At first blush, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich appears to be the kind of Republican whom Donald Trump should love. Brnovich not only routinely offers gushing praise for the former president, the conservative Arizonan even looked the other way when presented with evidence of potential crimes related to the pro-Trump fake electors scheme.
But as hard as Brnovich tries to stay in the former president’s good graces, especially as his U.S. Senate campaign continues, the more the state attorney general falls short. For example, Trump issued this written statement this week:
“Attorney General Brnovich of Arizona was given massive information on the fraud and so-called ‘irregularities’ that took place in the 2020 Presidential Election…. [R]ather than go after the people that committed these election crimes, it looks like he is just going to ‘kick the can down the road’ and stay in that middle path of non-controversy. He wants to be politically correct.”
Trump went on to say in the written statement that unnamed “people” are upset with Brnovich for not pursuing election conspiracy theories. The former president, his idiosyncratic approach to grammatical rules intact, concluded, “The good news is Arizona has some very good people running for election to the U.S. Senate. I will be making an Endorsement in the not too distant future!”
The implication, of course, was that Trump does not see the state attorney general as among the “very good people.”
Brnovich responded to Trump yesterday with a statement of his own that read in part, “I understand his frustration, but as I’ve said previously, I will continue to follow the facts and evidence and do what the law requires. That’s what I’ve always done and what I will do as Arizona’s next senator.”
To be sure, there are several intra-party fissures in Republican politics right now, but it’s worth appreciating what makes this one among the most amazing.
Circling back to our earlier coverage, Brnovich is clearly in a politically tricky position. On the one hand, he’s a Republican U.S. Senate candidate in a crowded primary, and he’s eager to impress Trump and his party’s far-right base.
On the other hand, Brnovich is also Arizona’s top law enforcement official, who’s faced intense lobbying from the former president to “help” with the party’s crusade against the 2020 election.
The more Brnovich boosts Trump’s Big Lie, the more it’s likely to help his statewide campaign. The more he uses his office responsibly, and sidesteps ridiculous conspiracy theories, the more he risks being seen as a villain by the former president and his followers.
It’s why, as Politico recently put it, Brnovich is effectively “caught in a vice.”
With this in mind, Trump’s pressure campaign has been painfully overt. Indeed, as we’ve discussed, Trump has publicly criticized the state attorney general for not going far enough to kowtow to the former president’s anti-election nonsense. Trump even issued a written statement last year, saying Brnovich was “nowhere to be found” in helping spread ridiculous ideas about the 2020 race.
“The lackluster Attorney General of Arizona, Mark Brnovich, has to get on the ball and catch up with the great Republican patriots in the Arizona State Senate,” Trump added.
Last month, the former president went on to demand to know whether Brnovich would do “the right thing.” Soon after, Trump called on the state attorney general to take the matter to “the next level.” He also held a rally in Arizona in which he told supporters, in reference to Brnovich, “I think he’s going to do his job — we’ll find out.”
Subtle it was not.
The trouble, of course, is that no matter how aggressive the former president’s lobbying becomes, the state attorney general can’t create evidence that doesn’t exist. NBC News reported a few weeks ago that Brnovich issued a report on his office’s investigation into the 2020 race, and the findings showed no evidence of widespread voter fraud or irregularities.
This, naturally, enraged Trump, who believes the non-existent evidence in Arizona must exist because … well, just because.
Indeed, the former president is so convinced that his own lies are true that he’s come to an inescapable conclusion: Brnovich is disloyal for failing to pursue investigations based on the proof that definitely exists in Trump’s overactive imagination.
In other words, Brnovich isn’t quite corrupt enough for Trump, and the Arizonan’s career is likely to end as a result.
