Arizona Rep. Mark Finchem’s crazy QAnon fringe is now the GOP mainstream

Every political party has what mainstream followers will semi-embarrassingly, semi-disgustedly refer to as a “lunatic fringe.” Every party.

With a little prodding, leaders of the party will point out that while they share some of the beliefs of fringe members, the zealots do not represent the mainstream.

That changes, however, when the leaders of a party no longer condemn, or even criticize fringe members, but instead enable the most outrageous comments and behavior from their in-house zealots.

At that point, the lunatic fringe can no longer be called the lunatic fringe. At that point, the lunatic fringe is the mainstream.

That’s the Arizona Republican Party.

Look for the group wearing tinfoil hats

According to Phoenix New Times, three Republican members of the Arizona Legislature, Rep. Mark Finchem, Sen. Sonny Borrelli and Rep. Leo Biasiucci are headed to Las Vegas for a QAnon convention, a gathering of the fringiest of the fringe.

The event is being sponsored by a group called Patriot Voice, with tickets for the three-day event at Caesars Forum ranging from $650 to $3,000. Former national security adviser Michael Flynn will be there, and 8kun owner Jim Watkins.

I couldn’t find out what the personalized tinfoil hats will be going for.

Finchem is one of the most ardent spreaders of the baseless conspiracy about a stolen election in November.

He helped to organize the clown show in downtown Phoenix a while back featuring Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Guliani. He also wanted the Legislature to call a special session where he hoped lawmakers would overturn the popular vote and award electoral votes to Trump

And, yes, of course, he attended the demonstration in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 that led to an assault on the Capitol. (He has denied entering the building.)

When the fringe becomes mainstream

Now, Finchem is running for secretary of state.

Can’t get more mainstream than that.

Yet I have not heard the stalwarts of the Republican Party say they would never support such a person for a statewide office.

Not Gov. Doug Ducey. Certainly not Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward. Not members of the congressional delegation.

Finchem has spouted the kookiest of the QAnon conspiracy theories, including the one about a plot for world domination run by Democratic pedophiles out of a Washington, D.C., pizza parlor.

He’s said, “We’ve got a serious problem in this nation. There’s a lot of people involved in a pedophile network in the distribution of children … And, unfortunately, there’s a whole lot of elected officials that are involved in that.”

New Times also pointed out that Finchem’s page on Gab, a right-wing extremist social media network, has included posts that call the pandemic a “manufactured illusion” and vaccines a “crime against humanity.”

Now he’s headed to Vegas for the convention, bringing the reputation of the Arizona Legislature with him.

Another clue is the sham audit

And no one’s saying a thing.

Just as Ducey and the rest of the Republican establishment have kept silent over the destructive, incompetent, blatantly partisan sham audit in which Arizona Senate President Karen Fann handed over our election information to unqualified conspiracy theorists.

There is no doubt now.

Within the mainstream of the Arizona Republican Party the lunatic fringe can no longer be called the lunatic fringe.

The lunatic fringe is the mainstream.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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