Flake unburdened himself. he decided to be true to his self,
a true conservative who despite some wrong headed ideas
comes across as a decent person. YOu cannot serve Trump
and retain your honor decency or integrity. Flake and Corker
figured that out.
The slience of the rest of htem is deafening, But a journey of
a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Stay tuned
20
Rousing speeches notwithstanding, Jeff Flake remains a radical right-wing libertarian who wants to gut the Federal government and return to some 19th Century fantasy.
His real agenda as to life after the Senate will be revealed in his actions in the coming months. In the meantime he will remain in the Senate as a loyal foot soldier of the radical right and can be counted on to vote "yes" on every regressive and repressive measure McConnell and his corrupt enablers bring to the floor.
15
That we have a president willing to risk provoking a war with North Korea in which millions would die, in exchange for the adolescent satisfaction of taunting their unstable leader, while Republican leaders say nothing, and the base cheers him on says it all. Where is Susan Collins, Rand Paul, Lisa Murkowsky, Heidi Heidkamp, and Marco Rubio?,..even Jeb Bush seems to be MIA. What happened to.."Now is the time for all good women and men to come to the aid of their country." ?
16
"That we have a president willing to risk provoking a war with North Korea in which millions would die ... " Millions of whom? If we act swiftly, the millions who die would be North Koreans–an acceptable price for ongoing security.
I don't agree with Flake's politics at all. But I do think he's a decent man. The problem I have with him and the others who are not going to run again is that I don't think quitting is the answer. I think to remain true to ones convictions, you have to stay in there and keep fighting. The consequences of that can be tough I know. But what good comes from quitting? You cannot effect change if you no longer have a vote. The entire center of the Republican party is being decimated. In a few more years they won't be recognizable at all. They will be a party of conservatives and right wingnuts. Since they're only going to be about 30% of the population, the Dems shouldn't have too much trouble getting a majority of the House and Senate- if not this time, then certainly by 2020. Then we will have our work cut out undoing all the harm this man-baby president has caused.
3
Not so fast - and they know it. Here's their impunity to nearly everything -Gerrymandering has it locked up for them for YEARS after 2020.
7
Thank you Jeff Flake. You are taking a stand for decency in office. Many comments are suggesting that the more centrist Republicans jump ship to the Democratic party and shift the power of the Congress against Donald J Chaos & Co. I kinda like that idea. Or, you could stay in the GOP and just not vote with them in lock step. The Congress is pretty evenly divided and I feel Democrats would be willing to work on bi-partisan legislation that would help all Americans. The thing is, they need somebody to work with them to get things done. Isn't that what the Congress is for? To work for all Americans?
5
Here's a message to all Republicans. Sen. Flake may be aware of this already.
"If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power." D.D. Eisenhower
If this sounds like a warning for what we are now experiencing, I agree. Eisenhower also warned us of the Military/Industrial Complex in which we now live. Too bad our subsequent leaders weren't listening.
14
So Corker and Flake, apparently the senators from Wells Fargo and Equifax, are still capable of leaving their new-found principles in a blind trust as they voted to gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's anti-arbitration rule...
It's not bravery to make speeches decrying the behavior of the Dotard in Chief, but then continue to do the bidding of the plutocrats financing the ongoing dissolution of democracy.
13
Which is the braver choice? To denounce and drop out, on the theory that current voter opinion is something you have to follow? Or to denounce and stay in the race - putting energy into an impassioned effort to lead the voters to the view that your ideas are the better choice? These days, so many politicians seem to be followers of mass opinion and polls, making decisions on the basis of "market research." What we need are leaders who will fight for their ideas and work to persuade voters of a different view. It's good to know there is something out there resembling a principled Republicanism (well, compared to you-know-what) - but it's so little, so late, so lazy. If you are not willing to give voters the chance to make the better choice - then you have already conceded defeat. I can understand wanting a quiet life, but what good does it do to just retire from the arena?
5
I agree. I think Senator Jeff Flake was sincere and courageous and I applaud him! He was not afraid to speak to the naked truth about Trump's unfitness for the Presidency. And so what if he's a conservative? More of us, of all political persuasions, need to come together to rid America of Donald Trump and Bannon surrogates.
10
Great speech, Mr Kaye, but I noticed not one day later he was back to supporting Trump’s agenda, as he has done with 90% of his votes to date.
3
Thank you to Jeff Flake for speaking out!
Many of the comments below are very cynical, esp. along the lines that Flake could not win re-election so this is a convenient way out. Yet Flake has already acknowledged he cannot run the campaign necessary to win re-election and stay faithful to his beliefs and objectives.
I think his speech (and stance) show Flake's character. Of course, he has other and personal motives -- he is a complex human being. We could use more politicians like him (in both parties).
Can anyone imagine Paul Ryan taking a bold and principled stand against Trump! Mitch McConnell? These two would (and will) hide behind platitudes to the effect that their silence was/is for the good of the party and its agenda -- all the while destroying the Republican party (and possibly the nation) in the eyes of many.
44
McCain, Corker, Flake: The damn is cracking.
4
It's not cracking fast enough.
3
The harm that had already been done by men like Flake, McCain and Corker is what allowed a Donald Trump presidency.There are many problems entailed in the presidency of a hornswoggling sociopath and the damage he may do may destroy the world we know but without men like Corker McCain and Flake Donald would never have become president.
7
Excellent essay by Goldberg. I am a Bernie Sanders liberal, and in my view Flake's conservatism––if it prevailed––would represent a betrayal of most of the hard-won democratic gains secured after WW II.
But hard right conservatives like Flake at least recognize that the future direction of the country––toward a restoration of the FDR welfare state, or a continued increase in income inequality and insecurity for working people––should be decided by an open, deliberative process. Flake, Corker and McCain recognize that if we blow up that process, there will be no checks on whomever dares to be the most demagogic strongman––whether that person emerges from the right or the left.
12
I think it's a bit of a stretch; OK, a really big stretch, to define FDR's New Deal as a "welfare state".
The US has been subject to predatory capitalism since its' inception, the actions of FDR's New Deal seemed brought in for two reasons: to relieve, in a small way, the depredations brought about by the depression driven by a mix of sympathy for the people's plight as well as the real fear of a revolution either from the poor underclass or the rich overclass.
And the overclass has been striving to undermine even that weak tea that FDR brought in ever since. The apogee of that struggle is represented by Trump. The toil of the Klan, the Birchers, the Alphabet soup of other right wing organizations has co-opted every layer of US government from the Supreme Court on down to the extent that in most, if not all social democracies around the world, even the Democrats would be viewed as a right-wing party.
Flake, Corker and McCain are no heroes. They have marched lock-step with their party their entire political careers. It doesn't take a genius to recognize the Trump is manifestly unfit for the presidency. They played the game and all three in some sense are cashing in their chips.
