Kari Lake

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome former Arizona news anchor Carrie Lake. Wow, thank you so much. Well, we won. Oh my gosh, it's so good to see all you patriotic Americans. I want to thank Matt and Mercedes Schlapp for inviting me back to CPAC. There's no place in this world I'd rather be than to share a stage with the greatest president we've ever known, President Donald J. Trump. I just saw that amazing man backstage. He's so excited to come out. And how many of you were inspired by President Trump at some point in your life? He inspired me. I would not be here without that man. I would not be on this stage. When I walked away from my career as an honest journalist of 27 years covering Arizona, honest to God, I had no idea that I would ever end up right here. I didn't know what was in store for me. I did not. I promise you this, I never imagined this. This is not what I thought I would be doing. I walked away and I truly handed my life over to God 100%. 100%. I walked away and I put out a video to the people of Arizona explaining to them why I was no longer interested in working in a field that had become propaganda, fake news back there. I didn't care what they paid me. I didn't care how much they were willing to throw at me. I was no longer willing to work for them and I was not willing to lie to the people of this country. And we need more of them to walk away. So an amazing thing happened. After I put that video out, the people of Arizona reached out to me and they asked me to run for office. They recruited me to run for office. And I agreed, but I didn't know how to run for office. I mean, how many of you would know how to run for office? So I called the, I'll never forget the day, I called the AZGOP. I said, how do I run for office? What do I do? Then I called my friends from church, my church ladies, and I said, hey, ladies, why don't you come over? And you know what? I've got a crazy idea. Bring a bottle of wine. I think you're going to need it. And come on over right now. And we threw together a ragtag team of non-political people who run the most exciting campaign in the country. And we won. We didn't play by the rules because frankly, I did not know what the rules were. I had no idea what they were. I would hear from high priced political consultants, whatever you do, don't talk about the election. I didn't listen to that. Then they would say, don't mention COVID shots and don't mention the mask. Don't talk about any of that. Suffice to say, I did not hire those losers. I ignored them. I ignored all of them. I did it my way. And I listened to the good people of Arizona. And I stand before you today, the Trump endorsed Republican nominee for governor of Arizona. Now, thank God, I did not know what this would entail back then. God only showed me a little part of the path. If he would have showed me the whole darn thing, I might not be standing here. The lies, the nastiness, the endless attacks on myself and my family, my children. They follow us. They follow my children. They take pictures of them. They park outside of our houses. People are evil bastards. Just look at what they put President Trump and his family through for seven years. He's got the globalists against him. He's got the fake news against him. He's got the left against him. And he's even got some people in our own party against him. We call them the RINO. Now, listen, I feel for him, because I actually got a taste of it myself. I actually kind of understand what it feels like to be President Trump. It's not fun. It's not fun at all. So one day I called him and I said, I said, Mr. President, they are giving me the Trump treatment. And he stopped me right there. Don't stop. That means you are directly over the target. So I'm feeling pretty strong right now. But they tell me what's about to come at me. It's about to get even worse, even more painful. And you know what I say to them? Bring it on. Bring it. I welcome the vitriol. I welcome the strife. I welcome the attacks. And I welcome every bit of it with ultimate gladness. You know why? Because this fight before us proves to us that God is with us. He has chosen me. And he has chosen you. And I don't believe for one second that God makes mistakes. You guys agree with that? He has placed each and every one of you at this point in history because he knows our strength. He's placed us here because he knows that we will be the ones to save this great republic. Absolutely. Now this is where it's going to get a little difficult because I think we've got to start welcoming people in. We've got to welcome in, obviously, any patriot who loves this country, right? You're welcome into the movement. We're going to welcome the conservatives, but not just the conservatives. We've got to welcome in the independents. And we need to welcome in any Democrat disillusioned with the dead-end ideas of the Democrat Party. And let me tell you, there are millions of them out there. We've got to welcome them into this party as they walk away. We need to say welcome to the Republican Party, the party of we, the people. I know they want us to think it is a battle between left and right, but this is truly a battle between those who want to save America and those who want to destroy her. That's where we are at this moment. My question to you is, are you in this fight with us? Ready to fight. Because we need each and every person to be in this foxhole with us. We all have to be willing to take the same hits that I've taken and that President Trump has taken. That means we got to be willing to put our job on the line. Who's had to do that? You people out here. I see hands have gone up. We got to be willing to put our paycheck on the line. I know how that feels. Not fun. We have to be willing to be attacked, and we got to be willing to lose a friend or two, or 50. I think I've lost about 150. We have to be willing to be kicked off of Twitter. Don't you think that our founding fathers lost a lot more than a Twitter account? They lost their livelihoods. They lost their fields. They lost their homes. Those were torched. They had their families destroyed for what they believed in. Some of them even gave their lives fighting for this country. For them, America was just an idea. For us, America has been a reality. It is up to us to ensure that America does not become a memory. This is our moment right now to prove to our ancestors that their struggles and losses were not done in vain. It is our moment to prove right now how much this country means to us. I'm willing to take that sacrifice. I know that you in this room are willing to take that sacrifice. I want to tell you something. My father was a history teacher, high school history teacher. Nobody looks back on history on those who were unscathed. They're not even remembered. It is only those of us who have the scars who will be remembered. Those of us with the scars of battle, those of us with the scars of persecution that will make history. We may have won this battle, and I won an epic battle in Arizona. We drove a stake through the heart of the McCain machine. I felt like I had to wear garlic around my neck when I did that. So my question is, are you ready to fight a few battles? Who's up for it? We need to fight like hell to take this country back. I know that the man standing back there is willing to do it. I know I'm in this battle and willing to do it. Who is ready to rise up and go out there and win this war to save America? Let me hear you. Thank you, CPAC. Thank you, Texas. And God bless Arizona, and God bless America. Thank you so much.