Kari Lake, onetime MAGA star, is fading away

This is the Weekend Edition of Bloomberg Opinion Today, a roundup of the most popular stories Bloomberg Opinion publishes each week based on [Bloomberg]( This is the Weekend Edition of Bloomberg Opinion Today, a roundup of the most popular stories Bloomberg Opinion publishes each week based on web readership. [Kari Lake Is Losing and She’s Taking MAGA With Her]( — Erika D. Smith Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America A year ago, Donald Trump thought he had a winner in Kari Lake, an election denier who had just lost her race for Arizona governor. “She’s an amazing woman, respected by everybody,” the former president said to cheers in a Scottsdale ballroom where Lake was [launching her campaign to flip an open US Senate seat](. “Kari is one of the toughest fighters in our movement, and I am proud to give her my complete and total endorsement.” If Trump doesn’t regret that endorsement by now, then the MAGA diehards of this swing state, with their increasingly tenuous hold on its Republican Party, almost certainly will by November. Lake’s campaign against Democratic US Representative Ruben Gallego is in trouble. So much trouble that even Republican strategists [think she’s a goner]( comparing her drag on the Republican Party ticket to North Carolina’s toxic gubernatorial candidate, [Mark Robinson.]( The latest [New York Times/Siena College poll]( has Lake trailing Gallego by six percentage points. Another poll from the [Marist Institute]( has her behind by a whopping 10%. Critically, Gallego leads 64% to 32% among independent voters, who comprise a third of the state’s electorate. Polls have [shown Gallego leading for months,]( and his margin has only widened. It's a sign of just how far and how fast Lake has fallen from her once-coveted perch in Trumpworld — and, assuming the polls are correct, a sign that it’s time for Republicans to give up on the damaged MAGA brand if they want to start winning elections again in Arizona. Read [the whole thing](. [Xi Has Finally Realized What’s Ailing China]( — Shuli Ren [Iran’s Missile Strike Was Yet Another Strategic Blunder]( — Marc Champion [Cancun’s Troubles Go Beyond Mexico’s Super-Peso]( — JP Spinetto [Why Backlash to Trump Could Spark the ‘Fourth Founding’]( — Francis Wilkinson [How the US Lost the Solar Power Race to China]( — David Fickling [Israel’s Devastation of Hezbollah Puts Iran in a Corner]( — Hal Brands [The Oil Price That Matters Now Is $50 a Barrel, Not $100]( — Javier Blas [Europe’s Industrial Nightmares Are Coming True]( — Lionel Laurent [OpenAI Is Shattering Big Tech’s Promises of a Better World]( — Parmy Olson More From Bloomberg Opinion Here’s what we’ve been listening to and watching this week. - Americans [no longer trust the Supreme Court](. Harvard Law professor Noah Feldman has a solution for the crisis. - Tesla has been facing the same problem for the better part of two years, Liam Denning says. Can [Elon Musk’s robotaxi]( save the company’s sales? - X Broadcast: Hear Jonathan Levin, Kathryn Edwards and Guy Berger break down a smashing September in their [Jobs Day analysis](. Follow Us Stay updated by saving our new email address Our email address is changing, which means you’ll be receiving this newsletter from noreply@news.bloomberg.com. Here’s how to update your contacts to ensure you continue receiving it: - Gmail: Open an email from Bloomberg, click the three dots in the top right corner, select “Mark as important.” - Outlook: Right-click on Bloomberg’s email address and select “Add to Outlook Contacts.” - Apple Mail: Open the email, click on Bloomberg’s email address, and select “Add to Contacts” or “Add to VIPs.” - Yahoo Mail: Open an email from Bloomberg, hover over the email address, click “Add to Contacts.” Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](