Kyrsten Sinema Does The Most Karen Thing Ever

In our election coverage in the past, we’ve noted that despite their public outcry over numerous issues, white women continue to show up at the polls in huge numbers for candidates who are openly hostile to women’s interests. While pollsters and pundits told the country that Black men wouldn’t show up to support Democrat Stacey Abrams—the Georgia gubernatorial candidate who was a staunch supporter of reproductive rights—it was actually white women who did the work of sinking her campaign, voting for anti-abortion rights incumbent Brian Kemp by a 45-point margin.The margins were almost as triflin’ in the U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia, where white women favored Herschel Walker, a man with multiple domestic abuse accusations who favored a ban on abortion without exception despite having cajoled two women into having the procedure, by some 38 points over incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock. Warnock still won, despite white women voters’ best efforts, which in turn gave Democrats a one-seat margin in the Senate, which in turn means those same womens’ right to reproductive choice was given a cushion that they didn’t even vote for.

Having been saved, again, from their inclination to vote for their privilege over their interests, those white women were grateful, of course, right? LMAO. If you thought that’s where this was headed, you haven’t been around here long. Of course not. Having been saved, again, from their inclination to vote for their privilege over their interests, one of those white women, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, wasted no time in deciding to defect from the Democratic party this morning, saying she registered as an independent. Who, Kyrsten, do you think you’re fooling? Sinema represents Arizona, a red state, in the Senate and along with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) has relished in the power of playing the foil to legislation that stood to benefit and were favored by women, Black and Hispanic voters. Most notably, she punted on voting to end the filibuster, preventing the full Senate from passing protections for voting rights. That’s an easy position to take when it’s not your voting rights up for grabs.

Sinema and her supporters will point out that her flip from Democrat to independent won’t give Republicans more power in the senate since she still intends to caucus with her former party. But if the flip was only about semantics, then it wouldn’t be necessary. Karen, er, Kyrsten Sinema might be able to afford political games, but people whose voting rights, reproductive rights and other interests depend on razor thin margins in legislative bodies probably don’t find the way she moves all that amusing.