What Comes After: A 2024 Game (Gameplay-PAUSED)

[Devout Centrist]

Credit to the DOE Global Energy Storage Database

Horse Mesa Dam Campground, Arizona

February 15th, 2029

Governor Lake walks out to ”Immigrant Song” by Led Zeppelin

Good afternoon my friends!

Wow. This is beautiful, folks. It is an absolute privilege to address so many of you here today. Farmers. Ranchers. Small business owners. All of us come from different walks of life, but we stand united by a common cause and by a shared commitment to the salvation of our Republic. By being here today, by exercising your rights as free sons and daughters of America, each of you has made an ironclad commitment to the principles of liberty and justice for all. You’re doing today. Right here. With each other. It’s amazing if you think about it.

It is unfortunate, folks, it’s so unfortunate that we can’t meet under better circumstances. We stand here at the site of an American tragedy. An American tragedy! For years, the Federal Government has squandered the West’s natural resources. Our nation’s forests, once a proud symbol of America’s heritage and history, dating back to George Washington, have gone up in a pillar of smoke. Ranchers have seen their cattle herds cut in half by far away algorithms, operated by people who type on keyboards for a living. They’ve never been on a ranch, folks. Not a day in their lives. And finally, our richest farmland, the most productive on earth, on earth! It lays fallow because Federal administrators have cut us off from our most precious resource: water. Water. The thing everyone needs to live.

This is what’s at stake, folks. The survival of our farmers, our nation, and our way of life depends on us taking action today. Let me be clear, people, this is an issue that affects everyone. Everyone in this country. American farmers don’t just provide for their families or their communities, no no, they feed all of us. All of us! They feed the world, and not just our friends, but our enemies too. Many countries have not been very grateful for what our farmers send them, yet we feed them anyway. Why? Because it’s what we do. It is our duty! The free people of this land chose to farm because of the liberty that was promised to them as Americans. Free Americans! As people of this country. No Federal administrator or legal mandate can take that away from us. This nation owes its very existence to the men and women who farm, who feed this nation! Rich or poor, white or black, you rely on them to sacrifice for you, day after day.

But this problem, this struggle, is much bigger than one dam or one river, my friends. Something has gone terribly wrong in this great land we call home. From shore to shore, the people of this nation have lost control over their lives to a growing elite that is hellbent on destroying the foundations of this country. You know them by many names. Globalist corporations. Wall Street. NBC, CBS, ABC. The Democrat Party. Joe Biden. Kamala Harris! You know all of them.

These people and their fellow travelers have stolen control away from the people of this country. They have enshrined foreign values in our schools, destroyed the security of our Southern Border, and have sold our nation out to China, Saudi Arabia, and a whole host of bad actors around the world. They have let the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the criminal have free reign over lives of the innocent.

You send someone from 1776 or 1865 to this country today, and they’d be horrified! Horrified. Gone is the belief in shared sacrifice. Gone is love and kindness for one another. It’s all hate now. All hate. And you look at some of these people, Kamala especially, and you can tell they don’t love this country. It’s true folks. They hate us. They hate this country.

Folks, we’ve seen what these people do with power. They get drunk on the stuff! They have turned our cities into open air drug dens and safe havens for homeless junkies. They have allowed violent looters to run wild in bloodthirsty killing sprees. They have let globalist corporations buy up millions of houses from coast to coast, only for those same companies to sell it back to Americans at exorbitant prices. They have let Saudi Arabia, which is a desert country you know, they let them buy up billions and billions of gallons of our water, leaving our hardworking farmers to go bankrupt once the rivers run dry. It all evaporated folks. It’s gone! We could’ve stored it in the Hoover Dam, and they just let them have it. It’s a total sham, people.

We have to stand up to these people, folks! We have to do what is necessary to save this country! Every day we let these people run the show, our nation gets weaker and weaker. That is why I’m announcing, today, to you, now, that I am running for President.

[APPLAUSE]

It’s happening people. It’s official! I’m running to take control back for the people folks. I’m running to bring stuff back for regular people. I’m running, let me tell you, to build a movement. To build a movement that will save this country.

Let me tell you, it’s not gonna be easy. There’s a whole legion of people lined up against us. Billionaires. The media. An army of keyboard typers. It won’t be easy. But we have each other, folks. We have a movement that’s going to raise hell in this country. We are going to fight for the men and women that built this great nation. People who work with their hands. People who live paycheck to paycheck. People who had their job taken from them. People who can’t afford $5,000 a month in rent. People ripped off by globalist corporations. They’re your friends! They’re our friends!

Then there’s our opponents. The enemy, if you will. The criminals. The rich. The people who look down their noses at you folks. The guys that want to cut social security to fund Saudi Arabia. They are the enemy, my friends, and it’s our duty to tell them ENOUGH! We won’t let them control us anymore. We won’t let them destroy our way of life anymore.

This is a coast to coast movement, folks. I have complete confidence that the liberty loving people of this country will emerge victorious on November 5th, 2024. It’s time to get to work.

[Devout Centrist]

Statement from Kari Lake

Has Mike Pence been on the right side of any issue? We all saw how he betrayed President Donald Trump in 2020, which is what led to the whole Biden/Kamala hostile takeover in the first place. He has no spine! No spine! He won’t stand up for America’s farmers because he can’t stand them! He can’t stand regular people. It’s sick.

Mike Pence is a real strange guy, if you think about it. You look at what he thinks about women, and it’s some strange stuff. He doesn’t want to be in the same room as a woman without his wife. You can’t lead like that folks. How is Mike gonna make deals when he needs his wife to make all the decisions for him? When he needs his wife to dress him in the morning? He can’t do it! He can’t do it.

That’s why he’s gonna lose badly next year, folks. He’s at 2% now and falling. You hate to see it!

[Devout Centrist]

Campaign Memo - Q1 and Q2 2023

Date: 2/18/23
Subject: Key Demographics for Governor Lake

Jeff,

I have completed my initial review of the focus group and polling data you sent over. While the numbers don’t look stellar now, I think we have a real opening with this so-called ‘deprived’ demographic - we’re talking households that make less than $60k a year, less than a college degree educational attainment, white adults in their mid 50’s, etc. I saw your notes about the South and I don’t think we really need to worry about this whole religious angle. Our opening is with grievance, and there’s plenty of that to go around with the base.

Based on my research, these are the top issues for likely Republican primary voters as of 2/1/23:

1. The State of the Economy (32%)
2. Immigration/Illegal Immigration/Amnesty (24%)
3. Crime/Criminals/Looting/Thugs (15%)
4. Abortion/Pro-Life (12%)
5. Healthcare (9%)
6. Miscellaneous (8%)

Ideally, the Governor should focus her talking points on the top three issues. Hitting on the big issues (invasion at the Southern border, inflation, rising crime) will benefit greatly with the base, but it’s important to be mindful of the impact later down the stretch. We don’t want to be put in a position where past comments have to be explained.

For now, I recommend the Governor avoid the abortion issue as much as possible. Maybe some pro-life statements here or there, but we don’t want this be a big issue going into next year. We can’t just cater to the base on this issue if we want a path to victory next November.

I saw the list of endorsements you put out - I think we definitely lean into the pro-wrestling popularity here. Brock Lesner and the Undertaker are two big gets, and we can plan our rallies around the WWE/AEW schedule. I think there’s big potential to get positive word of mouth marketing from these venues; people will talk about this stuff with their friends and it’ll get spread around without us having to spend much money.

As far as the first four go, I say we focus our efforts on New Hampshire and Nevada. Iowa will be jampacked anyhow, and in SC we have to deal with the distortionary effects of Haley’s entry into the race. Let her win the favorite son primary, we stake our game on the more independent minded electorates a la Trump.

Let me know if you have any additional comments. You can send this to the Governor for her review if you think it’s ready.

Matt

[Devout Centrist]

Statement from Kari Lake

Nikki Haley is one of the biggest liars in the race right now. Not only did she betray President Trump and a whole host of other good Republicans, she was also 100% bought by woke corporations while Governor of South Carolina.

When it became clear her time in office was up and she was going to age like warm milk on a hot sidewalk, Nikki decided to cash in on her 'success'. She got to fly free with woke corporate executives across the country. She got so, so many gifts from these freaks. What was she doing up there, up in the air? We don't know folks. We don't know. A lot of people are saying she recorded these flights. I think we need to look into that.

She has the flight records folks! She had Chinese and Mexican executives lined up, and she was cashing them out left and right. It's pretty sleazy if you think about it. She was taking millions from these guys, millions, while South Carolina suffered from the worst schools in the country.

We need to be looking very closely at these flights, folks. Nikki better release the flight recordings now. We know where she's hiding them. We're gonna get to the bottom of this, believe me.