Keep in mind that Trump isn't a lot different from a history of Red State governors that were and are in power. It's just now that the US is in danger of becoming Mississippi that smug people in the Blue States are in a panic. Trump isn't an outlier, he's an inevitable conclusion.
2
You just contributed to loosing the hard won gains made after WW II, if, after Bernie had no chance you didn't choose and actually vote for the better (at least saner) of the two candidates who even had a chance.
What we are witnessing is the fallout from failure to see high stakes when they're in front of ones face.
You will now be backpedaling for a long time to get some of those advances made back. Had the election gone the other way, it's not in doubt at all, that the Consumer Credit Bureau, the E.P.A. the Russia Sanctions Office and a host more more gains would not be under attack. Best of luck.
5
I think we would all like some relief from the awfulness of Trump but waiting for heroes to save us is not how serious problems are usually resolved. Imperfect at it may seem, every little bit of resistance matters. And every time a Trump supporter encounters a narrative that differs from the script in their head, they change a little.
Also, the deep right values people who can neither think independently or work-out problems on their own. This isn't a crowd that will build useful things or lead America anywhere but off the cliff.
6
Thanks for what - voting for ACA repeal efforts, advancing a tax reform measure that will benefit the rich Americans? I appreciate that Jeff Flake is trying to cleanse his soul in some way now, but it doesn’t mean much if he continues to go with the GOP flow before his career flames out.
9
We all love the simplification that says there are good people and bad people. However, it simply isn't true. All people do good things and bad things in their lives. Flake has done plenty of bad things. He just did a good thing. What's wrong with acknowledging that? No one here is saying it cancels out the bad or anything like that. It simply was...a good thing. I, for one, appreciate it, despite the fact that I never liked Flake. If people could get over their need to make everything black and white, the world would be a better place.
14
I hardily agree with everything that has been written here. The response of the Democratic party chairman to Senator Flake's speech is emblematic of the tragic state of today's Democratic party. It should be pointed out that Senator Flake and Senator Corker will be in the Senate for the next fourteen months. Change has to start somewhere. Why not with the leadership of Senator Flake and Senator Corker? Why do pundits and Democratcs, who have no polictical power to lose as do these two Senators,not celebrate there having stepped forward?
6
We now confront the question that haunts democracy from its inception, a question we desperately wish will always be a hypothetical one: how can I be loyal to and promoter of democratic ideals and democracy itself when the majority--an electoral majority in this case--votes for a person and ideas that I find not only morally offensive, but also hostile to the democratic practices, manners, and guarantees that, paradoxicaly, allowed such a person and ideas to assume the country's leadership.
No matter how mixed his motives or how opportunistic his message and actions are, Sen. Flake stands up for preserving those democratic ideals even as the wrecking ball continues to swing against the institution that houses them. He acted very publically, and I thank him deeply for his courage and his willingness to act, while 50 of his Republican colleagues still cower behind their hastily assembled safety barricade.
8
Perhaps the Corker/Flake/McCain troika could agree, on a rotating basis, to periodically take to the Senate floor and address, at some depth and length, the threatening policies, unacceptable behaviors, and societal disturbances fostered by the outlier Trump Administration. Such an organized response to the Executive cabal would be firmly in the tradition of that upper chamber as a more reflective deliberating body, while serving as an important legislative counterweight to an imperiously growing White House. This series of addresses by those Senators could even be provided with a galvanizing name. Hopefully, more of their colleagues would, at long last, finally grow a spine and join the group to speak their peace, also.
3
he’s sacrificed a career
Or set up a run for President.
Any conscious human (well we all realize that the majority are not conscious of anything outside of their own urges to satisfy their immediate desires) can appreciate Jeff's repugnance for Trumpish existence. However, the guy is definitely a couple of hundred votes short of being a hero.
2
I do not mind thoughtful discourse with a conservative who is thoughtful, principled, who gathers information from reputable news organizations and who is able to communicate his position without rancor. Donald Trump troubles me, not because we disagree, but that despite his self described brilliant mind, he spends his time watching Fox and Friends and nary a minute with say Charlie Rose. This is the wrong job for someone, not willing to put in the work, someone who likes the frills, who must get adulation and who can't accept criticism. I am saddened to see good people, like Flake and Corker walking away because the child in the White House can't behave himself and surrounds himself with people too timid to say, enough. Let's hope others besides McCain, Murtkowski, and Collins find their courage.
5
I don't consider Jeff Flake heroic in any sense. Here is what I think happened. He writes a book, and gets it published. He realizes that he is not going to survive a primary in the current Trump GOP. He and his publicist strategize on what to do for the maximum social media exposure to drive book sales. Suddenly a resignation speech on the Senate floor.
Come on. A portrait in courage would have been last January or at least this summer when you saw all the damage and carnage the President was wrecking to call him out and to call out your fellow Congressional members. Calling members of a club out, when you're no longer going to be a member isn't all that courageous or difficult.
Am I jealous? Yes, I wish our GOP Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) would follow Flake and resign. I'd take a chance on a Trump Republican but I think we've had enough of rubber stamp Republicans in Ohio that we could probably get another Democrat in who would at least care about the constituents.
No one, elected or citizen, that is remained in the GOP after Trump was elected will ever be considered a hero to me.
6
This says it all. "All the same, he’s now arguing that telling the truth about Trump is more important than enacting his most cherished political priorities." Thank you, Jeff Flake.
4
Ms. Goldberg is spot on. And Mr. Perez who castigates Senator Flake is dead wrong. Flake did the heavy lifting that our democracy asks of its denizens. Good people make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. Flake's mistake was not speaking out loudly and clearly from the get go. Now he has remedied his error. What a body does after the mistake--that is how we take the measure of a soul. Be loud and clear. Keep calm. Carry on. And make America America again.
26
Well said, Ms Goldberg. Critics of Senator Flake fail to distinguish between his belief in conservative/Morman policies and his abhorrence of Trump the man. Had Senator Flake stayed in Congress, his votes in favor of conservative Republican legislation would continue to be seen by many people (and Flake himself) as implicit approval of Trump. Flake decided not to be complicit.
5
if Senator Flake and the few other republicans who have been more vocal in their opposition to trump really want to do something courageous then they would join with the democrats and topple to corrupt republican power structure in the senate. getting rid of mcconnel and the republican committee chairs would send a signal that would turn words into deeds that would truly deserve to be acknowledged for putting country before party. short of that is just mumbling into a hurricane set to do more damage to the country than was done in Puerto Rico.
2
I agree that falling on one's sword rather than continuing to give tacit approval to a corrupt leader is an act of defiance well met. Assuming it will make any difference at all is borderline delusional (I speak from experience). Many times the evil doer, in this case our own "President Underwood", will feel relief or satisfaction that a non-believer can now be replaced by a groveling true-believer. It will take a sea change in Congress to make a real difference, but every little bit will provide courage to the next soldier of conscience. Rumors of Mueller indictments coming before Thanksgiving should give us all hope. Man the barricades!
