In Speech Announcing Retirement, GOP Sen. Flake Goes After Trump
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, announced Tuesday he would not run for re-election in 2018, condemning in a speech aimed at President Donald Trump the "flagrant disregard of truth and decency" that is undermining American democracy.
In a speech on the floor of the Senate, Flake said, "There are times we must risk our careers. Now is such a time."
"We were not made great as a country by ... calling fake things true and true things fake," @JeffFlake says https://t.co/Han6CMIw7Y pic.twitter.com/RpzbppwavP
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 24, 2017
Flake, who has criticized the path that the Republican Party has taken under Trump, said the impulse to threaten and scapegoat" threatens to turn America and the GOP into a "fearful, backward looking people" and a "fearful, backward looking party." Flake didn't mention Trump by name, but clearly was directing his remarks at the president and his administration.
"We must never accept...personal attacks, threats against principles, freedoms, and institutions," @JeffFlake says https://t.co/Han6CMIw7Y pic.twitter.com/GRq4hW1TTP
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 24, 2017
Flake is a conservative who favors limited government and free markets.
"A political career does not mean much if we are complicit in undermining these values," he said.
After bucking Trump in a state the president won, Flake is bottoming out in polls. Republicans may be left with a hard-core conservative challenger that might win the primary but lose in the general election.
(© Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)