Trump adviser brands VP-hopeful Kari Lake a ‘shameless, ruthless demagogue’

The Arizona Republican teased a potential Senate run last week

Just days after failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake said she was considering a Senate run, Donald Trump’s advisers revealed that the former president has become disenchanted with her in recent months.

Ms Lake announced on Saturday that she was weighing a Senate run, despite repeatedly losing legal challenges to her election loss. “Politics is gross. It’s a slimy business, but I think we need real people to be in it. And so I am contemplating running for office again,” she told Breitbart.

According to The Daily Beast, the former president specifically found Ms Lake’s attempts to get attention distasteful. “She’s a shameless, ruthless demagogue who wants power and will do whatever she has to do to get it,” a Trump adviser told the publication.

Ms Lake has tried to position herself as a potential contender to become Mr Trump’s pick for vice president—a tactic the former president also apparently did not appreciate.

The former president doesn’t like how Ms Lake is “running around saying she should be VP,” an adviser told the outlet. “Tells you all you need to know that he did not make her his national spokeswoman,” they added. “She was an obvious choice.”

Another adviser told The Daily Beast that the former president “sees through her gambit for the vice presidency.”

An operative close to the Trump campaign also chimed in, telling the outlet: “I think she is an effective surrogate, but I’m not sure she will be a VP pick,” also suggesting that the Arizona Republican could serve as the former president’s press secretary if elected again.

Despite the criticisms coming from Mr Trump’s orbit, a spokesperson for Ms Lake told the publication that the rumors were “pathetic attempts from Team DeSantis.”

“MAGA world is more United [sic] than ever and ready to win big in 2024,” the spokesperson said.

In June, reports emerged that the Arizona Republican was “couch-surfing” at Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. “Kari Lake is there all the time,” a source told PEOPLE Magazine. “There’s a suite there that she practically lives in.”

Ms Lake’s adviser responded to the news, telling The Independent: “This is a ridiculous story from a gossip tabloid that frankly we thought went out of business in the early 2000’s. Kari Lake often speaks at events all over the country in support of America First candidates and organizations; and when she does have the honor of being invited to speak at the beautiful Mar-a-Lago, she overnights at Hilton properties in Palm Beach with her loving husband of 25 years.”