1
Of course Flake is an opportunist like the rest of them. They all practice Me expediency, but that is the nature of politics since time immemorial. BUT whatever his motive ... we needed this truth to be spoken loud and clear. Flake has opened a steel door in the Republican bunker. Let’s focus on what he said and less on what his personal motives are.
2
At 77 I have to wonder if there will be a next generation to even ask, "'Why didn't you do something?'" Sens. Corker and Flake for all their brave words and repeated warnings have ceded the political arena to Donald Trump and his autocratic white supremacist "America First" nationalism. With the planet already under tremendous stress from global warming, Trump and his E.P.A. head, Scott Pruitt, have left the Paris climate accord and rolled back every environmental protection of the Obama administration. And, if we don't all choke to death as a result, there is the escalation in nuclear confrontation with North Korea that may turn us all into radioactive ash. And for all of that, there is a truly deathly silence over Washington and the nation only broken by the triumphant cries of President Trump and his allies that he's "won the week." What we heard from Sen. Flake was a eulogy for the Republican Party and perhaps even for our Constitutional democracy.
4
Flake doesn't need to be considered a hero, but he does deserve thanks from both liberals and conservatives. Same with Corker. They're both conservative Republicans who finally got tired of tying their own political fortunes to those of the malevolent, incompetent grifter in the White House.
The only way to keep Trump from totally debasing the country's image, and turning us all against one another, is for both Democrats and Republicans to acknowledge that Trump is a hot mess masquerading as a leader. Richard Nixon was driven out of office only when Republicans, after a lot of hemming and hawing and procrastinating and equivocating, joined Democrats in condemning his blatant obstruction of justice. That's what we need now.
I have no love for right-wing policies. But conservatives shouldn't have any more love for Trump than liberals do. He's a disaster all the way across the political spectrum.
5
"They should also back legislation to curb the president's ability to launch nuclear weapons unilaterally."
And they should initiate this legislation immediately before it is too late. The
threat to the nation and the world of Trump's irrational and egocentric impetuosity should be a far greater priority than tax reform. A big "win" on taxes for Trump and the Republican Party will be totally irrelevant if Trump orders an attack on North Korea or allows the use of any nuclear weapons. It is time for the Congress to
heed the warnings of Corker, Flake , and Mc Cain.
3
From “Apocalypse Now”:
Captain Benjamin L. Willard: They told me that you had gone totally insane, and that your methods were unsound.
Colonel Walter E. Kurtz: Are my methods unsound?
Captain Benjamin L. Willard: I don't see any method at all, sir.
I don’t know Flake’s heart, mind, soul; but I wonder whether criticism is meaningless without the willingness to stop Trump through the political process? I wonder with Flake’s voting record, whether Flake only has issue with the methods being unsound. For it seems that Flake’s voting record supports Trump’s policies, just not his method.
1
Jeff Flake should run for his seat once more--as an Independent.
1
Thank you for this column. I was stunned to hear that Paul Ryan, third in line to the presidency, said "the American people don't want to hear this" ... the president is an unfit and purveys hatred and racism, for Gods sake.
2
Flake is out because Republican voters figured out that he fell for the Democrats' ruse of creating a one-party state through rigging the election system via foreign influx under the name of "comprehensive immigration reform."
No thanks for Flake. He voted with Trump. And now that Flake has finally seen that he danced with the devil, he has abandoned his post to an Alt right Republican, instead of fighting the president and providing inspiring leadership for his party to jettison Trump and his ilk. Some hero.
3
Be careful about picking heroes, Ms Goldberg. The conscience of that conservative is in full denial about being an enabler of those who hire illegals. Illegal immigration is the wave that Bannon rides, and his demise depends upon that wave's removal.
Who should bear the responsibility? DACA recipients? No, approve their dreams. Current illegals being exploited? No, get their stories and then reward good workers at unwanted jobs with documentation. Then, enact and enforce criminal penalties upon the paycheck providers and services receivers. Boom, game over.
All illegal work can be stopped. This cycle of cutting loose old illegal workers from their ranch, farm, and meat packing plant jobs and into our social services / deportation systems via Reagan Amnesty or Trump Storm Troopers can be stopped. Bannon's wave of resentment can be reduced to its racist core and his supremacist candidates defeated.
Dream a dream that works. Wake up, paycheck providers and services receivers; and do not resist the coming change.
Please forgive me, I have been too clever by half in trying to find a clever description of Donald Trump. It was Charles Dickens whose Uriah Heap and Miss Haversham whose very name described their nature but there is a word in the English language that gives us a noun, a verb and a gerund that draws a portrait of Donald Trump. I knew this word long ago but it was only this week that I remembered it and had an Aha moment.
hornswoggle
hornswoggler and
hornswoggling summarize Trumpism but Jeff Flake needs a different word and the word for Flake and his fellow Goldwater Republicans is evil for it is they who are destroying America.
It is the dictionary that uses the past tense verbal form of hornswoggle as in I was hornswoggled but there is no past tense for what the GOP is doing to America because dead men tell no tales.
2
Stop thanking this man, for anything! Rhetoric and speeches are worthless! Look at his voting record in congress - 100% lock step with the right wing of the republican party, right up through the present.
After you've answered your grandchildren's questions about why you didn't do something and why didn't you speak up maybe they'll ask you why you voted with the President over 90% of the time?
2
You know what I appreciate, Ms. Goldberg? You calling this presidency an abomination. That's what it has been from the beginning, each day bringing new repulsive conduct by Trump and his enablers. It is not normal, these are not normal times, the most powerful man in the world is a bad-tempered nitwit. Please continue to speak truth to power.
1
Sen. Flake is irrelevant. He has no skin in the game and thus can afford to be critical of the president's temperament. Yet, he has no problems with Gorsuch, De Vos, Sessions, and Pruitt, and likely would have no problems with a President Pence.
Why should anyone thank him?
My guess is that Michelle Goldberg has a contractual obligation to The Times and thus must come up copy.
Michelle Goldberg is irrelevant.
This administration, with the full cooperation of the complicit GOP, has merged corporate & state power. That is how Mussolini described fascism. As disgusting & dangerous as Trump truly is the problem is still a Republican party that willingly sacrifices our democracy to their extremist ideological goals.
"Some who’ve criticized Flake have said that, rather than quitting, he should defend his principles in a primary fight."
If Flake and Corker really cared about our country and really wanted to rid us of this noisome thug they would run for reelection and throw their races to the Democrats. A Republican senate will never impeach Trump no matter what he does.
1
Michelle, your words:
"For decades, Republicans have stoked the culture war to win the support of people hurt by their economic policies. Under the guise of pushing back against left-wing bias, the right has systematically tried to discredit all objective sources of information, ushering in a berserk reactionary postmodernism in which truth loses its meaning."
are true of nearly all Conservative Governments the world over.
