Last updated on November 17th, 2020 at 04:55 pm
Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) was caught on video throwing a Donald Trump-style tantrum on Thursday, and now – quite bizarrely – she’s trying to raise campaign funds off of it.
As PoliticusUSA’s Jason Easley noted earlier on Thursday, McSally “lost it and screamed liberal hack at CNN’s Manu Raju after he asked her about considering new impeachment evidence.”
Instead of answering the very valid question put forward by Raju, McSally imploded, calling him a “liberal hack” and then storming into her office.
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Video of the senator’s meltdown:
Video of Martha McSally’s exchange with @mkraju when asked about considering new evidence in the Senate impeachment trial. pic.twitter.com/qHwrc0ubd3
— andrew kaczynski🤔 (@KFILE) January 16, 2020
Now, as MSNBC‘s Chris Matthews pointed out, McSally – with the help of Trump – is using the meltdown to try to raise money.
Sen. Martha McSally is now fundraising off a video of her imploding when she was asked about new impeachment evidence. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/nmVUlvrrPh
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) January 17, 2020
Martha McSally is desperate to be a legitimate senator
Sen. McSally lost the Arizona Senate election last year when she was defeated by Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. Just over a month after losing, Arizona‘s Republican governor appointed McSally to the state’s other U.S. Senate seat.
In other words, Arizona voters had a chance to make McSally their U.S. Senator in 2018, and they chose not to. That puts her in a somewhat unfavorable position in November as she seeks to win a job that her constituents already told her she shouldn’t have.
With polling showing her behind her Democratic opponent Mark Kelly and fundraising struggles, it’s no surprise that McSally is lashing out at reporters in order to rev up the MAGA base and bring them to her rescue.
The Trump campaign tweeted out the video of McSally‘s meltdown earlier today, praising the her for wrecking CNN and asking her supporters to donate to her flailing campaign.
It remains to be seen whether Martha McSally‘s strategy of adopting Donald Trump‘s political style will work, but it reeks of desperation.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.