Republicans have done this for years…say the middle of the road thing whenever the larger public is expected to hear news about it, say the hard right thing when it’s a small event among friendly audiences. It used to be that the majority of Republican candidates were paying lip service to the hard right, throwing them a bit of red meat in a speech and doing not much else. Today, it’s the reverse…they mean the hard right things but are trying to disguise that from the general audience so they can get power and start implementing the hard right goals.
They are also more likely to be true believers, so they are openly stating these things that most American’s aren’t in favor of…they don’t really care about that, they intend to rule, even if it requires cheating to win elections. That’s what happens when you fall into the religious pool hard enough, everything is allowed for you in order to serve your leader (which appears to be Trump instead of God or Jesus now).
Lake is not very good at this, and it’s very likely to hurt her in the election…AZ tends to elect senators who are straightforward, and ejects them if they start mucking around (cough, Sinema). Gallego looks like a great candidate and fit, Lake is wearing crazy pants and lying about her positions to try to win support. Let’s hope Gallego really does pull it off, he and Biden really need to win the state to keep Republicans from taking over.
