{"id":8328,"date":"2022-09-24T15:03:12","date_gmt":"2022-09-24T22:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bilgebucket.com\/?p=8328"},"modified":"2022-09-26T18:18:50","modified_gmt":"2022-09-27T01:18:50","slug":"finchems-fascist-farce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bilgebucket.com\/?p=8328","title":{"rendered":"Finchem&#8217;s Fascist Farce"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It&#8217;s time to get back to our final review of Arizona GOP whack-a-doodle candidates. We&#8217;ve already mentioned fluff-brained gubernatorial candidate <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Kari Lake (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bilgebucket.com\/?p=8254\" target=\"_blank\">Kari Lake<\/a> and plutocrat butt kisser senatorial candidate <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Blake Masters (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bilgebucket.com\/?p=8300\" target=\"_blank\">Blake Masters<\/a>.  We focus in this post on perhaps the most insidious and dangerous of the Trumphumpers, Mark Finchem, who is running for Secretary of State. In Arizona, the Secretary of State is second in command since there is no Lieutenant Governor. The Secretary of State is also in charge of  certifying election results and keeping records of campaign finances. <strong>This is why Finchem is dangerous &#8211; he is an election denier and has openly stated that he would have overturned the 2020 election in favor of TFG despite there being absolutely no evidence of voter fraud. He&#8217;s also stated that if he loses the upcoming election he will not concede, just like Trump.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But first, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"who is Mark Finchem (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mark_Finchem\" target=\"_blank\">who is Mark Finchem<\/a>? The way he dresses and acts, you&#8217;d think he&#8217;s a native Arizonan. But he was born and Michigan and moved to AZ and adopted the garb and persona of a rough and ready, independent Arizonan. Basically, he&#8217;s a poser. But the conservative rubes eat it up which is why he was elected as a state representative for <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Legislative District 11 (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/pimadems.org\/legislative-district-11\/\" target=\"_blank\">Legislative District 11<\/a> which represents about 225,000 Arizonans in Pinal and Pima counties which covers the northwestern parts of the Tucson metropolitan area up to Casa Grande and Maricopa. Finchem&#8217;s been married four times, so he&#8217;s got TFG beat there. <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Other Arizona Republicans have called him a &quot;political gadfly&quot; and &quot;one of the dumbest&quot; members of the state legislature (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/magazine\/2022\/08\/18\/trumps-man-in-arizona-might-get-the-last-laugh-00052519\" target=\"_blank\">Other Arizona Republicans have called Finchem a &#8220;political gadfly&#8221; and &#8220;one of the dumbest&#8221; members of the state legislature<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why is Finchem so dangerous? Wow, where do we start? First of all, Finchem is a<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" QAnon true believer and a 9\/11 truther (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.azmirror.com\/2022\/09\/20\/mark-finchem-held-a-fundraiser-with-9-11-truthers-and-qanon-influencers\/\" target=\"_blank\"> QAnon true believer and a 9\/11 truther<\/a>. He <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"attended the Capitol riots on January 6th which should disqualify him completely from running for office (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.azmirror.com\/2021\/06\/02\/mark-finchem-was-much-closer-to-the-jan-6-insurrection-than-he-claimed\/\" target=\"_blank\">attended the Capitol riots on January 6th which should disqualify him completely from running for office<\/a>. But he stated that he didn&#8217;t go inside and was just a witness which apparently makes everything square in his fevered mind. He is an <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Oath Keeper, which is a far right wing, anti-government, extremist militia group and has kept 'treason watchlists' (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/08\/16\/politics\/kfile-mark-finchem-treason-watch-list-pinterest\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">Oath Keeper, which is a far right wing, anti-government, extremist militia group and has kept &#8216;treason watchlists&#8217;<\/a>. He&#8217;s a supporter of TFG&#8217;s Big Lie and said fraud was rampant in Arizona <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"despite several audits saying there was no voter fraud (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2022\/08\/02\/elections-voter-fraud-claims-arizona\/\" target=\"_blank\">despite several audits saying there was no voter fraud<\/a>. We repeat: <strong>NO VOTER FRAUD!!!<\/strong> His opponent in the Sec. of State race <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Democrat Adrian Fontes (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/electfontes.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Democrat and native Arizonan Adrian Fontes<\/a> is a former Maricopa County Recorder and lost his  re-election race in 2020. We would think if there was fraud Fontes would arranged for his own re-election but that didn&#8217;t happen. <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Even his Republican opponent in the Recorder race Stephen Richer said there was no fraud (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.azcentral.com\/story\/opinion\/op-ed\/ej-montini\/2021\/08\/20\/republican-stephen-richer-disproves-election-fraud-boogie-man-again\/8210341002\/\" target=\"_blank\">Even his Republican opponent in the Recorder race Stephen Richer said there was no fraud<\/a>. But does that matter to these MAGA Morons? Not one bit. They&#8217;ve drank the Trump kool-aid and plan to use every one of his vile obstruction tactics including not conceding and contesting any results they don&#8217;t like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finchem debated Fontes this past week and <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"according to most reviews, Fontes owned the Republican screwball (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.azcentral.com\/story\/opinion\/op-ed\/laurieroberts\/2022\/09\/23\/adrian-fontes-absolutely-owned-mark-finchem-secretary-of-state-debate\/8092435001\/\" target=\"_blank\">according to most reviews, Fontes owned the Republican screwball<\/a>. Finchem acted unhinged for most the thirty minutes doubling down on his debunked conspiracy theories while Fontes remained calm, cool and collected answering in even measured responses.  