Corporatization of the broadcast news media is one of the most fundamental strategies by which the Conservatives have been able to implement such an effective propaganda machine.
Vehicles such as Twitter and Facebook then amplify the messages.
If an educated and well informed populace is a foundation stone of democracy then perhaps it is time for some major changes to the basis on which media companies are allowed to operate.
Key ideas could be:
Laws against aggregation of ownership and control of media channels.
Constitutional amendments setting forth proper standards of journalistic behaviour to elevate the status of the profession.
Modification of the reach of social media messages to better match the actual dynamics of old-fashioned human speech and interaction. In years gone by a person with crazy ideas could only reach their cohort of associates and whilst good ideas propagated more slowly, bad or false ideas were easily filtered by the cohort.
Banning politicians, political parties, news media and companies from using social media.
14
What remarkably ILLIBERAL suggestions -- censorship and central control by a small number of people. Where do you suggest we find the selfless, purely objective, and I assume non-elected mortals to create and operate this command and control scenario? P.S. -- I do agree with your first suggestion.
We can complain that false information can run riot on the social media platforms.
We can complain that the news media serves up more opinion than fact and is distorting reality to serve their rich 1% masters.
But what then to do about this ?
Consider other professions such as medical doctors.
There is a requirement to train and to achieve standards of professional excellent and to practise (at least in Commonwealth countries) a requirement to be a member of a professional body that can revoke your license to practise medicine should you fail to maintain proper standards.
The malaise affecting news journalism and media integrity in Western societies has serious consequences because of the clear intention of media empire owners and editorial staff to manipulate public opinion.
For example, the lies of climate change denialists are not assailed by the news media as aggressively as they should be. And yet failure to address climate change as we need to is a potentially extinction level event for humanity. People will die needlessly because of our failures so far.
For example, most news organisations have moved far beyond reporting the facts. Now they serve up interpretation and opinions alongside an often severe deficit of factual information in pursuit of ratings. We endure over-exposure of news celebrities who filter, package and spin our incoming news feeds.
It is possible to define standards for professional journalism that liars will necessarily fail to attain.
Agreed Michelle, thank you Jeff Flake! I do want to point out that your statement, “Republicans in Congress who knew that Trump’s presidency was an abomination but refused to say so publicly” is slightly myopic. According to many Conservatives, President Obama was the Anti-Christ, but President Trump is the Religious Freedom Hero! I suspect very few Republicans feel he is an abomination, but a true saint to their agenda against abortions and gay marriages, yet purposely negate pride, greed, corrupt communication, conspiracies, idolatry, all in the name of a false religion called Conservatism. In their eyes no matter what vileness comes out of Trump’s mouth, no matter how many times he proudly proclaims I, he will never be an abomination as long as they satisfy their demonic donors and their personal agendas. They love it! Trumps actions are entertaining to their hypocritical souls. Not surprising popcorn is available on the Hill.
17
Well said. We humans, with all our quirks and brilliant schemes, are also lowly worms bent on selling ourselves if the end, our security as government officials or party goats, demands and justifies it, qualifying as political prostitution, and to hell with principles of prudence (as the current overestimation of assets/income and underestimation of expenses, when touting Trump's 'tax cuts' for the rich). Unless, and until, the republican party comes to grip with their cowardice and hypocrisy in not opposing unscrupulous Trump, no viable solution to save the republic is at hand. The legislative branch of government, separate and coequal with the executive, has surrendered to the latter...a mafia in the hands of a voracious beast ready and willing to slaughter anybody in his usual way (me or the highway). All to preserve their miserable seat in congress, a most shameful attitude sacrificing this fragile democracy of ours. Flake and Corker, and perhaps McCain, are a sample of what others less courageous are thinking but failing awfully bad in enacting. Ben Franklin's wise phrase comes to mind: "Those willing to sacrifice ambiguous security for liberty, deserve neither. Trump is an expert liar, and highly ignorant demagogue, undeserving to exercise the abuse of power we witness day in and day out. If we continue to enable this institutionalized corrupted violence, we ought to shut up, as we may as well deserve our fate, complicit in our oblivion.
1
In schools all across the country there is a big push to stop bullying - that is as it should be.
However, Senator Flake and his ilk are talking big but not willing to stand for re-election against the Trump/Bannon bullying.
Who do they think will be elected to take their place? Not somebody with old-fashioned democratic ideas. It will be some white nationalist.
So they lose big - while losing they can stand for what they say is right.
Who knows-maybe they could change some minds.
Flake and the other politicians giving up are just b-s’ers trying to make themselves look good with fancy words and quotes.
6
I, too, am concerned with who will replace them. But are you willing to offer the millions of dollars it costs, for an election that would likely fail, so that Flake and Corker can run on their principles?
There is no doubt, what Flake has done in speaking out against Trump is commendable. But in the end I think we will continue to see him vote the Republican agenda that is so detrimental to the poor.
14
Thanks for what? He had no trouble voting to take health insurance away from the poor, and he'll vote for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy without a second thought. Curbs on guns after children were slaughtered at Sandy Hook? The right to choose for women? No way.
Some "hero".
31
I believe Flake's act has been overanalyzed. His message was far more personal than political. In essence, he stated that "I' m as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take :it any more." He captured the essence of why Trump is totally unfit. Too many of us have conflated Trump's personal style and his political agenda. His politics, however misguided, are not the essence of the problem, It is his personal style -- the lying, the vicious attacks, the ignoring of the personal benefits of his policies, and his utter lack of decency. Flake spoke the simple truth. I believe his short speech will be remembered for capturing the essence of the problem. He did not do enough to bring down Trump. But he spoke a truyh that needed to be spoken -- that Trump's style is unacceptable even if you agree with him 91.5% of the time. I thought his message was spot on and rang loud and clear. It was nothing more and nothing less then what it was. He fell on his sword for what was right. That may not have been heroic, but it was an act of integrity seldom seen among self-interested politicians.
7
There is not much known about what Flake has planned after his short time in the Senate. This I believe says everything weather he is a hero or not. Perhaps he will go on working screwing middle class Americans in the private sector, who knows? Yet don't forget: he's not staying and fighting, he is quitting and just saying "take this job and shove it". Big deal. His words might get some of his supporters to think twice about supporting Trump, yet really, these are just words. He is no hero, he is a quitter that now feels it safe to say what many other spineless self serving Republican politicians already think, but know thay can't. He did most everything against the average American and towed the line with the GOP the whole time he was in Washington. He signed to kill a rule that would allow average Americans to sue banks the day before his speech. This one speech is not going to erase all the negative things he's done. Enough with the apologists who think we can now somehow forget who he really is.
3
I agree 100%. It's got to start somewhere, and the right wing conservatism of Corker and Flake make their speaking out all the more poignant.
And in the age of Trump the inarticulate moron and his loser nihilistic moron base, it's comforting to hear eloquently stated words - words that are true - no matter how much some of the letter writers here can't or don't hear them.
