Abe Hamadeh privately called his base 'the crazies'? Yeah, he's done

So much for Honest Abe.

Blake Masters dealt what could be/should be a death blow to his former America First running mate, leaking a text exchange from January 2023 in which Abe Hamadeh mocked “the crazies” who believe the election was stolen.

“I’m doing great. No matter what happens I’m winning right now,” Hamadeh wrote. “I’m not lumped in with crazies with election stuff because I’m so close at 280. But the crazies love because they see me fighting.

“Win win.”

Attached was an emoji — the one that’s laughing so hard tears are flowing.

Hamadeh wonders who will 'fall for this crap'

No reaction as yet from the two chief crazies, Donald Trump and Kari Lake, both of whom have endorsed Hamadeh in his run for Congress.

Hamadeh, for his part, tried to put out the fire with the old “out of context” spin.

“Is this a joke?” he asked, in response to a Daily Mail report on the leaked text exchange.

“@AbrahamHamadeh has filed three lawsuits, been sanctioned hundreds of thousands of dollars, & been dragged through the press as an ‘election denier,’ & Masters leaks out-of-context private texts to suggest Abe doesn’t believe the election was stolen?”

“Does Masters think anyone is going to fall for this crap?”

Well, yeah.

Hamadeh then tried to deflect attention from the fact that he privately called election deniers “crazies” while publicly hitching a ride on their phobia in order to boost his political prospects.

Kari Lake also tries to deflect the damage

“‘Friend’ turned snake, Blake Masters, sent text messages between us to the media and thought me on vacation with my brother-in-law, Jeff Ayres, in Thailand at a Muay Thai fight was newsworthy,” he said in a social meda post, referring to a selfie of the fight he’d attached to the text exchange.

Lake’s campaign tried the same deflection.

“Looked like you guys were having fun! Happy Warriors go on vacation too!” the Kari Lake War Room posted on social media.

Lake refuses to debate Lamb: What an insult for voters

To be fair, I doubt Hamadeh is the first MAGite to publicly bow at the altar of Trump while privately laughing his head off at the rubes who are buying the stolen election schtick. (And more recently, buying blue MAGA hats and golden Trump shoes, and Trump Bibles and …)

I, for one, cannot wait to see what turns up in Lake’s private communications, the ones she’ll have to disclose in discovery, as a result of defaming Maricopa County Stephen Richer.

As for Hamadeh, he’s going to have a hard time explaining to his base why he called them crazy.

Advantage Masters, but he's not the real winner

For now, it’s advantage Masters in the crowded northwest Valley GOP race to replace Rep. Debbie Lesko.

As for state House Speaker Ben Toma, a candidate who actually lives in the district and actually has a record of conservative accomplishment?

Attach emoji here — the one that’s laughing so hard tears are flowing.

each Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @LaurieRoberts.

Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Abe Hamadeh calls his base 'the crazies'? Yep, he's done