At a Phoenix rally in August, GOP gubernatorial candidate, Kari Lake was careful not to distance herself from Donald Trump even though she joined Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at an event reportedly as a move seen to raise the national profile of DeSantis ahead of a possible run against Trump.

“Someone said, ‘Kari, you’re going to be the ‘DeSantis of the West,’ Lake said to the crowd, “Honestly other than being called— ‘Trump in a dress,’ that is the greatest compliment you could pay me.”

Lake is sticking close to the Trump and DeSantis playbook of an extreme right-wing ideology.

The Az. GOP gubernatorial pick, has voiced harsh stances on abortion rights and access, Lake has promised a National Guard presence at Arizona borders after claiming that immigrants are “rapists” and “invaders” and has even endorsed a virulent antisemitic, Jarrin Jackson, for his senate seat run in Oklahoma and only after public outcry over her endorsement, tried to soften the move by stating she did not support his rhetoric.

Lake’s recent applause and congratulations for the newly elected prime minister of Italy, Georgia Meloni, with ties to the known fascist organization that goes back to the days of Bennito Mussolini in yet another statement, “This is someone I can relate to,” clearly aligns Lake with some of the most extreme far right-wing advocates in the U.S.

Donald Trump, for his part, continues to applaud Vladamir Putin and the Russian leader’s policies, harsher restrictions and less freedoms for Russian citizens.

Many Russians are fleeing the country after Putin’s forced draft order was put in place and backed by militia waiting on the border for fleeing Russian men..

The free press is also not seen nor heard in Russia—only state backed “media” remains.

Lake also criticized the FBI for the raid on Mar-a-Lago that yielded confiscated classified documents taken from Trump and kept at his Florida residence Mar-a-Lago.

The Lake campaign appears to be quiet of late, with few, if any, on the record comments surrounding the ongoing Jan. 6 investigation of Donald Trump and has not responded to Northeast Valley News after requests for comment