10
Another joke of an article. Now, leftists just adore Flake, McCain, Collins, and there rest of the Never Trump RINO, globalist Repubs.
You’ve been exposed. The leftist media is embracing people like Flake for their faux outrage. So it’s hypocrisy layered on top of hypocrisy.
Can’t make this stuff up.
2
I don’t think you have any idea what you are talking about. Flake is as hardline a conservative as they come, but he has had enough of Trump’s despicable behavior and total lack of decorum, his constant lying and his incompetence. Flake and other Republican critics of Trump are not RINOs simply because they disapprove of Trump’s many faults. I also think they would not have had a problem with Pence, so does that still make them RINOs in your opinion?
Try to imagine that there is more to life than simple out-downs and partisan games.
Flake is a coward who throws a punch and runs away. Big deal. If he wants to help his constitutes he should fight against Trump's agenda and stupid comments everyday. Man up.
4
I appreciate the fact that Senators Flake, McCain and Corker, who are transitioning out of the Senate, have the courage to speak what is the truth to rational people. However, that only reveals in stark terms the remaining craven, spineless elected Republicans who are willing to provide cover to the Trump travesty and the vacuity of the electorate wh
6
We should add Ben Sasse to the list of dubious heroes. Like Flake, he has come out with a book decrying the tone in Washington and like Flake all he wants is for the Democrats to acquiesce to the GOP's full antediluvian agenda - without a fight and with no rancor on either side. That's all.
3
I don't understand how a man who has spent his life undermining the well-being of his fellow citizens can be made a hero by repudiating the words of hornswoggling sociopath. For all his faults Donald Trump has never caused so much damage to the average American family as this acolyte of the anarchist Barry Goldwater.
We knew Barry Goldwater back in 1964 when he was nominated by the GOP to declare war on the Civil Rights Act.
I no longer understand the US of A.
9
Don’t congratulate Flake. Every time a ModCon quits, it’s red meat to the New Authoritarians.
We’re seeing the runup to civil war. That’s not overblown. Consider:
• Trump’s incitements of violence against minorities, immigrants, anyone who disagrees;
• His “base” has all the guns;
• Each time Mod-Cons like Flake quit rather than stay to do battle, it only emboldens the neo-fascists;
• The several old people on the Supreme Court. When Hitler was appointed Chancellor, everything he did was sanctioned by the courts. When the Supreme Court is packed with right-wingers, it will set the stage for police actions and suspension of voting;
• If votes stop going his way, Trump will suspend elections. If he’s reelected in 2020, look for that.
Why do so many Americans applaud as Trump dismantles their government and provokes nuclear war? Why do they conclude that what is good for billionaires and bad for them, and bad for the continued existence of life on earth…is somehow good!
The OSS described Hitler thusly:
• “His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lie
Quick,who’s that?
8
Bravo
3
Talk is cheap.
2
The Panzers are moving through the Ardennes and the Magenot Line of our democracy is falling piece by piece - first the Executive and if the Congress falls next, don't expect the Supreme Court to be more than The Donald's Vichy.
So Jeff, John and Bob, it is time to stand. There is no Dunkirk on this side of the North Atlantic and it is a longway to Australia and New Zealand.
4
Sure, lonely voices crying out in the dark. Also known as prey.
Thanks, GOP.
6
Agree...
3
Take away Trumps ability to launch nuclear weapons and support Muller
Investigations into obstruction of justice, and all Trumps criminal activities.
I'd like to see the republicans ,yank Trump off Air Force one and cut off this
Golf tournament paid for by you and me!!millions!!!!
Read "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,"it's not a diagnosis it's a
Study of Trumps behavior,It's as far from normal as possible .OMG
3
Wish Flake and Corker had another five plus years left like McCain for their term to make trump a pest as the man is.
3
Will the real silent majority of people in Arizona please stand up for themselves instead of DJT. I know you are there... some afraid of your gun slinging neighbors... and most just wanting everyone to stop screaming. Now is the time to demand Jeff Flake stay in office!
2
Yes, thank you, Jeff. But you must not leave.
We need you to take away the 52 votes the GOP can garner. We need you to vote against Armageddon. We need you to stand up against this man, this administration. You must not go home, hat in hand.
You must be the calm, clear voice of the Republican Party, You must say the emperor has no clothes - not wait for a child to do it. You must say that he is lying, when he does. You must call him out for his bigotry and incompetence.
You have supporters and followers and a name that is recognized with a 96% rating for conservative causes - not my cup of tea, but it gives you street creds with those who will not hear - those who would vote for him if he really did shoot someone on 5th Avenue - or if he started a nuclear war.
We cannot afford to loose a single one of you. Stay and fight him for us. History will remember you well for it.
3
People would pay more attention to this writer if he didn't turn policy disagreements (with Flake, for example) into moral "abhorrance". That sort of language estranges him, and his readers, from what they have in common.
Both Cohen and Flake are well intentioned. Don't talk to the NYT echo chamber, and don't pick fights with those with whom you disagree, honestly, about policy.
His oral presentation of the speech to a largely empty chamber wasn't very impressive. But the written document itself was the finest political speech by a living politician that I've read in decades. I'm not a Republican, but I respect him. His party isn't worthy of him.
5
I really don’t think your encomium will be much help to Mr. Flake.
I 100% agree with this article. I was really disappointed that the "left" didn't come out and give full voice support of Flake. how do we expect others to step forward and be brave when we berate the first few who do?!? Dumb Dumb Dumb "left" just dumb. The "left" needs to know when to fight and when to embrace the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
2
Until he STOPS voting in goosestep, um, lockstep fashion with his GOP collaborators, I will refrain from blowing kisses, verbal or otherwise.
Period.
3
You need to accept allies where you can find them.
I recall the GOP castigating Obama's foreign policy approach to unfriendly states as appeasement akin to British PM Neville Chamberlain's pre WWII appeasement of Hitler. The underlying premise is that Chamberlain was naive -- he should have recognized that Hitler was a power-hungry narcissist and a liar. Now, the GOP sits on their hands and zips their lips, appeasing a President whose numerous lies are self-published on Twitter with such frequency that the media cannot keep up. The GOP has proven itself easily-duped, complacent in the face of threats to the fabric of the Republic, and naive.
5
Seem to recall certain people, sometimes Republicans, who used to scream about how the moderate Muslim's MUST speak out more against the radicals.
Of course, pointing out shameless hypocrisy hardly even seems worth the effort these days.
5
So, in the days since Corker and Flake removed themselves from the chorus of Donald Trump and the Enablers road show, our hopes they so quickly raised have, just as quickly, been brought back to earth. Until we start to see some pushback from these two and from John McCain, the Senate's doo-wop finger-snapping choreography will go on, glittery jackets and all.
