During Monday’s broadcast of CBS’s “This Morning,” former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) sounded off on his outspokenness against President Donald Trump ahead of the upcoming Senate impeachment trial.
Flake, who was never shy about his distrust of Trump, said it is “difficult” for Republican lawmakers to speak out against Trump because they do not want to lose their jobs.
“It’s difficult because they want to keep their jobs, and the president is extremely popular among Republican primary voters,” Flake explained. “That is a subset of a subset of a subset. They are are those who decide who represent the party and the general election.”
He added, “I did speak up. I decided that, you know, I would have to condone behavior I couldn’t condone or accept positions that I couldn’t accept if I wanted to win reelection. That’s why I didn’t run.”
Flake also advised GOP lawmakers that Trump will not be in office forever, so they are also on trial with him “in a sense.”
“This president won’t be there forever,” he stated. “He’ll either be gone by this time next year or four years from now. Then what happens to the Republican Party? My fear is people out there know that even if this is not an impeachable offense, that the president did something wrong and for Republicans to maintain that he didn’t is just wrong. And this has long term ramifications for the party if we act as if we are just devoted to the president no matter what and this cult of personality we’ve seen. We certainly saw it in the House.”
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