The partisan audit of Maricopa County, Arizona's 2020 election ballots has heightened tensions between the county's majority-Republican Board of Supervisors and the Republican state lawmakers who forced the audit in the first place.
Since its beginning, the latest Maricopa County audit has been fraught with ineptitude and shady behavior. The private firm hired to oversee the process, Cyber Ninjas, has no election experience and fought to keep its methods hidden from the public, even though its founder supported election lies on social media.
Throughout the process, the audit team and its supporters have presented bizarre conspiracy theories and flat out lies. One auditor even said the team was searching for bamboo fibers on ballots, searching for evidence to corroborate the lie that ballots were flown in from Asia. Millions of dollars' worth of election equipment has been compromised due to the audit as well.
So when state Senators prompting the audit issued yet another subpoena to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, they were met with a blunt refusal from its chairman, Jack Sellers, who vowed they'd no longer be participating in this "adventure in never-never-land."
Now, state Senator Amy Rogers is calling for the imprisonment of the board and any other officials not complying with the audit.
I would like to know if we have enough solitary confinement cells in Arizona available for the entire Maricopa Board of Supervisors and the execs at the fraud machine company. We are going to need a lot.— Wendy Rogers (@Wendy Rogers) 1627944043
Should stolen elections be considered treason?— Wendy Rogers (@Wendy Rogers) 1627944154
When the tweets were met with widespread criticism, Rogers began lashing out.
Brahm Resnik, a journalist, mocked Rogers in a quote tweet. That's when the state Senator said Resnik—a Jew whose family was part of the resistance against Nazi occupation and who died in concentration camps—would have sided with the Nazis in the World War II era.
She accused Resnik of being "anti-American" for not supporting extrajudicial imprisonment.
This lightweight would have cheered for Germany during World War II he is so anti-American.https://twitter.com/brahmresnik/status/1422343171342704640\u00a0\u2026— Wendy Rogers (@Wendy Rogers) 1627949141
Rogers has tweeted or retweeted more than 60 times in the 24 hours since her original screed calling for the imprisonment of Maricopa county supervisors.
That hasn't stopped her from receiving near-unanimous backlash for her unhinged rant.
It's now par for the course in this authoritarian movement to threaten to imprison officials for doing their official duty and correctly upholding the integrity of Trump's loss. Large swaths of this party have abandoned democracy entirely and are embracing unchecked lawlessness.https://twitter.com/WendyRogersAZ/status/1422326523177148416\u00a0\u2026— Greg Sargent (@Greg Sargent) 1627996895
An Arizona state senator baselessly threatening county election officials and executives with solitary confinement.https://twitter.com/WendyRogersAZ/status/1422326523177148416\u00a0\u2026— southpaw (@southpaw) 1627989381
insanityhttps://twitter.com/wendyrogersaz/status/1422326523177148416\u00a0\u2026— John Harwood (@John Harwood) 1627993423
Unfit for elected officehttps://twitter.com/WendyRogersAZ/status/1422326523177148416\u00a0\u2026— Andrew Donaldson (@Andrew Donaldson) 1627990991
You are severely mentally ill and out of control. \n\nIt is absolutely insane someone like you is a state Senator and that you actually believe the absolutely deranged & dangerously delusional nonsense you spew. You are the exact kind of person who would have enabled Adolf Hitler.https://twitter.com/wendyrogersaz/status/1422326523177148416\u00a0\u2026— Spiro Agnew\u2019s Ghost (@Spiro Agnew\u2019s Ghost) 1627956389
This is a completely irresponsible, reckless and frankly, dangerous message for anyone to send out about the MCBOS and staff, much less a state senator. @FannKfann get your house in order.https://twitter.com/WendyRogersAZ/status/1422326523177148416\u00a0\u2026— Rep. Diego Rodriguez (@Rep. Diego Rodriguez) 1627948421
But though Rogers' claims are absurd and idiotic, they're still motivating extremist rhetoric across social media from those who buy into her delusions.
Round up all the traitors. Do it now.https://twitter.com/wendyrogersaz/status/1422326523177148416\u00a0\u2026— Conrad66 (@Conrad66) 1627947931
THEY ALL MUST BE ARRESTED, OR IT WILL SHOW YOUR DESIRE TO PROTECT THEM...REMEMBER THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING...THE ONLY OPTION LEFT IS TO ARREST THEM UNTIL THEY PROVIDE WHAT YOU WANT..ARREST THEM NOW!https://twitter.com/WendyRogersAZ/status/1422326523177148416\u00a0\u2026— Anthony (@Anthony) 1627948151
Start emptying out the white collar criminals. Make room. \n@WendyRogersAZ \nHow can I help?https://twitter.com/WendyRogersAZ/status/1422326523177148416\u00a0\u2026— Dr. Bones McCoy (@Dr. Bones McCoy) 1627953091
It's unclear how much longer the audit will continue in the face of evaporating support—and how much further it will erode the faith of Arizonans in their elections.
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AMC