They must do more than just abstain from voting on legislation, they must actively oppose those programs that inordinately benefit the wealthy, which is pretty much to say, all of them. With 49 votes, plus Pence in the bullpen), Trump's agenda is still a foregone conclusion. Oh, one might still hold out hope for a display of intelligence from Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski. But, then, one might also hope for any of a number of miracles, with the historically typical results.
1
He's still voting to gut the USA, so why is everyone so happy,
4
Flake is a coward because he exhorted us to fight, fight, fight, while he headed for the door.
Simply put, Trump "out Tea Partied" Flake and Flake didn't like it.
3
Thanks, but no thanks. I'm suspicious of the liberal enthusiasm for conservatives who disagree with Trump. Do MIchelle Goldberg, etc., really accept common ground with them, or do they regard them as useful idiots for their own purposes? Right now, it's unclear.
Everything about Trump that Sen. Flake called him on is also known, and much more, by Gen. Kelly, Gen. Mattis, Cohn, Mnuchin, Tillerson, Ivanka, Jared, etc. In fact, they see more frequently and from closer up than Sen. Flake the aberrational thought processes, the narcissism, the cruelty, the lack of impulse control, the overweening insecurity, the lying, etc. that render Trump unfit for office. They are all craven cowards and lacking in ant sense of patriotism, since known of them has blown the whistle on our infantile president.
4
Just another example of why the Democrats keep losing. Liberals who view the nation as the distorted map of what the country looks like as "flyover" country. The hipsters of Brooklyn will NOT save us. Trust me, to borrow a famed Trumpism. Most Americans are fair minded. Yes, even the "deplorables." For heavens sake, the cowardly intellectual elites who pour digital ink and make MSNBC appearances and never enter the arena, are not the saviors they think they are. Courage is not something they test for on the SAT's. Get with it folks.
2
Clearing up a misconception if we may: we are the resistence - we who confounded the cognoscenti, lit up the liberals and halted the heinous Hillary. This silly notion that those tossed from their lofty perches could claim that
soubriquet is as asinine as their claim to represent anything other than an amoral, mammon-worshiping consumerist miasma of elitists, globalists and (un)liberal thought police. Fortunately the jive presented in these pages, tailored of course to noses well above ground level, is transparently facile to the sensible and easily turned into very effective campaign ads to marshall our legions. It's in the DNA to make silk purses out of sow's ears, and when the targets supply the arrows, the hunting's made easier.
If and when Trump declares marshal law and makes himself president-for-life, the vast majority of GOP (people and their legislators) would celebrate the new thousand-year-Reich.
2
Flake behaved heroically? What a laughable assertion.
His behavior could only be characterized as pure and unadulterated cowardice.
Good riddance Flake, enjoy that high paid lobbying gig.
4
Yawn. Republican cashes out later to appear on K Street. Anyone who's ever quit a job knows that it's nothing to speak your mind after you've given notice.
Some shining example.
2
$1.5 Trillion Tax Cut Passed by December.....with over 80% of that tax cut going to the top 1% of wage earners.
Kudos to the Trump base....you sure know how to pick em.....
CONGRATS!!!!!
3
Sure. Thanks. After you have nothing to lose.
1
Michelle, Michelle, Michelle,
Ain't nothin' gonna happen. Start drafting your next column with this reality in mind.
1
Flake is a fraud who hasn't done anything except run his mouth. He has yet to vote against Trump on any single issue. Until he does something substantive, he should not be given credit for a fake stand against Trump.
3
Then why did he do it?
Thanks for nothing. Just minutes after his faux critical Trump rhetoric, this flack Flake clown VOTED WITH TRUMP to eliminate rights to participate in class action suits.
He has voted with Trump 91% of the time. Why on God's green earth is a supposedly "liberal" columnist so easily taken in by an obvious illusion?
1
I'm obviously all for Flake's rhetoric calling out the scoundrel in the White House. It needed/needs to be done, & even more besides.
However deeds are more important than words, at least out here away from the Hill, & Mr. Flake surely did the deed (dirty) to the nation instead of Trump when, almost immediately after his little speech, he cut the citizenry off at the knees, along with all the other GOP in the Senate, INCLUDING Bob Corker. The action aimed at preventing the people from holding those who cheat them accountable is unconscionable. Sorry, Mr. Flake. I heard your words, but I also saw your actions. Out here in the real world, we believe what people *do* more than what they say.
You made it very obvious where you *really* stand, & it's dang sure not where your words are.
What this really says is that most of the Republican congressmen are really cowards. Come on fellows, vote and speak your consciences.
3
Like ur articles on recovery effort in P.R., so critical w/o taking trouble to go down there urself like G.R.of Fox News, who speaks Spanish, or ur colleagues who did a fantastic piece, "24 Hours in Puerto RICO,"present one suffers from poor research and bad judgement. Flake was elected as a Tea Partier, yet voted for almost all of 0bama's proposals. Like McCain, Flake never learned even a basic Spanish in a state in which half the population is hispanophone. Parents r judged by the way they raise their progeny. Flake's son and daughter-in law were indicted on 21 felony counts -- 1 for each dog--for animal abuse, having allowed deaths of helpless creatures by suffocation in a kennel in Phoenix, where temperature is as high as in,say, Tagant Plateau in Mauritania.McCain's reputation is tainted by his involvement in "des affaires vereuses,"Keating banking scandal which cost taxpayers billions, and "oui dires"of favored treatment by his captors at Hanoi Hilton prison:He was considered a "trusty!" Sen. Corker used a Lee Atwater style racist ploy to get elected by a razor thin margin over Harold Ford Jr.,who is bi racial. These are men of principle leading the "resistance" against Pres. Trump?He is our duly elected c-in-c and yours too.
I agree, Ms. Goldberg. Jeff Flake has been catching a lot of snark from liberals who fail to recognized his courage to speak out against a deplorable person while still retaining his conservative principles. Speaking of deplorable, although I agree with their politics I personally find Michael Moore and Keith Olbermann arrogant, shrill, and repugnant. You can throw in Oliver Stone as well. As a film director, he seems like the Jack Webb of the left. Character and fairness matter to me as much as ideology.
2
He is a right wing extremist. This really takes lesser evilism too far.
1
Will Trump pay legal fees for whomever does harm to Rep. Frederica Wilson. Trump has incited threats on Wilson.
3
Okay, i'll go along. But if all it takes to be a hero is to recognize a fool, then we have flights of angels among us.
1
Printed out the Flake speech and have it posted on my home office bulletin board. It is a classic. Do not agree with Flake underlying politics, but fully agree with his message. Sent copies of the speech via e-mail to my children and grand-children. Think disastrous effects of Trump "Presidency" are a huge blight on our Democracy.
Must add that too many of our citizens rely on unreliable and strongly biased sources for their news - FOX, CNS, Breitbart, NewsMax. Suggest they broaden their sources. Case in point - the attacks on Hillary regarding the so called nuclear sellout - proposed revived investigations are plowing old ground. Take a look at Fact Check and Snopes analysis of this issue. Wake up and do your homework.
