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The most fundamental rule of being a Trumper is: Never, ever admit defeat. The other side is always wrong. Never you. Arizona's pretend-governor and current Senate candidate Kari Lake has now broken the rule. After actually losing the 2022 gubernatorial race, which she still hasn't conceded, Lake claimed that Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer stuffed the ballot box with 300,000 fake votes, which is why then-secretary-of-state Katie Hobbs stated that now-actual-governor Katie Hobbs won. This resulted in numerous threats against Richer's life. Richer responded by suing Lake, saying he and his family were constantly subject to intimidation from Lake supporters.
Lake now decided it would be better to put this behind her and told the court that she would not contest the suit and could the judge please quickly determine the damages. Richer took that as an admission of guilt. He tweeted: "Won't defend / can't defend. I'll get my due. But not the millions of people she lied to."
Lake brushed off Richer's comment by describing it as a political witch hunt and refused to admit culpability. Nevertheless, the judge will soon order her to pay Richer [X amount]. If she refuses, the case will essentially be back on, only she will be in a weaker position. If she pays, that undercuts her claim that she did nothing wrong. If some guy sues her and he has no case but she pays anyway, well, that is not what Trumpers do. Donald would not be proud of that. She does have the feeling that this could cost her big time though, since she said: "They're threatening to take everything I own. What they don't realize is even if they leave me, my husband and children homeless and penniless, that won't stop us."
Previously, Lake did the Trump thing. She claimed she was completely innocent and demanded a jury trial. Why the change of mind? Maybe her lawyers told her that she was going to lose since her statements were false, she should have known they were false, she made them anyway, and Richer suffered injuries as a result. Those are the ingredients of a successful defamation suit. Now she has to worry about the judgment, which could be in the millions. But right now her focus is the Senate race and the lawsuit is just a distraction she wants to get rid of. She had better pray that the judge doesn't get any ideas from the $5 million E. Jean Carroll won the first time, the $83 million she won the second time, or the $148 million the two Georgia election workers were awarded from Rudy Giuliani, who has now filed for bankruptcy. Incidentally, he took his apartment, which had been up for sale for 6 months, off the market in February. (V)