[Devout Centrist]

Statement from Kari Lake

Mike Pence just told the truth, folks. He was the big guy behind the massive tax cut for the rich. He voted to cut taxes for woke billionaires. And he just told you that he did it. Wow. Honesty, in politicians, it’s rare. But Mickey, he is happy to tell you he cut taxes for the rich. It’s despicable.

And there’s more, people. Mickey Pence comes out and defends his Queen: Nikki Haley. Queen Nikki can’t do any wrong in their eyes, folks. She wants a quarter million dollars to give a speech to the Chinese Communist Party? Say no more! Say no more. These guys are falling over themselves to defend Queen Nikki from the truth. There’s something deeper going on here, and we have to find the truth.

[Devout Centrist]

Statement from Kari Lake

I'm an American. I'm a fighter. I work for a living. It's rare to see that in politics, you know. You get all these people who have built their lives by saying words or typing stuff on a keyboard. Those are the folks who run for President. Not me, folks. Not me. I'm not like them!

Queen Nikki, who has treated me very badly from day 1 by the way, has unleashed a storm of lies to cover up her extremely shady dealings and salacious past. Let's start with the obvious: tax cuts are great, people. They're good. But only for the right people. We don't want tax cuts for woke billionaires. We don't want tax cuts for people who don't work. It's a scam, when you do it that way. These people don't add value. They don't work and nothing gets created. Why should some guy who makes $10 million a year get a tax cut? The math doesn't add up folks. The math doesn't add up.

And, you know, if you look at those people, they all donate to the Democrat Party. It's terrible. We have Republicans here, or at least they say they're Republican. These people come out and say, "oh the rich, we have to include them. We have to be nice to the guys in Manhattan. They're so so good for the economy." What did these people do for America? They shipped our jobs over to China and India, which if you look at Queen Nikki, we all know what's going on there. These woke corporations ship our jobs overseas and then go for the kill: the woke kill.

These woke corporations hire equity consultants. E-q-u-i-t-y. It's a big word. It's a bad word. These people pay some college dropout half a million dollars a year. Half a million dollars. And what do they do with that money? They tell you that men are evil! Men are evil sex fiends. And women, they're victims. Victims of a sexist system and they'll never get ahead. And they gather together all the men, usually the white ones, but also a lot of black men too, and they say, "you have to apologize. YOU BETTER APOLOGIZE NOW FOR BEING A MAN! YOU ARE A RAPIST AND YOU HURT ALL WOMEN BY EXISTING." What the hell is happening here folks? Why would you ever cut taxes for these low lives?

Let me tell you, there is only one good rich guy, and his name is Donald J. Trump. Donald J. Trump! Everyone else is in the pocket of the Democrats. Every single one. These guys are not like you and me. They don't work for a living. They don't have kids to put through school or bills to pay. And we're supposed to cut taxes for them? Never. Never gonna happen with me as President.

Yet here is Queen Nikki, saying we need to cut taxes for the rich. And so everyone at this rally is asking her: "Who are the rich? Who are the rich?" You know what she does folks, she says people who own their own business. They're rich. Small business owners. Small business owners! Do you think they're rich?
[Crowd yells NO!]
No! NO! These people work their asses off every day to survive. Every day. They're hard workers. They earned a big tax cut. When Queen Nikki comes out and says, "Small business owners are the rich," it's very mean. It's very mean stuff folks. So disrespectful!

Let me tell you, this past week I went to a bakery down in Beaufort. Cute little place, cute little place. I walk in the front door, and there's this slender Korean lady at the front desk. Her arms were like paper mache. She must have been 60, 70, 80 years old. Tough woman. She was so so friendly. So friendly. And I ask her, I come up to her and ask her, "How long have you been working here?" She tells me, "50 years. 50 years." Wow. 50 years folks. 50 years. And I say to her, "do you feel rich? Are you wealthy, would you say?" Her voice, it got strong. Very powerful. "No," she said. "No, I work hard every morning to support the bakery. It is my life." It is my life! It is my life, folks. Small business owners are strong stuff folks, and we're gonna make sure Queen Nikki doesn't forget that.

It gets worse folks. Queen Nikki says she stood up to China like no one else. Like no one else! When she was doing model UN in New York. Model UN. She made some speeches to people, using words typed up on a keyboard. And she's tough on China? No way folks, no way. We have President Trump to thank for that. He took China seriously. You look at Queen Nikki, and you think she could ever take on the Chinese? With all that going on? Nope. No way.

Fortunately, we don't have to worry about that, cause she won't win. She won't win, believe me. She's not a contender people! She has no stamina. No stamina.

[Devout Centrist]

Lake Campaign Schedule

March
Month's theme: Secure the Border

After a successful start at Apache Lake, Kari Lake's team launched into action. By the end of the week, the candidate had formally filed to run for President with the FEC and had a PAC established in her name. The campaign opted to focus on a mix of small dollar donations from the Republican and large contributions from sympathetic Republican donors.

During this time, the Lake campaign began to set up field operations in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada. The team decided to focus the lion's share of their efforts in New Hampshire and Nevada in order to differentiate Lake from the other Republicans in the race.

To energize the Republican base and to build a foundation of support, Lake leaned into a populist message on immigration, summed up by the simple slogan "Secure the Border":

It's three simple yet beautiful words, people: Secure the Border. We have a terrible, terrible crisis going on down there and no one is trying to fix it. No one. We have Democrats and some Republicans, who are traitors by the way, who don't want it fixed. It's tragic. They should be in prison somewhere if you think about it. We gotta bring Alcatraz back for them.

You know what goes on down there, right? We've got coyotes streaming across the border. Coyotes. It's basically the Mexican wolf, but they're people. They're called coyotes. And they're wily, believe me.

These guys are called coyotes. That's what they are. What these guys do is they human traffic people across the border. They traffic them. They drag them across by the truckload. By the truckload! No air, no water. They just truck them over, in steel boxes. It's horrific. You have these thugs stealing women and children across the border, and they get away with it. They have the drugs on them too. Lots of drugs. Drugs. Drugs. Drugs. It's like a candystore from hell, folks. Candystore from hell. And Democrats are doing nothing to stop it. People are dying. Dying. We're drowning in these drugs and they're doing nothing to stop it.

We need to secure the border folks. Say it with me: Secure the Border. Secure the Border. Secure the Border! It's gotta be a priority. If we do that, we won't have a coyote problem anymore. We won't. We won't. We have to fix it. And then, once it's secure, we can decide who gets to stay in this country. We want Americans folks. We want taxpayers. We want hard workers. We want people who do it the right way. The legal way. And once we secure the border, it'll all work out. It'll be beautiful. But we have to secure it first.

Let me tell you, you look at some of these places today, and they need jobs. El Paso. Brownsville. The Democrats, they want to defund ICE. I.C.E. The immigration guys. They're basically the 6th, 7th branch of the military if you think about it. They want to defund these guys. What the hell are they thinking?! They're gonna put so many people out of work, it's unbelievable.

No. Not happening. Under a Lake Administration, sounds great right folks? Under a Lake Presidency, we are doubling ICE and the border patrol. Doubling them. Not only will these good guys secure the border, they'll create thousands, maybe millions, of good jobs for people. For Americans. It's what we need folks. It's what we need now.

April
Month's theme: Kill Inflation

March's mild success enabled the Lake campaign to take their message to the airwaves, with Lake debuting a slew of cost effective advertisements on social media, Youtube, and conservative talk radio. The Lake campaign began to court endorsements from professional sports in order to attract more blue collar, marginal Republican voters. The campaign hoped that this strategy would benefit Lake by winning over the Trump base. Additionally, in the month of April, Lake focused her attention on the issue of inflation.

You look at what's happened to this country and it's a disaster. Total disaster. Food prices are up 90%. Houses cost 50% more. Gas is up 75% since President Trump. How the hell did we let this happen? How? You look at Democrats, and they're taking joy in people's misery. You see Kamala the other day, not a great looker you know, and she's cackling. Cackling. She's looking at the gas prices and she's cackling. They can't keep getting away with it. They can't keep getting away with it!

None of this stuff was going on under Trump. None of it. It's a 100% manufactured problem. You wouldn't be having this problem if we had a real leader in the White House. If we had a leader, a real leader, this inflation nonsense would disappear into thin air. Poof! Boom! Gone!

We know how to stop inflation people. We know how to. There's gotta be a tax cut for working people. For the "middle" class. And the poor. But only the working poor. We are not gonna reward bums. We are not rewarding lazy people who sit on their asses all day and complain. No. Only American workers.

And we're gonna take care of people that work. Believe me. That starts with cheaper healthcare and cheaper prescription drugs. No one, I mean no one, should be paying some low life hospital freak a gajillion dollars for insulin. No one.

Low cost housing. Cheaper day care. You know, stuff working people need. Stuff they need that costs them an arm and a leg. We're gonna make it cheap. You fix those things, you fund them, you give people a tax cut, it'll all be perfect. Inflation will vanish. People will cheer. Wow!

