Category: Miscellaneous

Blake Masters: Katie Hobbs is “a complete disaster” already

PHOENIX — Arizona businessman Blake Masters said Sunday that Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs has already been “a complete disaster” and that it’s only going to get “worse.”

Masters, a former candidate for the U.S. Senate, made the comments during a Twitter Spaces conversation with Dr. Andrew Jackson.

“I understand some people are trying to recall Hobbs and I’m not sure that would work, but if it did, man, that’d be great,” he said. “I’m telling you: However bad you think she is, she’s going to be a lot worse. I think her first two weeks in office have been a complete disaster already.”

Masters was particularly critical of a provision in the Democrat’s recent budget proposal that attempts to defund Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program. The governor claimed during her first State of the State address that the school choice program will “bankrupt our state” if allowed to continue.

The businessman said that “it’ll be up to guys like [Representative] Austin [Smith] on this call in the state house to block” the Democrat’s dangerous proposals, adding, “Thank goodness we have a Republican-controlled legislature.”

Hobbs established an antagonistic relationship with the state legislature even before taking office. The Arizona Freedom Caucus announced days earlier that it will be challenging the constitutionality of the Democrat’s recent executive order in court, and it is anticipated that lawmakers will be looking into the dark-money apparatus that funded her inaugural events.

James T. Harris: Katie Hobbs controversial swearing-in “an indication of what’s to come”

PHOENIX — Popular radio host James T. Harris said Tuesday morning that Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs’s controversial swearing-in could be “an indication of what’s to come.”

Harris, host of “The Conservative Circus,” noted that the Democrat’s swearing-in this week was conducted behind closed doors — “not open to the public” or to the press — and described the lack of transparency as “an indication of what’s to come.”

He also commented on the widely-seen video of Hobbs being “unable to take the oath of office without stammering and laughing.”

“On Monday morning, a group of adults gathered on the Ninth Floor of the Arizona State Executive Tower — and then there was Katie Hobbs,” Harris said on the air. “Katie, unlike all of the children in attendance to see their parents get sworn into office, couldn’t contain herself.”

The Democrat’s public inauguration, which being planned by “a roster that includes lobbyists and campaign donors,” is scheduled for Thursday, January 5.

You can listen to “The Conservative Circus” on News Talk 550 KFYI.

‘Stop Katie Hobbs’ video of controversial swearing-in featured on One America News Network

PHOENIX — The video obtained by this website of Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs’s controversial swearing-in was featured on One America News Network (OANN) Monday afternoon.

Hobbs had been sworn into office during a closed-door ceremony that morning.

Although the event was private, a video obtained by StopKatieHobbs.com revealed that the Democrat had been “unable to take the oath of office without stammering and laughing.” That video appeared on OANN’s national television network hours later, with the anchor describing her as controversially “bursting out laughing while being sworn-in as Arizona’s governor.”

Hobbs went on a hiring spree in order to fill out her administration ahead of Monday’s event. The public inauguration ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, January 5.

You can see part of the OANN segment below:

Katie Hobbs stammers, laughs while taking oath of office, bans reporters from ceremony

PHOENIX — Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs was sworn into office Monday in downtown Phoenix but was unable to take the oath of office without stammering and laughing.

The ceremony took place on the ninth floor of the Capitol Executive Tower. Hobbs was joined by Arizona’s other recently-elected statewide officials — including Adrian Fontes, Kris Mayes, and others — in taking the oath of office.

Stacey Barchenger, a reporter at the Arizona Republic, said that the newspaper “asked repeatedly to be allowed in, but the Hobbs admin is allowing only a single photographer from [the Associated Press].”

Questions have swirled around the capitol since the November election about Hobbs’s hostile posture toward the legislature and whether she can adequately perform the duties of the job.

The Democrat went on a hiring spree last month in order to benefit from a filled-out cabinet and staff ahead of Thursday’s inaugural ceremony, which is being planned by “a roster that includes lobbyists and campaign donors.”

You can see a video of the incident below:

Katie Hobbs tells Univision viewers to have a “happy holidays” … “even if you didn’t vote for me”

PHOENIX — Chip on her shoulder, or just socially awkward? Democratic Governor-elect Katie Hobbs told Univision’s audience to have a “happy holidays,” especially those who “didn’t vote for me.”

Hobbs said during a December 17 interview with Univision Arizona anchor León Felipe González that “Latino voters were critical” to her campaign victory and criticized her opponents for pursuing legal challenges related to the election, arguing that “these folks need to stop using our courts” in such a manner. (She told a separate television station ten days earlier that voters across the state “were disenfranchised by the Republican Party.”)

The Democrat laid out her legislative agenda for the coming year, like calling “a special session to repeal Arizona’s pre-Roe ban that criminalizes all abortion” and reversing some of Governor Doug Ducey’s border security initiatives. She said that border security is “a federal issue” and criticized the placement of shipping containers at the border — a stopgap measure in the face of federal inaction — as “a political stunt,” echoing her previous remarks on the topic.

Hobbs closed out the interview by wishing Univision viewers a “happy holidays,” inexplicably adding, “even if you didn’t vote for me.”

Her previous interview with Univision in October was similarly awkward, with Hobbs unable to answer a question about what she has “learned … from the Latino community.” She eventually resigned to a response about “practicing my español — un piquito.”