Sen. Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, said Sunday that he’d like to see a member of his party take on President Trump in the 2020 cycle.
‘Well, all I can say is, I hope that somebody does challenge the president,’ Flake said on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, adding that there is a ‘crying need out there for some Republicans to stand up and say, this is not normal, this is not right.’
Flake, who announced his retirement in October – in part so he could become a thorn in Trump’s side – said while he believed that Trump may look unbeatable now, a bruising 2018 midterm may be able to shake the Republican Party away from the president’s grasp.
Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, said Sunday on CNN that he hoped a member of his party would challenge President Trump in 2020
‘I’m not ruling it out, but I certainly am – I think the odds are long that I would do it,’ Sen. Jeff Flake (right) told CNN’s Jake Tapper (left) of his own presidential prospects
‘Well, certainly right now, nobody would defeat the president, but, two years from now, we could have a completely different scenario,’ Flake said. ‘Nothing focuses the mind like a big election loss, and what might happen in the midterms is a big election loss.’
Flake noted how Rep. Charlie Dent, a retiring Pennsylvania Republican, called last Tuesday’s likely win by Democrat Conor Lamb in what had been a safe GOP district a ‘five-alarm fire.’
‘And so, who knows what will happen, but it would be extremely difficult to defeat the president right now if the election were held in a Republican primary,’ Flake said. ‘This is the Trump party right now. I just am not sure that it will be two years from now.’
Flake looked to be prepping to challenge the president himself by giving a speech Friday in New Hampshire, the state that holds the nation’s first presidential primary.
But on CNN, Flake told Jake Tapper that it wasn’t likely he would jump in the race.
‘I’m not ruling it out, but I certainly am – I think the odds are long that I would do it,’ Flake said.
He said that, ‘People want to remember the Republican Party as a decent party.’
‘And it is not right now,’ the senator said. ‘And so what I’m seeing is, there’s a crying need for that. I don’t know who will step up in the end. I hope somebody does.’
Flake also mentioned that, for him, it’s a mix of Trump’s behavior and policies that are the problem, pointing to the president’s recent tariff announcement as not being in line with the conservatives in the party.
The Arizona senator also instructed the president not to touch Special Counsel Robert Mueller, as Trump again tweeted his annoyance with Mueller’s team Sunday morning saying, ‘Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added…does anyone think this is fair?’
‘And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!’ the president added.
Tapper asked Flake if he thought Republicans in Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, would actually stand up to the president and tell Trump that he can’t fire Mueller.
‘I hope so,’ Flake replied.
‘I mean, talking to my colleagues all along, you know once he goes after Mueller, then we will take action,’ Flake added.
‘I think that people see that as a massive red line that can’t be crossed,’ the Arizona Republican said.
Flake said he hoped enough people would come out and encourage the president not to fire Mueller
‘Don’t go there. Don’t go there,’ Flake implored. ‘We have confidence in Mueller. I certainly do.’