May
Month's theme: End Outsourcing

Buoyant following a respectable April, the Lake campaign swung through the Upper Midwest in a bid to reassemble the Trump coalition and find a following among dissatisfied independents. The team took campaign stops in Erie, Pittsburgh, Youngstown, Toledo, Monroe, and Chicago. This unorthodox strategy was designed to elicit interest from disaffected minority voters.

So here we are, in Youngstown, and it's full of such beautiful people. Such great people. Really amazing folks. But it looks like a bomb hit this town. It looks like someone dropped a nuke on this place. What happened? What happened? The keyboard typers. The woke corporations. They took everything from you. They outsourced millions of American jobs overseas. Millions of jobs. All it took was 20 years for everything to be destroyed. Everything. These people, they should be charged with murder. Murder! They saw this place, on their bright little screens, and they saw numbers. They saw numbers. They didn't see people! They didn't see a town of wonderful, hard working Americans. They saw numbers. And the numbers they put into their computers, it didn't look good. So they moved your jobs away.

Let me tell you, it's the biggest tragedy in American history. Biggest tragedy maybe ever. They stole jobs from Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philly, and Youngstown. Stole them from right under our noses and moved them away. So many beautiful workers, so many great men, of all races by the way, were put on the streets. So many Democrats and a lot of Republicans let this happen. They made it happen. They let it happen! They made our country commit suicide by the millions.

All these politicians, except for Trump, have lied. They lied for 20, 30, 40 years. Every time they come through here. They've come through here and said, "oh, don't worry, jobs are coming back. They're coming back, we promise! We swear! Cross our hearts and hope to die!" Folks, did those jobs come back? Did those factories reopen? Do we have new buildings here? No! NO! Those people, they said they'd cross their hearts and hope to die. And there are no jobs here. Unbelievable.

We are turning that around fast folks. We're gonna take Trump's policies and bring them back. Big, big tariffs on China and India. We're gonna reopen every shuttered plant. We're gonna bring that money back, and tax the woke billionaires who took everything from you. We'll bring back construction jobs through big grants and better tax policies. We're gonna invest in so many places, it'll be amazing. We're gonna turn the Rust Belt back into the Steel Belt. No more Chinese steel! No more expensive keyboard typers. Just American factories with American workers. Done deal.

[Devout Centrist]

1. An Opening Statement

I'm a fighter. I'm a worker. I'm an American. My name is Kari Lake and I'm here to restore leadership to this country. L-E-A-D-E-R-S-H-I-P. Leadership. I jumped into this race because, frankly, this party and this country needs a leader. A fighter. And we haven't had that these past few years. You look at everything that's going on, and it's terrible. We have the worst inflation in 40, 50 years, maybe ever. We have roving gangs of criminal thugs taking over the streets. We're losing to China and Russia again. It's a disgrace and it's because we don't have a leader. None of this was happening when Trump was President, let me tell you. That's why I'm in the fight now. I'm a leader.

I look across this stage and I see two, maybe three people who are real leaders. That's not good enough. We have to fight for this country. We have to fight for it. And some of these candidates don't have the stamina for it. They don't have the heart for it. If we're gonna rescue America, if we're gonna turn this nation around, we have to fight back. I'm a fighter, and I'm gonna fight like hell for you.

2. Raise your hand if you believe that Donald J. Trump is the rightful winner of the 2020 Presidential Election (Say if you raised your hand and if you like, write one or two sentences)

My hand is up. You can see it. It's up. Up there.

You look at 2020, and there were so so many miscounts, it's horrendous. How can we trust an election when we don't know where the votes are coming from? You look at the maps, and it's like, "oh, Joe Biden just received a thousand votes from Timbuktu, wow, he's in the lead now." It confuses everyone.

We need Voter I.D. so this disaster never happens again. Everyone gets a free voter I.D. For Americans, not for illegal immigrants. That way we know that each vote is secure, because there's an I.D attached to it. No more fraud, no more illegal voting.

3. Who is your favorite Republican President in your lifetime? (Keep your answer concise, 2-4 sentences)

Trump. No question. He fixed the economy, we had no wars, we have unity like you wouldn't believe. The Party was strong, wages were going up. It was tremendous for the country.

4. The United States has an out of control inflation problem. The cost of housing, food, energy, and gasoline is spiraling, what will you do to control inflation and bring down costs for working Americans?

We have to have leadership in the White House. We have to put money back in people's pockets and we have to give them a hand up. That means cutting taxes for workers. Workers. Not the rich. Not the woke. Just workers. Legal, American workers.

After that, we gotta take on the people raising the prices. The pill pushers, who are making our drugs for seniors cost so so much. The woke corporations which, by the way, have huge profits at the expense of Americans. The outsourcers who stole so many American jobs and moved them to China and India. We have to be very tough on these people. We're gonna crack down on their nonsense, and bust a lot of monopolies. They're gonna return all the jobs to our country, or we're gonna tax the hell out of them. Once we do that, inflation will vanish into thin air.

5. Will you support a national abortion ban? Would it be after 15 weeks of pregnancy? 10 weeks? 6? Or would you prohibit all elective abortions?

I love life. It is beautiful. Babies, they're great folks. Very cute. We have to treasure life. We have to protect life. We have to cherish life.

But we have to let people protect life. If you set a big standard, at the national level, it hurts everyone. You're basically turning the country into a police state. A big, big police state. Do we really want the ATF breaking down some woman's door in the middle of the night cause she had a miscarriage? No! No way. You look at what Joe Biden is doing with the Department of Justice, to Trump, and it's sick. We don't want regular Americans to be treated like that.

I trust Americans. Americans are smart. Americans love life. If we trust the people, if we keep local control over these issues, then life will win. Life will win.

6. You have been saying you're the rightfully elected Governor of Arizona, however Katie Hobbs sits in the Governor's chair and is recognized as such by most of your fellow candidates and Republicans. Are you the rightful Governor of Arizona, why, and do you still seek to reassert your claim?

What happened in Arizona was a tragedy. We had something like 60, 70% of polling machines go down. All at once. They broke. They died. So many people, Democrats and Republicans, were hung out to dry on election day. People waited in five hour lines to vote. And the polls closed so early that many people couldn't get to the polls. It's terrible.

I call myself Governor because I'm a leader. I'm a leader. And I don't want anyone else, Republican or Democrat, to lose an election because the machines crapped out. I don't want that to ever happen again. But I'm not here to focus on the past. The past is dead and gone. We have to focus on the future. We have to focus on the beautiful future of this country. And that means making sure every vote counts. That means having voter I.D to prevent illegal voting. It's not all about me me me, folks. It's about you. It's about America.

7. Rebuttal Period/Free Space

Our country is in deep trouble folks. We're not winning now. We're losing. We're losing. We can't let Kamala and the Democrats get four more years to ruin this country. We can't let them ship millions more jobs overseas. We can't let them allow illegal immigrants to vote. It would be terrible. It would be terrible. We need a fighter. We need a leader.

Folks, I'm ready to lead. I'm ready to fight. We're gonna take on everyone who hates this country. Everyone. I'm ready to make this country great again. Thank you.

[Devout Centrist]

Statement from Kari Lake

Kristi Noem, who is at 2% and dropping in the polls, is one of the biggest phonies in the race so far. You look at what she's done to South Dakota, and it's horrific. They're bleeding jobs left and right. Young people are heading for the hills. She can't lead folks. She can't lead.

The other day, excuse me, the other day, Kristi goes out on stage in front of this tiny crowd and she's squaking about all sorts of things. All sorts of things. She attacks me for voting for John Kerry. "Why would anyone do that? Why wouldn't you vote for George Bush?" He was such a great guy, they all swear. Even though, if you go back and look, George Bush is basically a Democrat now. He endorsed Trump's enemies. He's gone out into the world and praised all sorts of Democrats. But none of these Republicans ever bring that up. They never do. No. They want you to swear fealty to the guy in charge. They don't want you to think for yourself. Kristi, she's been told to vote a certain way all her life, and that's all she does. You could put a crop duster in charge of South Dakota and he would make way better choices than Kristi. Way better.

Why did I vote for John Kerry? Let me tell you, go back to 2004. Where were we? Where was our country? We were in Iraq. We were in the desert, and we were led there by George Bush. He told everyone, he told Americans, "it'll be quick, you'll see! This guy has WMD's! We have to send our boys off to war! Our mission is accomplished!" But it wasn't accomplished folks. It was never accomplished. We wasted trillions and trillions of dollars on that war. We lost thousands of American troops in, really, hell on earth. Hell on earth. And what do we have to show for it? Nothing! Nothing. We got ISIS. You remember them? ISIS? We got them alright. That was our "thank you" from Iraq. By the way, Trump, he gets no credit from people for destroying them. He crushed them in a year. That's a leader. That's a leader. He made his own decisions. He made them.

