Republican Senator Jeff Flake announces he won’t seek reelection, openly declares war on Donald Trump
As Donald Trump was heading into lunchtime on Tuesday, he only had to worry about two prominent Republican Senators who have had enough of his crap. But by late Tuesday afternoon, a third GOP Senate voice had begun publicly calling Trump out on his unsuitability and dangerous antics. Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona announced that he won’t seek reelection in 2018 – and then he immediately took to the Senate floor and delivered a blistering attack on Trump.
Jeff Flake declared “I have children and grandchildren to answer to, and so, Mr. President, I will not be complicit or silent.” He explained “It must also be said that I rise today with no small measure of regret. Regret because of the state of our disunion. Regret because of the disrepair and destructiveness of our politics. Regret because of the indecency of our discourse. Regret because of the core regret because of the coarseness of our leadership. Regret for the compromise of our moral authority. And by our, I mean all of our complicity in this alarming and dangerous state of affairs. It is time for our complicity and our accommodation of the unacceptable to end.”
This came just hours after another retiring Republican Senator, Bob Corker, launched his third public attack on Donald Trump this month. Trump responded by tweeting juvenile nonsense about Corker. Thus far Trump hasn’t yet lashed out at Flake. And of course GOP Senator John McCain has been publicly condemning Trump from a number of angles over the past week. But Flake’s retirement may be the most pivotal development to date.
Although Donald Trump has supported a Republican primary challenge against Jeff Flake, and the Democrats have momentum heading into the midterms, Flake would still have had a strong chance of reelection. He’s essentially forfeiting the remainder of what could have been a long Senate career, so he can use this next year to try to oust an out-of-control Trump from within. Contribute to Palmer Report
