Sinema, Trump and Ducey keep Arizona in the national headlines. Plus the Phoenix Suns!

In the new Apple TV+ series “The Afterparty,” Tiffany Haddish plays a police detective who at one point thinks back on her early days on the force.

She’s sneaking around with her buffoon of a partner, who keeps saying and doing stupid things.

“Are you sure you’re not from Florida, man?” she says.

“Arizona,” he says. “It’s like the Florida of the West.”

Fair enough.

But ah, it’s a bittersweet moment, a throwback to times when people outside Arizona just thought it was often weird and sometimes kind of dumb and not a potential threat to democracy. We were so innocent then.

OK not really. We’ll once again reference Jon Stewart calling Arizona the “meth lab of democracy” back when he hosted “The Daily Show.” In the last few years, the state has become much more of a political player nationally, and not always for good reasons.

Hello, election “audit.”

Perception matters, and it's not all rosy in the national media

Yes, Arizona remains a fixture in the national media. You may not care, but perception can matter. And it’s not all wine and roses out there when it comes to how media portray Arizona.

Whether it’s Sen. Kyrsten Sinema not supporting changes to filibuster rules in order to get voting-rights legislation passed, Donald Trump kicking off the new year with a typically unhinged rally in Florence or Gov. Doug Ducey filing a lawsuit against the Biden administration to prevent the U.S. from withholding or clawing back COVID-19 stimulus funds, there we are, in the thick of it again.

And with the legislature in session, the fun, if you can call it that, just isn’t going to stop.

I mean, this isn’t really the kind of headline you like to see, no matter where you live:

“In Trump’s honor, Arizona Republicans approve conspiracy-based election bills.”

That’s from MSNBC’s website. Too liberal, you say? Well, CBS News posted this story to its website: “Arizona Senators who cheered 2020 election review advance voting-related legislation.”

Sinema has emerged as the main headline generator from Arizona. Actually, she has been for a while now, especially now that the “audit” ended. Making jokes about her has become a staple on “Saturday Night Live.”

Not everyone is laughing. (In fact, who is?)

Sinema recently checked in at No. 1 on the Surge, online publication Slate’s “guide to the most important figures in politics this week.” Of course all the national outlets covered her vote to keep the filibuster — and her censure by members of the Arizona Democratic Party as a result of it.

This led to headlines like “How much trouble is Kyrsten Sinema really in?” on CNN, and “Democrats have had enough of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s obstruction” on Vox. The censure didn’t meet with universal praise, however. “Kyrsten Sinema’s censure is yet another ideological purity test poisoning U.S. politics,” a headline on the Washington Post website read.

As for Ducey, he’s become either a hero or villain over two education programs he created that draw from the $173 million in American Rescue Plan aid. The funding was tied to an Arizona law that prohibited COVID-19 mandates in schools; only schools that didn't impose mandates were eligible for money.

Federal officials have threatened the funding, and Ducey filed suit to prevent that from happening.

The coverage is pretty neutral nationally — “Arizona Sues to Stop Treasury From Recouping Relief Funds,” the New York Times said in a headline.

Except for the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page: “Treasury Bullies Arizona on Masks and Federal Money.”

Well now. That’s quite a take.

Trump's recent visit provided a reliable source of lies and misinformation

As for Trump, he’s a reliable source of lies and misinformation, always, but does he have to keep dragging Arizona into it?

His January rally in Florence did not disappoint on the absurdity front. Rolling Stone’s headline was, um, particularly notable: “Trump Plays the Hits and They Still Suck,” it said. Which actually was tame compared to the Daily Beast: “Trumpworld Assembles in Arizona to Spew Garbage About Psy-Ops and Clones.”

While accurate, this is also predictable. But Trump and Arizona are linked in more serious headlines. On Jan. 23 Rolling Stone published a story with this headline: “Start the Steal: New MAGA Emails Reveal Plot to Hand Arizona to Trump.”

That ain’t good.

The magazine obtained emails that detail how Trump advisers worked on plans to recertify Arizona for the former president, even though Joe Biden won the state.

Of course, such interference isn't news to readers of The Arizona Republic.

It all adds up to what seems like a permanent place in the national spotlight for Arizona. On the other hand, some of that spotlight is reserved for the best team in the NBA, the Phoenix Suns. Don't take my word for it. Just read this Sports Illustrated headline: "The Suns Are the Best Team in the NBA."

What’s that you say? The Golden State Warriors are better? Now that’s the kind of debate we could use more of.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk. Subscribe to the weekly movies newsletter.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona stays in the national media spotlight thanks to Kyrsten Sinema