These people, they have no self respect. I'm the bad guy because I didn't vote for that disaster. I'm the bad guy because I don't think like they do. Kristi, she's told to vote for war, and she does it. She does it. No critical thinking skills, none. You need that as a leader and she doesn't have it. Her donors tell her to jump and she asks them, "how high?" How high?

Everyone has been trying to run away from Trump. Run away from him. Forget he even existed. Because he exposed all of them as frauds. Kristi. Queen Nikki. Mike Pence. They're all losers and failures. They've received marching orders all their lives. They can't make decisions for themselves. They listen to whatever lobbyist they met with that day. They listen to the Pharma guys. They listen to the woke billionaires. And somehow I'm a 'flip-flop'? Because I make my own decisions? Gimme a break.

[Devout Centrist]

Statement from Kari Lake

She keeps lying folks. She keeps lying. It's almost unbelievable how she can stand up in front of a crowd and flap her mouth like that. Let me clue you folks in on what's going on: Kristi got bad news from her pollster. The numbers guys. They come up to her and tell her, "Kristi, you're dying out there, they don't believe you! Your special interests are mad! The oversea billionaires funding your campaign are mad! You have to attack! You have to attack!" And so, of course, she goes after me. Like all of the other, frankly, frauds in the race, she comes after me. Because she knows, if her numbers don't go up, it's over for her. Totally over. She's up a creek without a paddle, and with big big loans to pay off.

So here's what happens. Kristi, looking like Margaret Hamilton out of the Wizard of Oz, she comes after me. "I'm not a loser, I'm not a loser, you're the loser!" You're the loser. Folks, Arizona, it's a close state. Very very close state. We have hundreds of thousands of people coming into this state to flee California. They're running away so so fast and we're giving these people a place to call home. As a result, every election is close. Every election. Arizona gets these people, gives them a home, and then we have a debate. It's democracy. Or it would be, if not for the fraud and the machines crapping out on election day. There was a lot of shady stuff going on there believe me.

Meanwhile, look at South Dakota. It's a great state. It's a beautiful state. It's a Republican state. Very very Republican. You look at the numbers, and Trump won the state by something like 20, 30, 40 points. Huge landslide. Huge! Nothing like it. The numbers out of there were tremendous. He won that state by almost 2:1. So many great people in South Dakota.

Let's look at Kristi now. Let's look at her. When she ran, in 2018, for the first time, she won by 3 points. 3. It was so close, the media was like, "what the hell is happening here? This is Republican turf!" And she almost lost! She almost lost. They had to drag her body across the finish line, physically drag her, it was so so close. And now she's attacking me for not winning in Arizona. How stupid do you have to be to buy this act? How stupid do you have to be? They robbed Trump of Arizona in 2020. He lost here due to fraud, it was terrible. Meanwhile, South Dakota, it's all red. Trump won bigly, bigger than anyone else in history. All red. Bright bright red. And she almost lost like a dog to some no name Democrat from the middle of nowhere. How can anybody call her a winner? With a record like that? It's like the Boston Red Sox losing to a t-ball team. Tom Brady getting beaten by a 5-year old. It's shameful.

I guess that's why she's still defending the Iraq War. Still defending it big time. It's like someone is telling her to defend that horrible war. Paying her to stand up there and say, "Bush was a good guy, everything was great. We love war!" We love war. No no, we don't. We don't love war Kristi, you love war! Your friends love war. Your special interests love war. Americans, we don't love war. We don't love it.

Let's talk about the elephant in the room now. B.O. Barack Obama. He made a lot of terrible decisions folks. He really did. But you have to go back to 2008. We had a war that was going on forever. We had the worst Republican President ever, who everybody hated and wanted thrown out of office. Everyone despised him. And who did the elites nominate? Who did they nominate? They nominated John McCain. Liberal John McCain, who by the way, wanted thousands more troops in Iraq. Thousands more dying in the desert. He wanted that. Who the hell would vote for this guy? He sunk Trump's healthcare bill, he went out there and told Republicans to vote for Democrats. Frankly, Obama was more honest than McCain. More honest. And we got out of Iraq quick. Which is what we wanted. We wanted that. If McCain had won, we'd still be there today. We'd still be there. Dying in the desert.

And, of course, because Kristi hasn't gone on the attack enough, she has to throw one more pitch. One more attack. Her big donors call her, and they go, "we like the lies, Kristi. We like the lies and the attacks about Iraq. It's great. But you have to use her playbook. You have to go after her for the media thing. She worked in the local news. You have to attack her for that." And lo and behold, she calls me part of the media! Part of the biased media! After she talked to her donors, she has the right talking points.

Folks, let's have a show of hands. Is MSNBC biased media? Mhm. Yep. There we go. 90% of hands are up right now. Is CNN biased media? Again, everyone's hand should be up. What about the local news? What about your local news anchor? Are they biased media? Do they lie to your face about Kamala Harris or crime or inflation? No. Hell no! Those men and women bust their asses every day to give you the truth. It's all in the name. Local news. Local. News. News. Local. It's right there. These folks care that their communities get the facts. They're not Don Lemon. They're not Al Sharpton. They're local. They're local. They investigate criminals in your town and keep you informed. Folks, was I on CNN or MSNBC? No. No. I was a local news anchor. Local. I cared about the people of Phoenix very deeply. No one bought me. No one told me what to say. I did my own research. I reported just the facts to the people. But Kristi, she doesn't watch local news. She only listens to the news the donors give her. So out of touch. It's like she's forgotten what America is actually like!

[Devout Centrist]

Statement from Kari Lake

Thank you folks for coming here today. You're great. You're great. You're the best this country has to offer, I tell ya. We have construction workers here. We have pipe fitters here. We have wrench holders. A beautiful crowd. A very beautiful crowd. This is the America we're fighting for. This is the America I'm fighting for. Wow.

But I have a big announcement to make. A big one. It's so big, I wrote it down and made it a press release. That way, everyone can read it. Everyone. Even the liars and frauds in the press. Even Queen Nikki and Queen Kristi, who, just so you know, sent me something very interesting the other day. Something scandalous. Something I'm going to make public very soon. Very very soon. But for now, we have a press release. Everyone can read it.

"Kari Lake is calling for a total closure of the Southern Border, with Mexico, until we can completely halt illegal aliens entering the United States."

It's right there, folks. Right there. For you to read. We have a border crisis going on. We had something like half a million people surge into this country in the past month. It was massive. You have all sorts of people running across the border and our President is doing nothing. Joe Biden is doing nothing. Kamala is doing nothing. We don't know if these are good guys or bad guys, but we're letting them in. They're coming in by the truckload. It's a huge swarm, folks, and no one is leading on this issue. No one. I'm the first person to take illegal immigration seriously. The first one. The first since, of course, President Trump. But everyone else in the field, they have no idea. Haven't got a clue. How can they call themselves Republicans?

You look at some of the other candidates in the race, and they're sending illegals into the country. They're sending them deeper into the country. It's like they're making it harder for us to deport them later. Harder for us to find the criminals. You're sending illegal immigrants, trucks and planes full of them, deep into America. The Feds lose them, because they're incompetent, and all of a sudden, we have criminals and murderers deep in American cities, where they'll never be found. Who the hell does that? Who the hell does that? It's like they're trying to get Americans killed folks. Trying to get Americans killed.

On day 1 of a Lake Presidency, we're gonna be closing the border to new arrivals. We're bringing back Title 42. We're sending people back to Mexico. We're gonna find and round up the Coyotes. And for the good people, we'll be respectful. But we have to find the good ones. We can't let everyone in. We can't let the bad ones in with the good ones. Until this issue is fixed, we're closing the border. We're gonna close the border, for a period, then we're gonna secure it. Once it's secured, with a wall, with a big beautiful ICE and a border patrol, we'll reopen it for good. But only once it's secure.

[Devout Centrist]

Lake Campaign Schedule

June
Month's theme: Take Back America

During the month of June, the Lake campaign devoted much of its enegry towards building its small dollar donor network. In particular, Lake sought to build positive word of mouth enthusiasm among the Republican base rather than focus on any one constituency. To this end, Lake obtained several crucial endorsements from network celebrities and local news anchors. The campaign opted to save money throughout the summer, building a sizable warchest for the coming uphill battle in the fall.

At this time, Lake toured the states of New Hampshire, Nevada, Michigan, and Illinois.

July
Month's theme: Protect American Jobs

In July, Lake worked to expand her image as an independent, visiting aging industrial towns and stagnant suburbs in the Mid-Atlantic. The Lake campaign honed its message on people left behind by the Biden economy, specifically construction workers, nurses, and teachers. Lake hammered the Administration for the high cost of living and the Administration's refusal to negotiate harmful trade deals. Additionally, Lake attacked the Federal Reserve for raising interest rates too quickly and for putting construction workers out of business as the housing market stalled. Finally, Lake promised to increase the salaries of hardworking American teachers and nurses, arguing that these public servants deserved a pay increase after years of government neglect.

