Conspiracy theorist and MAGA candidate for Arizona Governor Kari Lake said former Republican President Donald Trump and Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis have "BDE," the slang acronym for "big d*ck energy."
Lake made the comments at a conference for conservative student organization Turning Point USA over the weekend.
Lake then took to Twitter to make sure everyone knew she is standing by her apparent admiration for Trump's and DeSantis' assets or attitude.
\u201cUh-oh! Twitter is on fire because I said President Trump & Gov @RonDeSantisFL both have \u201cBDE\u201d \n\nI stand by what I said. \ud83e\udd37\u200d\u2640\ufe0f\u201d— Kari Lake for AZ Governor (@Kari Lake for AZ Governor) 1660540503
Lake made the comment after deciding against complimenting DeSantis' testicles.
Lake said:
“[DeSantis has] bigger—okay, wait let me think about how I want to word this. My staff always says, whatever you do, do not say ‘balls'."
After reconsidering, Lake then said:
"I’ll tell you what he’s got. I don’t know if you’ve heard of this but he’s got BDE. Everybody know what that means? Ask your kids about it later."
She then coined her own version of the acronym.
"I call it ‘big DeSantis energy. He’s got the same kind of BDE that President Trump has."
"And frankly, he has the same kind of BDE we want all our elected leaders to have."
Conservatives loved Lake's comments, with some saying they wished they lived in Arizona so they could vote for her.
But not everyone agreed.
Twitter user @JoJofromJerz said in response to Lake's tweet:
“Welp, that’s sure as sh*t not what Stormy Daniels had to say.”
Others on Twitter pointed out Lake's comment wasn't exactly in line with the Evangelical Christian morality she and other Republicans espouse.
\u201c@RonFilipkowski \u201cAsk your kids about it later\u201d sounds very Christian of her to promote sexualized conversations with your kids about Big Dicks.\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1660559610
\u201c@Papi_B_Dubs @RonFilipkowski And these are the people banning books from schools because of \u201cinappropriate sexual content\u201d\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1660559610
\u201c@RonFilipkowski Lake is Overtly Sexualizing Fascists and conflating their acts with sexual imagery. This is worshiping Sadism.\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1660559610
\u201c@RonFilipkowski Seriously folks, should a candidate for Governor be campaigning on a #BDE message?\ud83d\ude02And this is the \u201cchristian\u201d(small c intentional) candidate\n\nYou can do better, @KariLake, you really can\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1660559610
Others were just plain disgusted.
\u201cI really hate that thanks to Stormy Daniels we have to actually know for a fact how untrue this is \ud83d\ude2b\u201d— Jen (@Jen) 1660567786
\u201cDeSantis is a big dick, all right. Toxic masculinity is the GOP brand. The more brutally sadistic and nakedly amoral you are, the sexier you look. \nWatch Fascist Porn Hub for GOP Hitler porn. Use the code Kari Lake for a 15% discount.\u201d— Duty To Warn \ud83d\udd09 (@Duty To Warn \ud83d\udd09) 1660564137
\u201c@KariLake @RonDeSantisFL Translation: \u201cWhen I am Governor I will troll. Even more than I do now. Don\u2019t expect anything good for AZ. That\u2019s not my plan.\u201d\u201d— Kari Lake for AZ Governor (@Kari Lake for AZ Governor) 1660540503
\u201c@KariLake @RonDeSantisFL My god this is so embarrassing.\u201d— Kari Lake for AZ Governor (@Kari Lake for AZ Governor) 1660540503
\u201c@RonFilipkowski BDE and Let\u2019s Go Brandon, but *clutch pearls* \u201cBeto said a naughty word when a grown man laughed at the description of kids being murdered at school.\u201d\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1660559610
\u201c@ReportingfromNY @RonFilipkowski The "E" stands for "envy", not "energy"\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1660559610
Lake—a QAnon and White nationalist sympathizer, 2020 election denier and former Phoenix news anchor—won the Republican primary in Arizona last week.
She will face Arizona Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in November.