Flake says GOP rallies look like ‘spasms of a dying party’

Sen. Jeff Flake, a lifelong Republican who is retiring from Congress in early 2019, continued to warn party members that the GOP is in trouble – and so is President Trump’s tenure.

‘When you look at some of the audiences cheering for Republicans sometimes you look out there and you say, “those are the spasms of a dying party,”‘ Flake said when asked if the GOP was in jeopardy of losing the House and the Senate next year. 

Flake believed Republicans could lose their lock on both chambers because of the party’s lack of diversity and some of the alienating rhetoric coming from Trump.

Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican who will retire next year, went on ABC’s This Week and warned the GOP that the party could be dying and President Trump could attract both a Republican primary challenger and an independent in the 2020 presidential race 

Sen. Jeff Flake (left) sat down with ABC News' Jonathan Karl, who wanted to know if Flake had any presidential ambitions of his own. Flake answered that it's 'not in my plans,' but that he also doesn't rule anything out 

Sen. Jeff Flake (left) sat down with ABC News’ Jonathan Karl, who wanted to know if Flake had any presidential ambitions of his own. Flake answered that it’s ‘not in my plans,’ but that he also doesn’t rule anything out 

President Trump is seen on Christmas Eve at Mar-a-Lago participating in a video conference with U.S. troops. Sen. Jeff Flake in an interview with ABC News on Sunday suggested the president's behavior could earn him a GOP primary and an independent challenger in 2020 

President Trump is seen on Christmas Eve at Mar-a-Lago participating in a video conference with U.S. troops. Sen. Jeff Flake in an interview with ABC News on Sunday suggested the president’s behavior could earn him a GOP primary and an independent challenger in 2020 

‘If he continues on the path that he’s on … that’s gonna leave a huge swatch of voters looking for something else,’ Flake said on ABC’s This Week. 

ABC’s Jonathan Karl then asked the senator if he thought an independent challenger would come into the presidential race.

‘Oh yes, I think he’s inviting that,’ Flake replied. ‘He’s probably inviting a Republican challenge as well.’ 

While Karl tried to get Flake to articulate any presidential ambitions he may have, the Arizona lawmaker answered ‘that’s not in my plans,’ but ‘I don’t rule anything out.’

Karl also asked the senator if he thought Trump would make it through all four years of his first term. 

Flake answered that he doesn’t get ‘caught up’ on the impeachment chatter that’s coming from the political left, though outlined a number of missteps the president has made in regards to the Russia matter.

‘I mean, I look at that last campaign and I think, “Was the campaign even capable of colluding with anybody?” It was so chaotic and what not,’ Flake said. ‘But the problem is, as they always say, the cover up. And the sensitivity that the White House has to the special counsel and this investigation is troubling.’ 

As an example, Flake pointed to the May firing of FBI Director James Comey, a move by Trump that led to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointing Robert Mueller as a special counsel to take over the Russia probe.  

Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake donated $100 to Democrat Doug Jones writing 'country over party' on the check. Jones was running against accused pedophile Roy Moore for an Alabama Senate seat 

Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake donated $100 to Democrat Doug Jones writing ‘country over party’ on the check. Jones was running against accused pedophile Roy Moore for an Alabama Senate seat 

‘I still cannot figure out the rationale for the timing of the Comey firing,’ Flake said. ‘And if the president continues to try to undermine the legitimacy of that investigation and if Republicans continue to try to help with that, I think that puts us in peril, that we shouldn’t participate in the undermining of our institutions that way.’ 

Looking ahead, Flake said it would be a ‘big problem’ if Trump decided to fire Mueller. 

He also labeled it ‘equally troubling’ if the president pardoned former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty of lying to the FBI earlier this month. 

As for the broader Republican Party, Flake was among those in the GOP who were deeply concerned by the president and the party’s support of Roy Moore, the Alabama Senate hopeful who was accused of preying on teenage girls in the weeks leading up to the election.

Moore suffered an embarrassing loss to Democrat Doug Jones, who became the first Democrat to be elected in the bright red state in 31 years. 

Flake had donated $100 to Jones’ campaign writing ‘country over party’ on the check.

For Flake, Moore’s loss was a good thing, suggesting the party could walk back from the ledge.  

Despite criticizing President Trump  (left), Sen. Jeff Flake (right) voted alongside his fellow Republicans to give the president a tax bill win. Here he's seen at the White House December 5, sitting next to the president as they address tax legislation at a luncheon 

Despite criticizing President Trump  (left), Sen. Jeff Flake (right) voted alongside his fellow Republicans to give the president a tax bill win. Here he’s seen at the White House December 5, sitting next to the president as they address tax legislation at a luncheon 

‘But if we continue to go down that path, just to drill down on the base, then I think you’ll have a lot of people realize there’s no future for them in this party,’ Flake said. 

As for who the party is attracting, Flake outlined that too. 

‘We’re appealing to older white men and there are just a limited number of them,’ he said. ‘And anger and resentment are not a governing philosophy,’ the lawmaker also warned.  

Flake dramatically announced his retirement from the Senate during a late October floor speech, where he criticized Trump, without saying the president’s name, by pointing out that the executive’s behavior has not been ‘normal.’

At the same time Flake has continued to vote with his Republican colleagues in the Senate, giving – this week – Trump a much-needed win as Congress passed the first piece of major legislation in the Trump era, the tax bill. 

‘Let me put it this way, before the president came along on health care reform, repeal and replacement of Obamacare, I voted on it some 40 times. Should I change just to spite the president because he happens to favor the same reform that we do?’ Flake mused. ‘Same with tax reform, I’ve been pushing corporate tax reform, in particular, for years. Should I now turn the other direction just because the president happens to share our view?’ 

Flake will, however, give a handful of Senate floor speeches about the state of the union, with the first being on what Karl called ‘Trump’s relationship with the truth.’ 

 The senator agreed with that characterization, explaining that ‘we need as a democracy, as a country, shared facts that we can agree on.’  

Flake expressed that he didn’t like those institutions undermined by talk about ‘alternative facts’ or there being a ‘rigged’ political system, statements Trump or his allies have made.  

Karl asked if that meant Flake was calling the president a liar.  

‘I’m not saying that,’ the senator replied. ‘We can all choose our own words. I don’t use that word,’ he said when pressed on the question again.  



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