Republican hopeful Neil DeSanti is mounting his fourth campaign for elected office since 2020, hoping to secure a seat in the Arizona House of Representatives for his north Phoenix legislative district. He’s voted in 16 state and local elections since registering to vote in 2012.

There’s just one problem: He appears to be ineligible to vote under state law, which raises serious questions about the many ballots he has cast and his candidacy.

Under Arizona law, DeSanti lost his right to vote in 2010, when he pleaded guilty to felony endangerment related to a 2004 drunk driving arrest. Less than three months later, DeSanti pleaded guilty to felony possession of burglary tools after he and his cousin were caught stealing a metal ramp from a commercial yard near downtown Phoenix.

A secret, men-only right-wing society with members in influential positions around the country is on a crusade: to recruit a Christian government that will form after the right achieves regime change in the United States, potentially via a “national divorce.”

It sounds like the stuff of fantasy, but it’s real. The group is called the Society for American Civic Renewal (the acronym is pronounced “sacker” by its members). It is open to new recruits, provided you meet a few criteria: you are male, a “trinitarian” Christian, heterosexual, an “un-hyphenated American,” and can answer questions about Trump, the Republican Party, and Christian Nationalism in the right way. One chapter leader wrote to a prospective member that the group aimed to “secure a future for Christian families.”

News diets aren’t unlike our actual diets, and so much of election journalism is like junk food: stories about polls and fundraising totals and endorsements have lots of empty calories and little nutritional value. They are refined sugars, providing a quick hit of energy but fading quickly, and leaving the reader wanting for substance.