One of the highest-profile personalities of former President Donald Trump’s administration is set to make a powerful return to public office — and that means big trouble for the Biden administration.
Former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, running for governor in her native Arkansas, sewed up key endorsements last week from Republicans in the Razorback State, while a potentially strong competitor for the GOP nomination withdrew from the race, Fox News reported.
In one of the reddest in the country, it means Sanders likely has a path clear to the governor’s mansion in Little Rock.
Sanders, who announced her candidacy in January, has already secured the endorsements of current Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (who faces term-limits), the state’s two senators, Tom Cotton and John Boozman, and all four congressmen, French Hill, Steve Womack, Rick Crawford and Bruce Westerman. All of these officials are Republicans.
Meanwhile, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge on Tuesday dropped out of the running, according to Fox, smoothing the path for a Sanders run in a state that has proven to be reliably Republican over the past two decades.
Former President Donald Trump beat President Joe Biden by over 27 points in 2020 and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by nearly the same margin in 2016.
Former President Bill Clinton, who defeated Sen. Bob Dole in 1996, was the last Democrat to win a presidential election in the state.
Sanders’ father, Fox News contributor Mike Huckabee, served as governor in the state from 1996 to 2007.
Sanders was an iconic force in the Trump White House. Conservatives across the country will remember how effectively she squared off against a media intent on demolishing Trump.
All things considered, chances are excellent that she will be the next governor of Arkansas. And that’s bad news for Joe Biden.
She would replace Hutchinson who, although a Republican, is not considered entirely trustworthy by conservatives.
For example, he quickly accepted Biden as the victor on Nov. 15, amid abundant allegations of election fraud.
In April, he drew the ire of conservatives when he vetoed an anti-transgender health care bill that would “block doctors from providing transgender youth with medical care such as puberty blockers, hormone therapies and transition-related surgeries,” according to a report in The Hill. (Trump even branded him a “RINO” — Republican in Name Only — for the move.)
The legislature overrode the veto.
Contrary to Hutchinson’s lukewarm support of Trump, the fiercely pro-Trump Sanders would resist the Biden administration’s unconstitutional plot to turn the U.S. into a socialist state.
The opposition to his agenda that Biden currently faces from Republican governors like Florida’s Rick DeSantis, Texas’ Gregg Abbott and Virginia’s Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin will undoubtedly gain strength if and when Sarah Sanders joins the mix.
As press secretary, Sanders walked into the White House briefing room every day to face a roomful of hostile reporters who hated the president she represented.
The White House press corps’ unhinged and offensive treatment of Sanders was unmatched in any prior administration. The media respected no boundaries.
On social media, they would criticize her weight, her clothing and other aspects of her appearance in ways they would never do if she were a Democrat.
Comedian Michelle Wolf performed at the 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The Guardian reported that with Sanders seated just feet away, Wolf said, “I actually really like Sarah. I think she’s very resourceful. But she burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smokey eye [a reference to Sanders’ eye makeup]. Like maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies. It’s probably lies.”
Sanders handled the excruciating moment with grace. And Wolf faced condemnation from both sides of the aisle for her cruelty.
The insults didn’t end in the briefing room. Ordinary Americans who believed every word they heard from the legacy media would verbally assault her in public. The most memorable incident occurred in June 2018. Sanders was out to dinner with her family in Lexington, Virginia, when a co-owner of the restaurant asked her to leave.
This woman told The Washington Post that she had spoken to her staff about Sanders’ presence before kicking her out. “Tell me what you want me to do. I can ask her to leave. They said, ‘yes.’”
If there is a silver lining to the abuse this woman endured for nearly two years at the hands of the “elite” journalists who spent their time convincing Americans that Trump was an agent of Russia, it’s that she perfected the art of fighting back against liberals. Additionally, Sanders has an insider’s knowledge of how the levers of power work.
Should she win the governorship, she would be in a position to block at least some of the Biden administration’s progressive agenda.
Last we checked, the United States operated under a federal style of government.
As described by UShistory.org, the website of the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia:
“In a federal system, power is shared by the national and state governments. The Constitution designates certain powers to be the domain of a central government, and others are specifically reserved to the state governments.”
Less than a year into office, the leftists in the Biden administration have tried too often to infringe upon the states’ powers. If we have enough Republican governors who are willing to fight them at every turn, we can prevent them from achieving at least the worst of their goals.
A Sanders victory would be a win for all Americans, indeed.