1
Flake, Corker, McCain, Sasse are a start. Overcoming political inertia is a process. They have started the process. I don’t think the Republican primary can or should be the place to take on tRump. It is time for a realignment of the parties. There are many voters in the middle who would be happy to break with both parties. Democrats have no clue what to do and Republicans have become dishonest, unprincipled political hacks.
Three questions:
Why did it take so long? This abomination was in your face obvious at least since last November. Please disregard the few gutless milquetoast comments he made a few months ago, they don't count.
Flake still votes the party line (eg recent class action vote). Why?
When is Flake going to get the ball rolling on ousting #45?
Flake is as phony as a Laffer curve, as phony as trump's bone spur deferment, as phony as ......
The Inquirer:
There’s always a shot at redemption. In the coming days and weeks, if Flake crosses the aisle and works on legislation that would shore up Obamacare’s exchanges but not undermine our health-care system, or if he decides that Trump’s unfitness for the presidency warrants his actual removal from office, his words will actually have some meaning attached to them. Until then, the next time that the senator is tempted to ask, “When will it stop?” he should put down his laptop and look in the mirror.
1
“[H]e’s personally repugnant in ways that transcend politics”?
Ms. Goldberg, I could not have phrased it better. Love your columns. Keep up the good work!
2
I don't agree with a lot of Flake, but I admire his bravery to speak out, and I believe he will go down in history as being on the right side. But the three "resisters" should caucus with the Dems. Now that would really chaff tRumps rump.
2
Thank you for writing this. I cringed when I heard Dems bashing Flake. If we want to defeat Trump, spitting on Flake and Corker for not being sufficiently pure is counter productive. I am tired of litmus tests and expecting perfection. And coming from people who can't be tagged as RINOs it carries more weight. Yes, these men are not running for reelection but if they did and lost--which is highly likely--it would sound like sour grapes. And they have time left in the US Senate to stop the most egregious things DT can do. And should it come to impeachment, the Senate convicts.
3
I'm not as impressed with Senators Flake, Corker and McCain as some. Yes, they are finally speaking out, but only when their own future no longer depends on their public comments.
McCain may very well die from his brain tumor. Flake and Corker will easily find other positions making far more money than they make now.
Meanwhile, Lindsey Graham is courting Trump, claiming that most people in SC are Trumpists. I know a lot of people in SC. None of us can stand Trump. Sure, there are some who like him, but they are his base who will stand for him no matter what, or until their own interests are harmed. This assumes they can actually determine when their own interests are at stake.
It's easy to speak up when your life, liberty and pursuit of happiness (or at least a living) are not at stake. It's even easier to court the dragon in his own den. Graham stated clearly that being "close to" Trump is good for his career.
1
I completely agree with Ms. Goldberg. And for those carping about Mr. Flake's insufficiencies, please give me an example of a Democratic lawmaker who has stood on the floor in the Congress since Trump has been elected and given a more powerful speech against this President and his policies. Still thinking, huh?
4
I guess the question is: does Flake have low approval ratings because he opposed Trump, or does he oppose Trump because he has low approval ratings?
1
We don't hear enough about the economic disincentive for Flake to fight through another (probably losing) election. Instead of attending to the people's business he'd spend hours every day on the phone for the next year, currying favor with rich donors. Millions would be spent on his campaign, all probably wasted. People who urge him to do this should put themselves in his shoes.
1
I am really of two minds when it comes to the Republican Senators speaking truth to power on their way out the door, all the while voting for the same policies (except McCain, with health "care") that Trump and the GOP are pushing. I think I can bring them back to one mind by realizing that there are precious few real-life heroes. Especially in politics. You have to take what you can get. And right now, this is the best that we can get from the Republicans in Congress. Let's just hope they can back up their words with some meaningful action. If they don't at least try, I guess I will just thank them for their sentiments and the reminder that not all Republicans are evil.
2
Hurrah for Flake! He's followed his conscience and I, for one, am thankful that he has one. The rest of the Republicans in Congress, with the exception of Corker and John McCain, have already given their country away. Don't get me wrong; these 'supporters' are certainly receiving something for their loyalty...but it's indefensible. My hope is that by the next election, every one of them will be voted OUT... for having no principles at all.
2
Senators Flake, Corker
I was deeply heartened to hear you both call out the President. You both show much courage; we need politicians like you who are our true patriots. We have a beautiful country and we should be cherishing and treasuring it; your actions say so much.
There are others too as can be seen - Senator McCain, Collins, and others - who in their own way stand up and voice their feelings in their own way. Sincere thanks go out to them also.
As a measure of further defiance it is hoped that despite your own views on taxation and size of government, for now you and your colleagues will reject the tax and other proposals.
With best wishes.
34
I'm with Ms. Goldberg here. Every crack in the facade helps. Plus, I'm always happy to give grace freely, because I need as much grace for myself as I can get.
Speaking of grace, if Trump's reign ends prematurely -- and let's hope it ends tomorrow -- there are going to be a lot of angry people. The nightmare won't end just because Trump is out of office. Things could even get worse than they are now -- in fact, it will be somewhat miraculous if they don't get worse. Republicans got themselves into this mess, but any fallout will hurt us at least as much as it hurts them, and probably hurt us worse because the Bannonites won't be upset if the country falls apart, but I think we will be.
As decent people who believe that might doesn't make right, but the opposite, we have to hold the moral high ground. To treat them the way we suspect they'd treat us would be a huge mistake -- in a war of vicious against vicious, surely they have the upper hand. Some people will not deserve to be forgiven -- some won't even ask for it -- but mass vindictiveness will not do us any favors.
"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
30
I deplore Flake’s recent votes ( against citizens’ right to sue big banks, against Puerto Rico aid) but I acknowledge a brave speech. He could have faded away and not run for re-election but I applaud his decision to call out Trump from the Senate floor. We need all the truth tellers we can get at this point.
16
And he will still vote YES for the "tax cut"!!
5
"In doing so, he’s sacrificed a career he’s spent a lifetime building"
I'm sure he'll find the revolving door into lobbying pretty lucrative. Cynical, but...
4
Thank you. Very well stated.
5
Ms. Goldberg, you may thank Jeff Flake but I do not. He and Robert Corker, both with nothing to lose (except votes) didn't storm the right-wing foxholes, they retreated, knowing that any bullets flying their way would strike someone else.
John McCain is the real conservative hero here. He cast the deciding vote against Trumpcare. Flake and Corker, I hasten to remind you, voted for the president's flame-throwing healthcare "bill." So why do you assign virtue to them, when, in this instance, all they did was side with Donald Trump in attempting to remove healthcare from the very people who benefit from it?