August
Month's theme: Save Social Security

The Lake campaign went all in on saving social security in August, with the candidate pledging to increase benefits for seniors without raising taxes. Further, Governor Lake excoriated her Republican opponents for wanting to cut social security and raise the retirement age above 65. Lake visited the states of Iowa, Florida, and New York, hoping to gain a surge of donations from conservative seniors. Additionally, Lake's visit to Florida was meant to attract a key constituency that had so far gone unrecognized by the Republican frontrunner in the race.

September
Month's theme: The American Family

As fall neared, the Lake campaign pooled its resources and focused on Nevada, New Hampshire, and favorable Super Tuesday states in the Upper Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. During September, Lake focused on the virtues of the American, promising to raise the child tax credit, implement maternity leave, and protect American families from rising prices and woke billionaires. Lake hoped that, by fusing her message with more red meat for the conservative base, Republican voters would be attracted to a fresh message that distinguished her from the other candidates in the race.

[Devout Centrist]

Statement from Kari Lake

So happy to be here today people. So so happy. The Villages! This is real America at its finest. Everyone who has come down here, I can see why you made the move! It's stunning. It's spectacular. Florida is truly one of the best states in the country. One of the best. It's been up there for many many years, but you truly have to come here to experience it for yourself. You really do. Life is nothing without Jimmy Buffett playing in the background. Heaven on earth.

Show of hands, how many of you fine people moved to Florida? There's no shame in it. I get it. I'm a snowbird myself. I was born in Illinois and moved to Arizona to catch some sun. [Pauses] I see a good number of hands. That's great. That's great.

Everyone's story is different, you know. We have guys here who worked their asses off on the factory floor for forty years and are enjoying their golden years out on a golf course. We've got some gals here who worked in real estate all their lives and now want to cool their heels poolside and sip on a margarita. Whatever you're doing, I hope you love it. I hope you love it. This is when you get to live your life and say, 'to hell with it'. You earned this. You earned this.

That's why I came here today folks. I opened up the newspaper last week, tossed the front page out, and went straight to the sports section. It wasn't pretty. So I picked up the front page again, and had a look. It was terrible. We had this guy, Thune, in Washington. He told a bunch of lowlife reporters that social security is on the chopping block. ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK! This guy, a Republican by the way, is telling everyone that he wants to cut social security big time. Raise the retirement age to 70, 75, 80. You name it. I saw that, and my jaw dropped. You don't piss off the elderly in this country people. You don't piss off people who worked their whole lives and earned every penny they got. Who the hell is this guy, Dune, to tell people on social security, "we're cutting you off". What the hell has he done for this country? I guarantee you, he never fought in a war. He didn't work as a secretary for 20 years under a horrible boss. He's done nothing! He's a loser! Why are we letting this guy decide what happens to social security?

You hear some people these days, Democrats but also some Republicans, and they say things like, "we need to cut entitlements." Let me break it down for you fine people: when they say entitlements, they mean social security. They mean your hard earned money. They're calling you, and every hard working American in this country, entitled. You paid taxes all your live, you busted your keister doing your job, and you're the entitled one? What is wrong with these people?

If - when, I'm elected President, we're protecting social security for good. No cuts. Never a cut. None. Ever. None. We're passing a law that protects it permanently. No one, Republican or Democrat, will ever be able to touch a dime of your hard earned money. Of the money you paid into the system. Then, on day 2, we're raising social security benefits. Raising them. Every senior should be able to retire every. Every hard working American senior deserves to retire to a place like here. Obviously, we're not letting illegals on the system. We're not letting bums mooch off the system. We're not letting woke billionaires plunder social security. But we need to raise benefits for American workers. For American retirees. You look at inflation, and it's spiralling out of control. It's the highest in decades. Decades! You draw a straight line, and it's like it goes vertical! And some people want to cut social security? Never gonna happen.

We're raising benefits, and we're gonna pay for it by taxing the woke billionaires. Not taxing you, not taxing workers, taxing the rich and the woke. Not regular Americans.

We'll also pay for it by removing the bad illegal immigrants. We're gonna kick them out and save a boatload in the process. We'll pay for it by punishing companies that moved jobs to China and India. Big time. If they don't want American workers, they don't get our tax cuts. Simple as that. If you do that, if you do it right, we'd be able to raise the benefit tremendously. We'd be able to keep the retirement age at 65 forever. Forever. Permanently. Maybe even lower it, if we're smart. But we're protecting your benefits forever. And everyone, every American worker, young and old, is gonna have social security protected. Forever. It'll be beautiful.

[Devout Centrist]

Statement from Kari Lake

Marriage is a compromise between two people and, as many couples will tell you, there are good days and there are bad days. I never claimed to be a perfect person and I have said things in the past that I am not proud of. The folks who know me, the American people, know these words don't reflect who I am. In the heat of an argument, it's easy to let your emotions get the better of you, and for that, I admit I am a flawed person. It has been through my Christian faith that I have found peace and tranquility amdist the anger and strife of everyday life. It is these same values I have worked to prioritize in my relationships with others.

Right now, I am officially calling upon Maricopa County, and all relevant legal authorities, to unseal my divorce records and make them completely public. As soon as possible. The folks who want to read them, who want to parse every word and every quarrel of my marriage, can go through them as much as they like. The people who have demanded these records will see, in great deal, the ups and downs of a flawed, yet loving marriage. That's the whole truth.

To the American people and to my supporters, I say that the work of this campaign goes on. We are hitting the road tomorrow. We are going across this great nation together as one. Together, we are going to change this country for the better. I promise to fight for you, above all else, and restore desperately needed leadership to this wonderful country we call home. Thank you.

[Devout Centrist]

HOMECOMING: Lake Returns to Eldridge

It is such an honor to be here today. Such an honor. You know, coming back here, to where it all started, it really makes me thankful folks. Very very thankful. For me, it's fascinating. I've been back to visit family in Iowa many times, but I can't remember the last time I paid my old highschool a visit. So many new buildings here. They completely redid the quad, painted it a lighter shade of red and white. The track field is now astroturf. So so much change. But I can still feel the same spirit here. It's intense. You can listen to the past speak to you in a place like this, on a day like today. Really reminds someone of what once was. Of what used to be.

You know, a lot of people have accused me of avoiding Iowa. They said, "Kari, she's not going to Iowa! What's she afraid of? Why is she being very rude to the people of Iowa?" These are the kinds of folks who make a big show out of visiting every county in the state. They've never been to Iowa in their entire lives, and they all descend on this state at once. All at once. And they're screaming, "we want your vote, we want you at the caucus. We want you! We want you!" They do this act for over a year. Maybe even two or more! They keep coming back, and they demand your support. Demand it. They'll put out all kinds of scary phone calls and tell you, "Our records say you haven't voted in X years, and if you want to keep your house, you better vote this year." It's a spectacle.

I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to do that. I wanted to make coming back home to Iowa special. I wanted to come back to my hometown, specifically, and make it count. Not to strongarm people into supporting me. Not to send out phone calls or make those TV ads that blare at you over and over again. No no. I came back here to see the Iowa I remember.

Sometimes, I look back at my life and wonder what could have been. When I graduated from North Scott High School, I thought about the boundless future ahead of me. There were so many opportunities, so so many. And I wanted to take it all in. I wanted to be prepared. It's why when, I got my first job as an intern at KWQC-TV in Davenport, I took my first paycheck and put it in a savings account.

My parents were big on that, you know. They wanted me to save save save for my future. My dad was a tough as nails teacher and football coach from Richland. He was a veteran, he was a family man. He was an American above all else. He came to Elrdrige, for the first time, 50 years ago. He got a short term contract to teach government and history courses to a new generation of Iowans. That short term contract turned into over a decade of service and devotion to his school. All of his students loved him. You got into class, you followed the rules, and he was the greatest guy in the world. He was a fighter. He was my teacher. He was my Dad. And I carry his words with me every day I'm out here on the campaign trail. Every day.

Mom got her start in nursing. She grew up in Appleton and met my Dad in the summer of 1973. It was love at first sight, people. Love at first sight. My mom has this natural talent for finding the fighters. When I went into the hospital with her on bring your daughter to work day, it was incredible. This woman, my mother, she worked a 60 hour work. Easily. 60 hours a week. And they paid her peanuts when she first started. But she wasn't a quitter. She got her foot in the door, at these places, muscling against some of the most arrogant doctors in the world. And she never let go. She was so so passionate about nursing. Even today, I get calls from her. I get calls from my mom asking if I'm eating enough, if I'm taking vitamin D, if I'm getting enough sleep. I love her for it. She reminds everyone who's around her of what's important, at the end of the day.

