Kelli Ward and company go full-on pathetic as the Arizona GOP censures Rusty Bowers

Just when you think the people who run the Arizona Republican Party have hit rock bottom, they find a crack in the floor and manage to sink even lower into the cesspool that has become GOP politics in this state.

The state party’s executive committee on Tuesday evening censured House Speaker Rusty Bowers for the apparently unpardonable sin of holding onto his integrity when Donald Trump came calling.

It was left to the head sewer rat, state GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward, to announce the (supposed) downfall of this lifelong Republican who had the nerve, the absolute gall, to stand up for democracy and the will of the people.

“The @AZGOP Executive Committee formally censured Rusty Bowers tonight— he is no longer a Republican in good standing & we call on Republicans to replace him at the ballot box in the August primary,” Ward tweeted.

The two-page resolution details all manner of assorted garbage and gobbledly goop, a whiny litany of complaint about all the times over the years when Bowers didn’t march in goosestep with the fringefolk who run Arizona’s Republican Party.

Bowers wouldn't bow to Trump 

But really, he’s being ostracized for one reason and one reason only:

His steadfast refusal to bow at the altar of the almighty Trump.

His censure comes not even a month after he testified before the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, wherein he regaled the nation with the shameful scheme to overturn democracy in Arizona -- detailing phone calls from Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Rep. Andy Biggs and others, pressuring him to get on board with overturning the results of Arizona's presidential election.

His censure came just hours after Trump once again savaged Bowers and urged people to vote for his opponent, David Farnsworth, in the Aug. 2 primary for an open state Senate seat in Mesa.

“Arizona Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers is a weak and pathetic RINO who has blocked Election Integrity, allowed illegals to pour into Arizona, and betrayed the people of his Great State,” Trump ranted on Tuesday morning, in a statement issued by his Save America PAC.  “Bowers knew we Won in 2020, but he didn’t have the ‘guts’ to do anything about the Rigged and Stolen Election.

“He is now the 'darling' of the D.C. Unselect Committee of Political Hacks and Thugs, who lie about everything, allow no due process, cross examination, or real Republican representation. Rusty Bowers is now running for the State Senate to continue his ‘con job’ against the People of Arizona. He’s WEAK on Borders, Election Integrity, and everything else. The Voters won’t stand for it any longer!”

Translation: Trump and the kooks who control the state party won’t stand for it any longer.

Ward -- who has played a role in losing not one but both U.S. Senate seats to Democrats, who has been subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury for her part in the fake elector scam -- won't stand for it any longer.

Party leaders strike again

Thus comes Bowers' censure and the party’s urging that people vote for Farnsworth, a guy who literally believes that the devil schemed up a conspiracy to steal the election from Trump.

This, from the party that sent fake electors to try to hijack Arizona’s vote.

The party that is now suing to try to kill the state’s wildly popular early voting program – the one used by nearly 90% of voters in 2020.

The party that apparently has no further use for Bowers, a lifelong rock-ribbed conservative who has more integrity in the tiniest of his toes than in the entirety of the brain trust that is now running the once-Grand Old Party (into the ground).

Fortunately, there are at least a few decent Republicans willing to call out the crackpots. Perhaps someday there will be enough of them to demand the return of their party to adult supervision.

“From the "Buffoonish" file...The actions of @AZGOP chair, @kelliwardaz & the band of sheep that make up the Exec. Committee is just continuation of a shrinking party (soon to lose registration advantage) and continuation of more ballot box defeats under her amateurish leadership,” Kurt Davis tweeted, in response to Bowers' censure.

Davis is a longtime Republican who was executive director of the Arizona Republican Party once upon a time, back when the party had room for people who were guided by their conscience.

Bowers may well lose his election on Aug. 2 but I doubt he'll lose much sleep when he lays his head down at night and reflects upon what he has done and upon what he has refused to do.

“I do not want to be a winner by cheating,” Bowers told the House Select committee last month. “I will not play with laws I swore allegiance to.”

Bowers -- the guy who dared to ask for proof that Arizona’s election was stolen -- can console himself with the fact that he’s in good company. He joins the late Sen. John McCain, former Sen. Jeff Flake, Gov. Doug Ducey and Cindy McCain, all of whom have been censured by the Arizona Republican Party in recent years.

This, as the party of the once-Big Tent moves ever closer to becoming the party of the pup tent.

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

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Trump gets his revenge as Arizona GOP censures Rusty Bowers