Donald Trump and Kari Lake admit (without admitting) that she lost the governor's race

If Donald Trump believed Kari Lake actually won the race for Arizona governor, why would he tell Blake Masters not to enter the Republican primary race for U.S. Senate, saying he would lose to Lake?

And if Lake actually believed she’d won the governor’s race, why wouldn’t she tell Trump to encourage Masters to enter the race because, after all, she’d soon be governor?

You know the answer.

Trump knows Lake lost.

Wait, won't Lake be governor soon?

And Lake knows she lost.

And Trump knows that Lake knows that he knows … and so on.

On Sept. 21 Lake will get to make the last of her many last-ditched claims of election fraud to a Maricopa County judge.

If she thought that case had any merit, she would not have told The New York Times through an aide, “I am strongly considering getting in the (Senate) race and will be making my final decision in the coming weeks.”

Another view: Trump may be clearing the field for Lake

She would have said something like, “I’ll be governor soon, so I would encourage Mr. Masters to enter the Senate race. And I would encourage Mr. Trump to back him.”

Lake needs this to continue her grift

But, she didn’t say that.

And Trump didn’t encourage Masters to enter the race, but did just the opposite.

Essentially, Lake and Trump admitted — without admitting — that Lake lost the election.

They won’t officially acknowledge her loss because Lake is still busy grifting from gullible MAGA minions willing to empty their piggy banks to support Lake’s election fraud fantasy.

That’s about to come to an end.

Lake and Trump seem to know it.

But if they stretch out the delusion for a few more weeks it’ll be just in time for Lake to start grifting from the same gullible MAGAs for her Senate campaign.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake and Trump admit (without admitting) that she lost