I came back here, to Iowa, because it's where I got my start. It's where my parents made their lives. It's where I grew up. It's where I learned. It's where I loved. And coming home reminds me of how I felt that day at high school graduation. How I felt. When it looked like the future was ours for the taking.

Life has a funny way of changing our perspective, folks. I moved out to Phoenix back in 1994 to work as a weekend weather anchor. I can tell you, that job, we didn't have too much weather to report. No winter storms, no tornadoes. People just tuned into my segment, and I told them, "it's sunny, go enjoy the day!" That was great. But let me tell you, I always had this sense of longing. I missed my relatives back in Iowa. I missed that sense of community that we once had. My parents, they had 9 kids. 9! They were productive, believe me. Very very productive! And I missed my brothers back in Iowa. I took this opportunity, big big opportunity, that I felt I couldn't pass up. It took me away from Iowa. And, while I came back to visit a lot, it wasn't the same. It felt like I had lost something much bigger than myself. I had lost something I didn't even know I had.

There is a quiet unease that haunts this great nation, folks. It is a unspoken sense of loss. It's a fear, a deep fear, that our country has lost its way. That the America we knew, that our parents knew, is gone forever. That the future, once boundless and bright, has slipped between our fingers and has left us feeling hopeless. There is a feeling, it's true. There is a feeling that we've lost control. That once, we had everything figured out, and now we don't. It's the way that parents feel when they tuck their kids in at night, and flip on the local news. It's the way a farmer feels when they hear the bank is foreclosing on their property. It's the way I feel when I come back to Eldridge.

None of this was inevitable. None of it. Our nation, our country, used to have that security. We used to have it. 40 years ago, the communities around here were so tight knit. You had folks taking their kids to Mass, or church, on Sunday. You had people leaving their doors unlocked and meeting with friends on their front porch. We had a government that cared about its people. That protected its people. When we had that, towns like Eldridge florished. Iowa florished! My parents benefitted greatly from that, and they made me never forget what that felt like.

But it got taken away from us. It got stolen away from us. By the rich. By the politicians in Washington. By people who saw Iowa, and the rest of the country, as just 1's and 0's on a screen. Numbers. On a spreadsheet. They saw you folks, and they thought, "we can move them around, we can hire them, we can fire them. That factory doesn't need to stay in business. That farmer doesn't need his farm. We need the company stock to go up. We need to cut down social security and medicare in order to support tax cuts. We need to take in hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to support low wages. That's how they think. That's how they think.

These folks, they go off to Stanford, Yale, Harvard, you name it. They go to these places, and they make connections with people who don't like America. Investment bankers. Billionaires, Equity consultants. The schools are good, they're good schools, but they meet people who don't like this country. And they take that message to heart. Some of them even came from Iowa, or the great middle of this country. They came from here, and they listen to these investment bankers who tell them this country needs to change everything. We need to toss out what made us great, and we need to listen to them.

These people, these politicians as we know them, they prey on your insecurity. They look at you, and they see a sucker. They dress up their ideas in these nice, neat little packages. They sound smart. They sound so so smart! They say everything you want to hear. They say all the good things about Iowa and about America. It's great! And they want your vote. They always ask for your vote at the end. Above everything, they want that.

I'm not going to tell you who to vote for, or what you should do. I'm telling you where I stand. Where I made my own choices. I'm telling you, as someone who grew up here, as someone who took those values to heart, where I made up my mind.

Do you folks know why I made my divorce records public? Why I did that? Something so personal, something that people could use to hurt me big time? I did it because I want to be honest with you. I don't want any secrets. I want you to know that, when you hear me say something, it's the truth. I won't hide any of my past. I won't hide anything from you. Because, really, my story is your story. Your story is America's story. That feeling of loss, we all share that.

I'm gonna change that as President. Everything I've done, all my life, has led up to this moment. I came here because I want to tell you folks, right here, right now, that we are taking back control. We are taking back control of this country! We are going to take back control of our cities and our towns. We are taking back control of our future! We're gonna fight like hell for this country.

We're taking back control. We're taking back control from woke billionaires steal our jobs over to China and India. We're taking back control from bureaucrats who type away at keyboards and strip us of our rights. We're taking back control from the people who forgot about Iowa. Who forgot about the whole middle of this country. We're taking it back from them, right here, right now.

This is our cause. This is our struggle. This is our fight! Together, we will rebuild the American dream and secure the rights that were handed down to us from our forefathers. To the people of Iowa, to the people of America, I say this loudly:

Take back control Iowa! Take back control America! Thank you!

[Devout Centrist]

Statement from Kari Lake

Queen Nikki has removed herself from the ballot in Florida. She took her name right off of the paper. It's crazy. Why would you give up on a state like that? It makes no sense. Makes no sense. None.

That is, unless, as some have said, she came to a shady deal with Ron DeSantis to give him Florida without a fight. A lot of people have been saying DeSantis came to a deal with Queen Nikki. What did he give her? What did he trade her? We have to find out folks.

[Devout Centrist]

Statement from Kari Lake

Everyone is coming out against cutting social security folks. You love to see it. You love to see it.

What a difference a month makes. It’s like night and day. Night and day. I make a big speech about social security, and now everyone’s talking about it. Everyone. You remember what I said? What I said, back then, on this stage? No cuts. None. No cuts. No cuts to social security. No cuts to Medicare. Now we have Senators, the good ones, saying they won’t vote to cut it. That’s good news people. Good news. And I’m happy that, after I brought this issue up big time, they came out against cuts. They had the courage to come out against cuts. I made it an issue, and they knew they had to do the right thing. They had to do the right thing. They had to, or they knew the consequences. What people would say. What people would do.

This is why I had to speak out against the cuts. The media, who is very wrong on social security, keeps calling it an entitlement. “Oh, how are we gonna fix this entitlement crisis? How are we gonna fix it? We can’t have social security. We can’t have it.” Let me tell you: seniors are not entitled. Entitlement, you know, that’s a bum living off unemployment in mommy’s basement. That’s entitlement. Working your entire life, breaking your back, to earn a living? That’s entitlement? It’s disgusting that they would even suggest it. Would even suggest it. You said that back in the day, and they’d knock you upside the head. Unbelievable. This is why you can’t trust woke billionaires people. They try to divide you with all this In This House nonsense, and then they make shady deals to cut social security. It’s disgraceful.

We are not cutting social security folks. We are not cutting Medicare. We are going to protect seniors, we’re gonna help the people who worked their entire lives to have social security. That’s my view, and I’m sticking to it.

[Devout Centrist]

Excerpt from Lake town hall in Nashua, NH

I get a lot of calls from friends and family these days. They call me up, and they say, “Kari, you’re doing so good out there. You’re doing unbelievably well. The numbers, they’re like nothing anyone has ever seen! But you’re fighting a lot. You’re combative. You fight and fight. Why not take your foot off the gas pedal a bit? Why not tone it down a bit?”

And so, I hear what they’re saying, and I’m listening. I’m listening with both ears open. Wide open. I think for a second, and I say, “Tom, I’m a fighter. I’m a fighter. This country needs a fighter. This country needs someone who can lead. If times were good, if they were good, I’d be a lot nicer. But times aren’t good right now. The country is suffering tremendously under this terrible President and Vice President Kamala. We’re losing. We’re losing badly. We need a fighter right now, and that’s why I’m running.”

I’m an independent. I’m a Republican. I make my own decisions. You look at a lot of other candidates running right now, and they don’t think for themselves. They don’t make their own decisions. They go to Washington, and they get all the “right” ideas. The politically correct ideas. All those nonsense about amnesty for illegal immigrants, cutting social security, restricting the second amendment, you name it. They get it from Washington. That’s not leadership. That’s called being a follower.

I’ve been an outsider all my life. I’m from the middle of the country, and I know what nonsense looks like. We can’t have nonsense at a time like this. At a time when this country is losing, losing to inflation, to China, to the illegals, you name it. We need a fighter. And I’m going to fight like hell for you.

[Devout Centrist]

Lake Campaign Spot #1 - Shown in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada

Credit to National Today

Lake: You are our greatest generation. You fought for this country from the shores of Incheon to the outskirts of Da Nang.

Credit to Iowa Soybean Association

Credit to MLive.com

Lake: You built a home for your family. You built a legacy for your children. Whether you worked in a mill, on a farm, or fought for our country, you know the importance of sacrifice and an honest day's work

Credit to AMC

Lake: Now, in your golden years, you need someone looking out for you. You need someone you can trust. Someone who will fight for you. A woman who says what she does, and does what she says. When people ask you who you're voting for, tell 'em-

Elderly Vietnam Veteran: I'm leading with Lake!

Elderly paper mill worker: Leading with Lake!

Elderly woman knitting: Leading with Lake! Cause good help is hard to find these days.

Credit to Politico

Lake: Kari Lake. A leader you can trust.

