The Gaggle: Wendy Rogers is a 'disgrace' to Legislature, but not because of her politics

Arizona state Senator Wendy Rogers salutes former President Donald Trump at the Save America Rally in Florence on Jan. 15, 2022.
Arizona state Senator Wendy Rogers salutes former President Donald Trump at the Save America Rally in Florence on Jan. 15, 2022.

Freshman state Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, has been among the most prominent voices lying about the 2020 presidential election. But her bombast goes well past political puffery.

After the recent massacre in Buffalo that police believe was at the hands of a white supremist, Rogers crossed a line in a vague social media post that fueled a conspiracy that the slayings were part of a federal false-flag operation.

Nearly all her Arizona Senate colleagues voted for an ethics investigation, but they limited their scrutiny to a seven-word post after the slayings in which she noted that “Fed boy summer has started in Buffalo.”

Dangerous rhetoric: Arizona Senate to investigate Wendy Rogers 

They rejected a Democratic measure to immediately expel her. The Senate Ethics Committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday on the investigation into Rogers and her tweet.

In this episode, Brian Levin, a national expert on hate and extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, joins The Gaggle. He explains how Rogers and the rise of extremists in Arizona compares to what is happening more widely across the country.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: The Gaggle: Wendy Rogers is censured but is it enough?