(CNN) Virtue signaling is all the rage in politics these days.

Witness the show Arizona Sen. Martha McSally (R) put on Thursday morning when asked a simple -- and totally fair -- question by CNN's Manu Raju.

As McSally was walking to her office, Raju asked her if she had made a decision about whether she would support the calling of witnesses during the Senate impeachment trial. "You're a liberal hack," she replied. "I'm not talking to you. You're a liberal hack."

Now, that is a rude and inappropriate response to a reporter asking an entirely relevant and non-adversarial question. But maybe McSally could be forgiven for that. After all, we all lose our temper from time to time. But that's not what was going on here. Far from it.

This wasn't McSally getting frustrated in the moment. This was a purposeful piece of performance art designed to endear the senator to the President of the United States and his political base.

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