Ad will run from Early December 2023 to Early February 2024. The Lake campaign will target the ad for men and women aged 55+, with an eye for ad spots during local news broadcasts and shows popular with the demographic (Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, Murder She Wrote, etc.)

[Devout Centrist]

Lake Campaign Spot #2 - "Decisive" Shown in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada

Credit to Wikimedia

Middle aged woman: So, you really did that?
Lake: I did. I did.

Elderly man: You really said that?
Lake: Of course. I said it. I'd never tell a lie to you.

Young man: You were against that terrible war in Iraq?
Lake: I was against it from day 1. I never wavered. I'd never send American troops to fight in a horrible war like that.

Elderly man: You voted against Liberal Republicans?
Lake: I vote for real Republicans. Not sellouts. I'm a Republican that loves this country.

Small business owner: You'll cut taxes?
Lake: I'll cut taxes for American workers. I'll cut taxes for small businesses. I won't cut taxes for billionaires. I won't cut taxes for the woke.

Middle aged woman: You're gonna secure the border? From the illegals?
Lake: Absolutely. We're building the wall. We're securing the border on day 1. We're gonna restore legal immigration in this country. Nothing less.

Elderly woman: You'd never cut social security? I'm on a fixed income, and every dollar counts, you know.
Lake: Social security is going nowhere on my watch. I'm gonna protect your benefits. I'm gonna protect your hard earned money from inflation.

Narrator: Kari Lake. Decisive. Independent. A real leader for America.

Ad will run from Early December 2023 to Early February 2024. The Lake campaign will target the ad for men and women aged 35-65, with an eye for ad spots during local news broadcasts and shows popular with the demographic . The ad will run on TV and on the radio

[Devout Centrist]

1. Under President Biden America has witnessed a shocking border crisis, with total madness and chaos as thousands of people and unlimited drugs, fentanyl, cocaine, pours into the United States. What steps will you take to bring this crisis under control, and also, how do you approach immigration in general? Do we need controls on all immigration?

We need to secure the border immediately, Jesse. Secure the border. We need to enforce Title 42. We need a wall along the whole border, we need to double the size of the border patrol, and we need to help local law enforcement deal with the problem.

This is such a huge issue for this country, and the President, and Kamala Harris, they've done nothing to stop the chaos. Nothing! We need to make illegal immigration a number 1 priority. We can't have a country if we don't have control over who comes in. Right now, we're letting thousands of criminals and human traffickers run wild on the Southern border. That's not humane! That's not fair! We have a crisis, and you better believe I am gonna tackle this issue on day 1 as President.

What we need, Jesse, is legal immigration. Legal immigration. There are good folks out there who want to come to America, and if they do it legally, we should allow them to come here. But they have to come here legally. If they break the law, if they don't follow the rules, they shouldn't be allowed to stay. It's tough but fair. Tought but fair.

2. Raise your hand if you support cost-controlling reforms to entitlement programs that Senate and House Republicans such as Scott Perry and Jim Jordan are supporting. (You may write one sentence)

[Hand down] No cuts to social security.

3. Do you support continued monetary and weapons aide to Ukraine in their fight against Putin's Russia?

Russia has treated Ukraine very badly. Very badly. What's going on over there, it's a tragedy. We've seen a lot of people die. It caused gas and food prices to soar worldwide. It's disgraceful. I think some aid, you know, it makes sense under the circumstances.

But America shouldn't be paying for everything, Jesse. Right now, our so-called allies, they're barely throwing a dime Ukraine's way. This German guy, Chancellor Olaf, he won't even send a tractor to Ukraine. A tractor! And we have to put down billions of dollars to defend a foreign country that's not even on our continent?

Why should we have to pay for all of Europe's defense? You know, when Trump was President, we had the Europeans paying into NATO for the first time ever. Paying into it, as they should. Our allies need to step up, big time. If that happens, we can make a great peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, and end this war immediately.

4. What will you do to end the spread of Marxism, woke ideology, and Critical Race Theory in America's public schools?

It all comes down to local control. We need local control of education. You have politicians, in Washington, and they send money to all these school districts across the country. But that money comes with all sorts of restrictions. You have to teach this, you have to teach that! They insert woke nonsense into the bills, and then the school districts are forced to teach it. It's terrible.

Our students aren't learning, they're not learning, with all this woke nonsense shoved into their books. We need to fund our schools. We need to reward good teachers. Not the bad ones, but the good ones. We need more charter schools. And we need, above all else, local control. If you do that, this issue will go away overnight.

5. Do you believe that free trade is a net benefit for the American economy?

We have to make good trade deals. We have to make trade deals that help American workers. But if you look at all these trade deals, Jesse, most of them don't help American workers. They're designed so that woke billionaires and keyboard typers can ship jobs overseas. Go back and look at the record. When America opened up trade with China, we lost 20 million jobs almost overnight. Almost overnight. It was a total scam, and so many good Americans were hurt because politicians didn't put this country first. They didn't put America first. We have to have trade, Jesse, but it has to be fair trade. If we have totally free trade, our workers and our people get hurt big time.

To Ms. Lake: You've come out strongly against entitlement reforms. You've said former President Trump is the only good billionaire. Do you consider yourself a fiscal conservative? Do you support tax cuts? Do you support free markets?

I'm a conservative. I like tax cuts. I support small businesses. I support American workers.

You look back at Republican Presidents, specifically Teddy Roosevelt, and he was a big free market guy. But he wanted a fair market too. Back then, you had companies like Standard Oil. Imagine only being able to buy gas from one company! It wasn't a free market at all.

Teddy Roosevelt was, what they called back then, a trust buster. He broke up these massives companies that dominated the market. We need to do that today. We need to break up these tech companies that censor conservative voices. We need to break up these pharmaceutical companies that put profits ahead of hardworking Americans. We need to punish these woke companies that move jobs over to China and India.

We need a real free market, Jesse. That's my philosophy.

[Devout Centrist]

Lake Campaign Schedule - Take Back Control! (Part 1)

October
Month's Theme: Support American Farmers

The Lake Campaign made its debut splash in Iowa in the month of October, with the candidate crisscrossing the state. Lake kicked off the big push with a speech in her hometown of Eldridge, Iowa and a town hall event in Davenport. After that, the campaign swung through Dubuque, Decorah, Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, and Iowa City. For the first 10 days of October, the Lake team focused heavily on Eastern Iowa, hoping to draw on Lake's personal ties to the region. As for Lake's demeanor, the candidate honed in on a more empathetic tone, working to strike a balance between fighting back against attacks from her opponents and resonating with voter's concerns.

Over the next week, the Lake team turned towards central Iowa, putting campaign resources into attracting professional staffers for the area. Lake herself held campaign stops in Des Moines, Ames, Urbandale, Fort Dodge, and Mason City. It was at this time that Lake began to develop her message on farming and American agriculture: she came out in favor of increased ethanol fuel production and supported higher price floors for smallholding farmers. The candidate rationalized this unorthodox position by pointing out that Mexico had flooded the American market with cheap corn and other food imports. In order for American farmers to thrive, she argued, they needed a level playing field to compete against unfair Mexican and foreign practices. Lake highlighted that one of her opponents had rejected $40 million in relief for South Carolina's farmers. Surely, as President, she would be half-hearted in her support of Iowa's farmers *at best*.

Finally, in the latter half of the month, the Lake campaign swung through Western Iowa. Lake had the least personal ties to this region, and thus relied on support from local elected officials who backed her candidacy. Lake personally visited Sioux City, Cherokee, Denison, and Council Bluffs, holding a large rally at the final campaign stop that month. Lake reiterated her commitment to conservative values and excoriated the Biden/Harris failure to secure the border. Lake pointed out that Western Iowa had been especially hard hit by the economic effects of the Biden Administration's failure to take inflation seriously. In particular, Lake reminded Republican voters that the Administration had not taken the 2022 bird flu epidemic seriously in its early stages. Last year's soaring egg prices proved that Democrats did not care about Iowa's egg producers (and the nation's egg consumers for that matter). In this area, Lake pledged to support more relief to farmers affected by mass culls and articulated the idea of creating an early warning system for future bird flu outbreaks, staffed by volunteers from Iowa's egg producing economy

November
Month's Theme: Restore Local Control

With the Lake tour of Iowa proving to be a moderate success, the campaign turned its sights on the state of New Hampshire. Polls out of the Granite State showed Lake trailing behind several candidates, and the candidate found this unacceptable. New Hampshire, she stated, would be a make or break moment for her. A strong showing in Iowa wouldn't mean much if the candidate proved to be DOA in New Hampshire. In order for the campaign to survive, and to make it to Nevada and beyond, Lake pushed her advisers to pour resources into New Hampshire. Prior to making stops in the Granite State, the campaign created a plan for focusing its resources over the next four months:

1. New Hampshire (significant ground to make up, lack of name recognition, little advertising presence)
2. Iowa (not polling especially well, but personal ties to the state)
3. Nevada (Arizona effect, grassroots support, strong polling)

With this plan in hand, Lake started a monthlong tour of the Granite State, targetting her efforts on the towns of Nashua, Concord, Keene, Plymouth, and Lebanon. It was at this point that Lake began to emphasize her independent policy positions: she was 100% America First, regardless of what Party insiders or elected officials wanted. Lake leaned into her past views on the Iraq War, on failed trade deals, and on the failure of the aged, corrupt Republican establishment to take the threat posed by Biden and Kamala Harris seriously. In addition, Lake reiterated her support for local control of education and other hot button social issues.

