GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake paid Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany a high compliment Wednesday, saying the former White House press secretary showed the way of how to deal with a hostile news media.
McEnany introduced the segment by noting when she was working in former President Donald Trump’s White House that her press office’s phrase was “offense only.”
“We’re going to go on offense against a very liberal press” was her team’s mindset, McEnany recounted.
She loved and quoted Lake’s response from a Monday interview when the candidate was questioned whether she would agree to be Trump’s 2024 running mate.
“I’m going to be here [in Arizona] not just four years, I’m going to be here eight years, and I’m going to be the fake news media’s worst nightmare for eight years. So they better get used to it,” Lake said.
“I’ve got to imagine you hear, on the campaign trail, from voters everywhere, ‘Good job, well done!’” McEnany told the Republican.
“I took a page out of your playbook,” Lake responded. “You really did show us how to do it, and turn the tables on these hypocrites in the fake news.”
.@KariLake: “I took a page out of your playbook. I took a page out of your playbook, @kayleighmcenany. You really did show us how to do it and turn the table on those hypocrites in the fake news.” pic.twitter.com/rsB0n1SOW0
— Kari Lake War Room (@KariLakeWarRoom) October 26, 2022
“Thank you for showing us the way,” she added.
“My dad was an offensive line coachman…a football coach, so always on offense, absolutely. We have nothing to be defensive about because we love this country. We have the common sense ideas to get through some of the problems we’re facing,” Lake said.
Having met and interviewed both McEnany and Lake, I believe they are cut from the same cloth.
They both have great admiration for former President Ronald Reagan, who, like them, spent years working in the news media and entertainment world prior to wading into the political fray.
McEnany and Lake are also both forthright about their Christian faith, crediting God with giving them the guidance and the strength to do what they’re called to do.
McEnany told The Western Journal in December that she saw part of her role as press secretary was to counter those false media narratives about then-President Trump while staying true to her Christian faith.
“But that doesn’t mean we don’t have to be tough and have accountability and be able to fight back, not with literal fighting, but fight back with facts and substance and footnotes and have accountability,” she said.
Lake shared at a Christian event in Phoenix Friday night that while there are some “feel good” stories on news programs, there are “a lot of lies” being reported.
“We have to use discernment,” she said. “We have to pray to God for discernment right now.”
Thousands of cheers at the Flashpoint Live Phoenix event as @KariLake takes the stage!
This movement is unlike any other, fueled by the power of God 100%, for when He is with us, who can be against us? @KariLakeWarRoom @GoVictoryTV pic.twitter.com/4ANbdnd4dH
— Anthony DeWitt (@AnthonyDeWitt7) October 22, 2022
Lake recounted that in the spring of 2021 she was feeling led to leave her position as a Phoenix news anchor after 22 years, despite the money and what her career had meant to her because she did not believe the news copy she was often asked to communicate was true.
“I just said, ‘God you are in control. Take me where you want me to go’ and look where I ended up,” Lake said.
