Kari Lake should be the new Tucker Carlson

Tucker Carlson is out at Fox, and if Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell isn’t burning up the phone lines to get to Rupert Murdoch, he should be.

Here is what McConnell should say in his pitch:

“Take Kari Lake. Please.”

Kari Lake should replace Tucker Carlson

Lake as Carlson’s replacement works on so many levels.

• She’s got the credentials. She’s the current darling of the far right, a ready-for-prime-time election denier who never allows facts to get in the way of a good conspiracy theory.

• She’s got the experience. She was a nightly news anchor for the local Fox affiliate for more than two decades, and she’s spent the last two years swinging her sledgehammer from sea to shining sea.

• She’s got the right look. She’s Donald Trump in pumps, basically, only with better hair and a more polished delivery.

• And she’s got the proper outlook. She’s willing to forgo facts and tell an audience exactly what they want to hear – a key piece of the Fox News strategy, as we learned through internal communications released during the Dominion lawsuit.

Lake would be a huge “get” for Murdoch, a camera-ready rage machine who could offer a shot of adrenaline to flagging MAGA movement as she waxes on about the border “invasion” and a stolen election, the evil mainstream media and a stolen election and drag queens and a stolen election and Joe Biden and a stolen election and Hunter Biden’s laptop and oh yeah, a stolen election.

It would be a huge win for the AZ GOP

More importantly, her departure would be a huge win for the Arizona Republican Party and for Republicans nationally as they seek to recapture control of the U.S. Senate.

Kari Lake jumped into last year’s governor’s race with a sledgehammer and bellyful of anger and proceeded to rant her way right to the top of the Republican ticket.

Then she proceeded to lose a race that was the Republicans’ to win.

Now – assuming all those hours spent schmoozing at Mar-a-Lago don’t land her the No. 2 spot on Trump’s presidential ticket – she’s eyeing next year’s Senate race.

That should have McConnell breathing into a paper bag.

Republican Party voters in Arizona have developed a habit of nominating extreme candidates who can’t win statewide elections.

Lake's ballot challenge: What to know about the claims, evidence

The result is a previously red state now represented by two Democratic senators, a Democratic governor, a Democratic secretary of state and a Democratic attorney general.

If Lake runs for Senate, she'll win (the primary)

Now comes Arizona’s reining MAGA queen, fresh off a loss and ready to run for the Senate seat now occupied by Democratic-turned-independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.

If Lake runs, she’ll win. The Republican primary, that is.

She already commands a wide lead over Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb and other likely Republican opponents, according to one recent poll.

That’s a party nightmare in the making. That is, unless you think three donkey kicks – in 2018, 2020 and 2022 – were enough to convince Republican voters to rethink their strategy.

Yeeeah, no.

If McConnell or key Arizona Republican leaders (assuming there are any anymore) aren’t on the phone with Fox today pushing Lake as Carlson’s replacement, they’re committing political malpractice.

Fox News owes Arizona this much

Fox owes us this one.

The station took considerable heat when it called Arizona for Joe Biden in 2020 and We the People came through, electing him by a hair.

Murdoch can now repay us by giving Lake a shot and Arizona a break.

“Everybody wins,” one Republican operative told me. “Arizona gets rid of her, Mitch McConnell doesn’t have to worry about her and Tucker’s loyal viewers get a worthy successor to the prime time cesspool he leaves behind.”

Now about Don Lemon and CNN.

Any of you Democrats have Chris Licht’s number? I’m thinking Sinema ...

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake would make a fine Tucker Carlson replacement