Ousted Republican reflects on Trump, democracy and America: ‘The place has lost its mind’

Rusty Bowers was speaker of Arizona's house of representatives when he stood up to the former president's demand that he overturn the election result. He paid the price but has no regrets

Rusty Bowers is headed for the exit. After 18 years as an Arizona lawmaker, the past four as speaker of the state's house of representatives, he has been unceremoniously shown the door by his own Republican party.

Last month he lost his bid to stay in the Arizona legislature in a primary contest in which his opponent was endorsed by Donald Trump. The rival, David Farnsworth, made an unusual pitch to voters: the 2020 presidential election had not only been stolen from Trump, he said, it was satanically snatched by the devil himself".