The candidate did her best to recruit local political leaders to the cause. However, given Lake's anti-establishment message, most of New Hampshire's elected officials were not keen on meeting with her, let alone endorsing her. In the face of this opposition, Lake had her campaign conduct some polling on the popularity of Republican officials in New Hampshire. Elected officials that performed the worst became targets in Lake's stump speeches, as she decried their efforts to subvert the will of New Hampshire's independently minded electorate.

After a long tour of the state, the Lake campaign dedicated more resources to New Hampshire and began to air ads on local news outlets and conservative talk radio.

[Devout Centrist]

Lake Campaign Schedule - Take Back Control! (Part 2)

December
Month's Theme: Chasing It (The American Dream)

In December, Lake's team took stock of its success in Iowa and New Hampshire. Lake had attracted substantial crowds over the past few weeks, but it was unclear if this enthusiam among certain elements of the Republican base would translate into success on primary day. Lake's advisers met with the candidate multiple times and insisted she adopt a more emotional message - one that would key into Republican voter's frustration with both the Biden Administration's relative success and their animosity towards Republican leadership.

The campaign itself divided its time roughly equally between Iowa and New Hampshire, with Lake visiting Nevada on three occasions in order to maintain ties with local grassroots activists and to debut a new ad on conservative talk radio. It was around this time that Lake contracted a mild bout of the flu, and spent several days resting in Berlin, New Hampshire in order to recover.

Upon her recovery, Lake had an epiphany. She burst into a meeting between two of her top advisers and told them she had the answer to her messaging issues. The American people, she said, had endured a lot over the past 20 years. Foreign wars, a mass manufacturing exodus, and the failure of both the Bush and Obama administrations to provide a higher standard of living to the middle class. President Trump, she argued, had done his best to turn the corner and get American back to its former glory. But the COVID-19 Pandemic had derailed all of his progress and had given Democrats the opening they needed to push out the President.

Lake stated that Republican voters were gripped by a sense of loss, of what could have been. They had endured so much to gain so little. Lake theorized that, if her candidacy focused on this sense of frustration, she could tap into Republican anger at establishment and provide the Party with a positive alternative.

To this end, Lake chose to make several changes in her stump speeches. First, she adopted a more authentic speech pattern. In the past, Lake had sought to channel former President Trump in her campaign stops, but this hadn't worked out as well as she had hoped. Indeed, the former President himself had called her out on this, and Lake opted to accept the truth: she wasn't Donald Trump. No one was, anymore. The Trump of 2015 had been lightning in a bottle, and while Lake would incorporate that campaign's spirit into her message going forward, she wouldn't be a copycat. The candidate worked with her advisers to develop a message that honored the spirit of Trump's appeal while also moving on from some aspects of Trump that simply couldn't be recreated.

Over the next few weeks, the campaign reached a fever pitch. Lake visited 5 or 6 campaign stops each day while she could, and began airing ads in earnest on local news and on talk radio. The campaign deployed the money and resources it had saved over the summer to target Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada. As for Lake's message, she hit squarely on Republican frustration with the status quo and the feeling of loss shared by many activists. Lake promised that restoring the American Dream, through an American First philosophy, would help conservatives overcome Democratic shenanigans and betrayals by Republican leadership.

Lake noted that it had been Republican leadership who wanted to cut Social Security and Medicare for older Americans. This thinking, she argued, was completely backwards. Social Security might require American tax dollars, but it protected America's elderly from destitution in their golden years. It was an American First program, unlike many other initiatives undertaken by the Federal government. Why was Republican leadership so keen to cut a program that helped hardworking Americans? Lake pointed out that Republican leadership fully supported American aid to Europe, Africa, and Asia. American tax dollars were going to support military bases on foreign soil, and were actively hurting the wellbeing of the American people in the process. Lake reiterated her opposition to foreign wars and stated that she would cut the Federal budget by reducing foreign aid and unnecessary defense spending.

January
Month's Theme: Live Free or Die

At this point, the Lake campaign was running on all cylinders, and focused squarely on Iowa and New Hampshire. Lake practically took up residence in Davenport, rallying her supporters in the Eastern half of the state, and emphasizing her support for farm aid in virtually every speech she made. In New Hampshire, Lake's team rallied around her America First message, decrying her opponents support for everything from foreign aid to corrupt kickbacks and congressional earmarks.

During the month of January, Lake fully deployed its campaign resources, spending money like their was no tomorrow on Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada. Lake knew that a poor showing in these states would spell the end of her candidacy, and she worked around the clock to contact small dollar donors, friendly elected officials, and sympathetic interest groups. The campaign's finances were not in excellent shape; without support from Republican megadonors and corporate sponsors, the campaign had to rely entirely on invigorated Republican base voters for support. This only made Lake campaign harder, as she felt a righteous call to action to oppose the Republican establishment and their fellow travelers in the media.

Lake made stop after stop in Iowa and New Hampshire in January. Dover. Nashua. Iowa City. Waterloo. Peterborough. Newport. Cresco. Mt Pleasant. Portsmouth. Laconia. One after the other, day after day. Lake pushed herself to the absolute limit, nearly breaking down onstage in Derry after a 12-hour gauntlet through the Merrimack Valley. After a two minute scare, the candidate jumped back to her feet and gave a rousing stump speech in earnest. Lake wasn't going down without a fight.

February
Month's Theme: Made in America

After a flurry of activity in December and January, Lake took a day of rest on February 1st. The campaign had stopped in Dubuque once again, and Lake was preparing herself for the soon to come results of the Iowa caucus. She had poured her heart into this campaign, which had been unlike anything she had ever done before. Memories of her time on the trail in Arizona gave her some comfort that her struggle wouldn't be in vain.

In Iowa, the Lake team redoubled its efforts on Lake's America First message. This month, Lake would focus on bringing back America's moribund manufacturing sector by targeting woke corporations that had moved jobs overseas. Lake directed her fury at these companies, mahy of which were now pushing for political correctness in America. Not only had these billionaires stripped American factories to the bone, she thundered, they were influencing American politics and trying to elect Democrats in the process. Lake harped on this theme in her campaign stops in Sioux City, West Des Moines, and Davenport.

On caucus night, the Lake campaign scrambled to contact its volunteers across Iowa. It was unclear how Lake's professional staff would contend with DeSantis' and Hawley's operations in the last few days. Her team worked overtime to get in touch with sympathetic caucus chairs and get vote counts ahead of the final hour. In Davenport, Lake settled in with her supporters and was ready to watch the results come in.

It was the moment of truth.

[Devout Centrist]

Lake Rebuttal

Hawley: "For the last 4 years, Joe Biden has based his administration on the idea that America's heart and soul needs to be fundamentally altered. He has emboldened this racist ideology that pits people against each other and spits on our nation in public schools. As someone who grew up right in the middle of this country, the Heartland, I can say from a point of personal experience that there's nothing wrong with our values, and I will never apologize for America.

I would propose that we pass my 'Love America Act' which would require that all recipients of federal funding teach kids about the greatness of our country by requiring students to learn about our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, and our Bill of Rights. Some on this stage say the solution is just the opposite, that we should just leave it to localities and individual teachers. That's code for abdication. The next President has to stand up and fight this plague, and unlike others I will not hesitate to get in the ring."

Senator, giving Washington more control over education is exactly what the Democrats and the mainstream media wants. They want to be able to dictate what teachers can teach in the classroom. They want to be able to tell school boards what their school's instruction should look like. More Federal control of education is not the answer here. It'll give the radical left the excuse they need to take more control away from the states.

[Devout Centrist]

(Don't wanna turn this into a back-and-forth so Kari can have the last word if she wants.)

(You’re good man, I’ll make my last rebuttal quick)

I respect what you’re saying Josh. You’re a good man and a great Senator. I think we all agree that schools should teach the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. This is America. We should be teaching our kids American values!

But I trust the states on this. I trust the states to enforce their laws and give their kids a good education. I think we should absolutely encourage states and local jurisdictions to teach American history, the right way. But if you make a Federal requirement that certain things be taught a certain way, you’re still taking control away from the states, from local school districts, and from parents. It’s a slippery slope when you think it about it.