Donald Trump and Jeff Flake deserve each other

| 10:04 pm EST December 20, 2019
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In general I always try to embrace anyone, anywhere on the political spectrum, who’s willing to take a sincere stand against Donald Trump. This is not a time to be picky or puritanical. If someone on the far right, or a former Trump supporter, wants to help us take Trump down, then I’m all for it. But when it comes to former Republican Senator Jeff Flake and his latest hand wringing… I just can’t.

Jeff Flake has published a new op-ed urging his former Republican Senate colleagues to do the right thing in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. Okay, that’s all well and good. But who’s going to listen to this guy at this point? Flake had his chance to do the right thing on his way out the door in 2018. But instead he voted to confirm a monster like Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, thus emboldening Trump’s grip on the Republican Party, all because Flake was afraid that voting against Kavanaugh might close future doors for him when it comes to lucrative conservative consulting or lobbying gigs.

Is anyone in the Republican Senate going to listen to this guy when he tells them to dothe right thing? If Jeff Flake wants to apologize for how he handled things, and urge his Senate colleagues to do better than he did, that would be one thing. But as it stands, Flake isn’t helping things. He laid the groundwork for other hand-wringers like Mitt Romney and Susan Collins to act “concerned” about Trump, and then rubber-stamp his agenda anyway.

There are plenty of Republicans and conservatives who are taking meaningful stands against Donald Trump, and truly mean it. I’d rather work with them. Jeff Flake should go home, and let the others do the talking and persuading. I could be wrong, but I don’t think Flake is a guy we need to hear from anymore in politics.