Among his most egregious assertions, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Finchem cited the discredited &quot;2000 Mules&quot; movie, which made unproven claims about widespread ballot harvesting in the 2020 election (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/dinesh-dsouzas-vile-big-lie-documentary-is-too-stupid-even-for-fox\" target=\"_blank\">Finchem cited the discredited &#8220;2000 Mules&#8221; movie, which made unproven claims about widespread ballot harvesting in the 2020 election<\/a>.  The two sparred on many issues <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"including mail-in ballots which Finchem wants to eliminate (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Adrian_Fontes\/status\/1573423023994114048?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet\" target=\"_blank\">including mail-in ballots which Finchem wants to eliminate<\/a>. Finchem is <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"also in favor of letting the state legislature select the Senator instead of letting the people (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.azcentral.com\/story\/opinion\/op-ed\/laurieroberts\/2022\/01\/14\/arizona-legislature-wants-choose-who-runs-us-senate\/6529653001\/\" target=\"_blank\">also in favor of letting the state legislature select the Senator instead of letting the people<\/a>. Apparently, Finchem has conveniently forgotten the Seventeenth Amendment which guarantees the citizens the direct vote of Senators. Like with the mail-in ballots, Fontes pressed Finchem to admit he favors taking away the vote from the people, but the loony wingnut kept hemming and hawing and dodging the question because he knows that his position is colossally undemocratic and would expose him for the fascist he is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bottom line is this, folks:<strong> Mark Finchem is a bat shit insane, QAnon, Oath Keeper, fascist nutcase and is an absolute danger to Democracy. If he is elected Secretary of State, he will guarantee that only Republicans will win key offices in upcoming elections which is not only undemocratic but out and out fascism. We Arizonans need to make sure to vote him out this November 8th or we will never have fair elections in this state again and it might start an unfortunate trend that goes nationwide.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Update 9\/26\/22:<\/strong> Here are a couple more links to stories about Finchem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politifact.com\/factchecks\/2022\/sep\/19\/mark-finchem\/arizona-republican-said-pence-seized-power-trump-u\/\" target=\"_blank\">Finchem Falsely Claims That Then-Vice President Mike Pence &#8220;seized power&#8221; from President Donald Trump and undertook &#8220;a coup&#8221; when he called on federal agencies to stop the Jan. 6 Capitol riot<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.alternet.org\/2022\/09\/kari-lake-governor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Finchem Embraces QAnon and 9\/11 Truthers (opens in a new tab)\">Finchem Embraces QAnon and 9\/11 Truthers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"323\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bilgebucket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/finchemfascistelectionfraud.jpg\" alt=\"Oath Keeper, QAnon whackadoodle and supporter of Trumps Big Lie, Mark Finchem, guarantees that if elected he will ensure fair and balanced elections where no Democrats will ever hold elective office again but is in no way fascist.\" class=\"wp-image-8345\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.bilgebucket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/finchemfascistelectionfraud.jpg 500w, http:\/\/www.bilgebucket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/finchemfascistelectionfraud-300x194.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 85vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption>Oath Keeper, QAnon whackadoodle and supporter of Trumps Big Lie, Mark Finchem, guarantees that if elected he will ensure fair and balanced elections where no Democrats will ever hold elective office again but is in no way fascist.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s time to get back to our final review of Arizona GOP whack-a-doodle candidates. We&#8217;ve already mentioned fluff-brained gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and plutocrat butt kisser senatorial candidate Blake Masters. We focus in this post on perhaps the most insidious and dangerous of the Trumphumpers, Mark Finchem, who is running for Secretary of State. In &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bilgebucket.com\/?p=8328\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Finchem&#8217;s Fascist Farce&#8221;<\/span><\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,60,2320,8,68,85,3,2307,198],"tags":[127,404,1356,1358,2103,1206,355,1575,2238,2288,252,22,238,1304,107,147,914,915,2395,1461,9,2330,2143,2144,1298,1887,1834,2396,98,2250,19,661,2245,878,917,449,47,48,2332,1034,694,1305,1130],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bilgebucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8328"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bilgebucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bilgebucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bilgebucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bilgebucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8328"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"http:\/\/www.bilgebucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8370,"href":"http:\/\/www.bilgebucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8328\/revisions\/8370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bilgebucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bilgebucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bilgebucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}