Flake blasted President Trump and his administration on countless accounts.
Jeff Flake announced that he will not seek reelection in the 2018 Senate race in Arizona, avoiding a tough battle with President Trump, Steve Bannon, and the populist movement that empowers both of them. Yet as much of a bombshell as that announcement might have been, it pales in comparison to the bombardment Flake unleashed on President Trump. Flake’s speech was more a lambaste of the President than anything else.
“There are times when we must risk our careers in favor of our principles. Now is such a time.”
Flake put his speech in terms of his principles, stating “There are times when we must risk our careers in favor of our principles. Now is such a time.” Immediately after this statement, Flake went on to list his many regrets, including “the state of our disunion,” “despair and destructiveness,” “indecency of our discourse”, “coarseness of our leadership,” and finally “compromise of our moral authority.”
The comments were clearly aimed at President Trump.
In other words, Flake deeply regrets that Donald Trump is President. Flake didn’t directly name the President but everyone knew who and what he was talking about. While many Republicans were initially reluctant to get behind President Trump during the primaries, most ultimately did. Flake was among those few holdouts who flat out refused to support Trump.
“We must never regard as normal the regular and casual undermining of our democratic norms and ideals.” – Flake
During what might be his last Senate speech, Flake clearly still harbored animosity towards Trump. Flake went on to argue that “we must never regard as normal the regular and casual undermining of our democratic norms and ideals.”
Flake further seemed to insinuate that the President is petty and that he lets “personal reasons” cloud his judgment. He also claimed that such behaviors were a danger to Democracy.
“If we simply become inured to this condition, thinking that it is just politics as usual, then heaven help us.”
The speech may well bring to close one of the widest rifts within the Republican Party. Indeed, some Republicans stood up to give Flake a standing ovation. Later, many Republicans also gave Trump an ovation.
Still, for the Republican Party, Flake’s departure could help close a festering wound. Flake went as far as to write a book “Conscience of a Conservative,” and has drawn some quiet support from establishment Republicans who are growing increasingly wary of the President
In closing, both his speech and perhaps his Senate career, Flake uttered a quote from Abraham Lincoln:
“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break the bonds of our affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely as they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
Certainly, those seem like good words to close out this article.
