Sarah Huckabee Sanders Gets Her Trump On
An audit of the Arkansas governor’s purchase of a $20,000 podium shows how Trumpism now defines the state party.
Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Not shown: $20,000 podium.
Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg
After Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders purchased a very high-priced lectern for her very poor state, the state legislature initiated an audit, which was released Monday. As corruption goes, the report depicts a small-time, dimly comic routine — a state purchase seemingly padded with a generous allowance for a political crony of the governor. In its basic dishonesty and subversion of the public interest, however, the episode is a strong measure of how completely Trumpism now defines the Republican Party.
In 2023, the governor’s office hired a Republican consultant who appears to be a traveling buddy of Sanders to provide a lectern. The purchase price, which started at an impressive $21,475 before a subsequent $3,000 “preferred customer” discount, included a $2,500 “consulting fee” and a $554 “credit card processing fee.” An anonymous state whistleblower claimed the governor’s office altered documents related to the purchase.