Abraham Hamadeh

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Picture your ideal Republican candidate. Would they look something like this?

1. An “anchor baby” (technically, “illegal immigrant”);

2. Parents were illegal aliens from Syria, who avoided being deported only because of their “American citizen” anchor baby, i.e. “the candidate”;

3. Father indicted for firebombing a synagogue (charges dropped when co-conspirators refused to testify against him);

4. Supported Sen. Marco Rubio’s amnesty;

5. Was thrilled that President George W. Bush gave a speech at a mosque on 9/11;

6. Constantly demands that Americans become entangled in foreign conflicts having nothing to do with our country;

7. Has been driven to a cursing rage at me for mentioning that immigrants commit a lot of crime.

No? Well, that’s Abe Hamadeh, the Trump-endorsed candidate for Arizona’s 8th congressional district. (I happen to notice Hamadeh because he’s running against the excellent Blake Masters, who actually is the ideal Republican candidate.)

Like many on-the-go immigrants, Hamadeh immediately abandoned all of his previous positions the moment he saw an advantage to doing so. What do I need to say to fool the rubes?

He’s the Alexander Vindman of the right, the Dinesh D’Souza of the Muslims, the immigrant credit card fraudster of electoral politics.

Before running for office in Arizona, Hamadeh deleted his Twitter feed and suddenly became more Trumpy than Trump. On immigration, he said: “We got to start rebuilding that wall on state land. We got to start enforcing state prosecutions, going after the human smuggling and all the drugs coming in, and prosecuting the illegal immigrants as trespassers.”

This from the amnesty-supporting anchor baby.

At least Trump seems to actually believe what he says about immigration; he’s just too lazy to do it. Back in 2013, when Rubio nearly destroyed our country with amnesty, Trump relentlessly attacked the bill, saying, for example:

— “Immigration reform is fine — but don’t rush to give away our country! Sounds like that’s what’s happening.” (Jan. 30, 2013)

— “Amnesty is suicide for Republicans. Not one of those 12 million who broke our laws will vote Republican. Obama is laughing at @GOP.” (March 19, 2013)

— “TRUMP: IMMIGRATION BILL A REPUBLICAN ‘DEATH WISH.'” (Breitbart, June 3, 2013)

Meanwhile, Hamadeh was touting Rubio’s amnesty as a “fix” for what we have now. Which is no amnesty. For good measure, he called Rick Santorum a “racist,” and me a “BITCH.”

Despite court records to the contrary (partially reprinted in The Arizona Republic), and his father’s admission that he was in the country illegally (according to a contemporaneous news article on the synagogue bombing 30 years ago), Hamadeh told the Republic: “My parents proudly came to the United States LEGALLY in 1989 and were rewarded for waiting in line LEGALLY with U.S. citizenship in 2007 and 2009 by the United States Department of State.”

Also like many immigrants, Hamadeh has a keen interest in the old country. From 2012 to 2018, he tweeted incessantly about the Middle East, especially Syria.

A non-exhaustive list:

“I’ve given credit to the Brits, at least they’re debating action in Syria. Where’s our Congress?”

“I’m optimistic with the new council adopting a pro-freedom liberal approach in Syria. Now hopefully they have sway with #FSA rebels”

“Haass is right: US Must Respond to the Atrocities in Syria.”

“You can’t say ‘I’m against Bashar, so I’m with ALL of #FSA.’ This isn’t a sports game. Must be for a pro-freedom agenda. #Syria.”

“Syria is in our national security interest.”

“If Assad falls this week, FSA needs to take the higher ground by not targeting Alawites & other minorities.”

Are Arizona’s voters similarly fixated on Syria’s internal politics? How many know or care what “FSA” is? Alawites?

Naturally, Hamadeh also longed for war with Russia, tweeting: “We cannot allow [Russia] to take over Ukraine.” We? How many wars are these immigrants going to make us fight?

But now Hamadeh wants us to believe he’s an America First patriot.

That’s when the dogs start growling. What’s the matter, Scout? Why are you barking? That’s just a regular American.

Another flashing red light blaring SCAMSTER! is that Hamadeh not only embraced Trump’s “stolen election” claim, but took it 10 times further. After losing the 2022 attorney general race by a coat of paint (280 votes), Hamadeh wouldn’t let it rest, bringing not one, not two, but three utterly frivolous lawsuits demanding that the courts make him attorney general.

All three lawsuits were tossed out of court — including by a judge appointed by Gov. Jan Brewer — finally ending with sanctions against him.

Anyone who knows anything about politics knows you never contest an election, even if it was stolen. Voters reward graciousness and punish sour grapes. Why would Hamadeh make such an ass of himself?

Because that’s how you get Trump’s endorsement.

As you may recall, in the last election cycle, Trump endorsed candidates who’d spoken at QAnon rallies, who said women having their rapist’s baby can be “healing,” who’d left a string of illegitimate children across the South, who denounced the sitting Republican governor as a “Chinese communist sympathizer,” who said women who have abortions should be prosecuted for murder.

What was their mysterious appeal to Trump? Only one thing: They refused to accept the results of the 2020 election.

Surprising no one, all these Trump-endorsed, less-than-ideal candidates suffered spectacular defeats on Election Day, handing the U.S. Senate and a few governorships to the Democrats. Whether Trump wins or loses in November, the key to avoiding national catastrophe is for Republicans to win Congress, and you ain’t gonna do that by relying on Trump’s endorsements.

You may be counting the days until you can vote for Trump again. But before you give any credence to his advice in other races, try to remember how you felt the day after the 2022 midterm election, when the “red wave” turned into a Republican bloodbath.

You’d be better off trusting Scout.