I have no complaints about "conservatism" as long as those who stand behind the banner do so with honorable principles. I don't see this in either red state senator. In any case, they're lame ducks; in baseball parlance, they're nothing more than loud outs, warning-track fly balls with no chance of becoming home runs.
The real danger is that both men will be supplanted by even more zealous, hard-right men (they won't be women, not from Arizona or Tennessee--believe me). They will fetch when the "president" tosses a stick their way and the people who send them to Capitol Hill won't bat an eye, even when they stand to be seriously wounded by Trump's insane vision of America, a barren landscape peopled only by winners.
All these folks who voted for him share his apocalyptic vision of a racial Armageddon. That's all this is about. And Flake and Corker are on Trump's side.
7
The economically-challenged Trump supporters who voted for him because they bought into the fantastical idea that a fraudulent billionaire would strive to get them a fairer shake by “shaking up” Washington, are still smitten with their man in the White House, even if Flake and Corker no longer are. Until these voters look away from Fox and Breitbart long enough to absorb a few cold hard facts from non-partisan organizations like the Congressional Budget Office about how they are being shafted every which way by the Trump administration, it doesn’t matter how many Flakes and Corkers speak up.
5
Thank Flake for what exactly? The fact that he still votes with the Republicans?
The fact that he is giving up because he knows he cannot win? The fact that he finally is striking out at other Republicans by word and not by action?
The fact that he has never mentioned Article 25 or Impeachment?
The fact that he is a poor loser and is "finally" attacking the one who has caused him to lose?
Yes, lets thank this highly conservative Republican.
4
Mr. Flake spoke inspiring words. And, I sincerely believe he was sincere and truthful in speaking them. To be silent is to be complicit.
The part I struggle with are Mr. Flake’s votes for legislation and appointments that truly are harmful to our citizens and environment. I don’t know how to rectify that disparity.
Mr. Flake now has the opportunity to put his vote where his mouth is. Now that he is unencumbered, his remaining votes will either confirm his convictions or make him the perfect hypocrite poster boy for Bannon and Trump to point to as an empty barrel of a failure.
I am rooting for the former.
6
The main senate vote he will hopefully make, is for the impeached Trump to be removed from office.
1
Not so fast with the props. Let's see if Flake and Corker have the spine to vote against the upcoming Tax Cut bill. It's easy to make pretty speeches but if they want to impede Trump and his deleterious effects on our country, they need to vote against him.
5
It's not what you say, its how you say it. Flake likes what Trump says, he just doesn't like how he says it. This self-serving Senator is clearing a path for a well-compensated post-public service role with a well-heeled Establishment firm. I guess that when you're starving for heroism, any morsel tastes good.
1
As a lifelong Arizonian, I have disagreed with just about every vote Jeff Flake has cast. He now joins McCain as one of my heroes.
5
McCain, Corker and Flake have all alluded to this "cancer" upon the executive branch of our government, and have been polite by not naming names. The next logical step would be for them to recommend "excising" this cancer by means of the 25th Amendment or impeachment. Until they make that leap AND refuse to go along with any of the current administration's ludicrous tax and health care plans, they are not to be taken seriously. For now they are only doctors making observations, and we need a surgeon.
5
A few days ago, M.Goldberg was ridiculously advocating for the impeachment of Donald Trump without any legal grounds and today she wants to elevate Jeff Flake as a hero for the resistance because of "his bravery" and for having "given more than most to the fight against Trump and Trumpism".
Really?
When the 'resistance' consists of people like Flake and people like Chuck Schumer and Michelle Goldberg heaping praise on a repulsive Republican that agrees with most of Trump's policies (offensive wars, deregulation, Wall Street etc.) and only objects to his manners and decorum, who needs a 'resistance'?
You might want to take a look at Mr.Flake's voting record, which is the only thing that matters in politics.
He voted for the invasion of Iraq, the Patriot Act, for torture, for spying on American citizens, opposed the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty, etc. etc.
So he had no problem with war crimes and eroding civil rights, civil liberties and the Constitution when Bush (and Obama) did it because they were polite in civil discourse, but he objects now because Trump does mean tweets?
And that is exactly what you are doing here, normalizing war crimes and undemocratic principles, by elevating Flake who - as you point out yourself -
"believed in the policies he was voting for".
If this is your new 'hero', why don't you follow his lead and take early retirement to work with him, Bob Corker, Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton on the 'resistance'.
Please and take some more with you.
2
Sen. Flake deserves praise from those wishing to preserve American constitutionalism from the reckless authoritarianism of Donald Trump and his Administration cronies. The same applies to Sens. Corker and McCain, as well as, on occasion, Collins, Murkowski, and Graham, whenever they have stood up against Trump and his zany and shifting positions from the quasi-fascist Bannonite alt-right to whatever stance Trump impulsively takes for the moment--whether it's depriving citizens of their health insurance, disfranchising them, praising white supremacists, building walls, insulting Gold Star families, playing footsie with Putin, or merely threatening nuclear war.
In their remaining fourteen months in the Senate, Flake and Corker--and just one additional Republican "moderate"--can strike a blow in defense of American constitutionalism: they can deprive Trump of any "win," for example, on his tax cut drive, even if as conservatives they favor all or parts of it. The fact is Trump is indifferent to the substance of this or any other legislative proposal. All he wants is a win in order to consolidate his domination over the Republican party, further turning it into to a tool of his own sociopathic ego and authoritarian ambitiousness.
One Republican politician has called Trump "a clear and present danger" to the Republic. Patriotism compels blocking Trump's drive to absolute power. Flake and Corker have pointed the way. Some other Republicans should follow.
3
The problem with this thinking is in the assumption that Trump would take the fall for it. If Flake, Corker, et al. obstruct just for the sake of denying Trump a political victory, they would be excoriated by conservatives -- including by the National Review/Weekly Standard types who might otherwise be sympathetic. Moreover, it would do nothing in the eyes of the Republican base but reinforce their belief that the Washington establishment is out of touch with them; that their voices are not heard -- the very thing that gave us Trump and Trumpism in the first place.
Don't expect Republicans to speak out when it's clear your real concern is how best to use the rise of Trump as a weapon against them; it reeks of bad faith.
1
May Mr. Flake (and all of us) remember Benjamin Franklin’s words: “Never confuse motion with action.”
4
Words speak Mr. Flake, Corker and McCain- but actions speak louder. Use the remaining 14 months to shine a spotlight on this corrupt administration and be blunt. Call Trump out by name...
1
It would seem that the beguiled, who so praise Jeff Flake's eloquence, forget or overlook that this was his "I'm packing it in. So long, losers!" speech. If anyone on the Republican side is to draw lessons from this, these are unlikely to be the "let's work together across the aisle and thwart Trump(-ism)" lessons America end the world need.
This commenter thinks Flake et al. should "walk the walk:"
"Flake, Corker, McCain (Murkowski and Collins?) should leave the Republican party, become Independents, caucus with the the Democrats (along with Sanders and Angus King), and thereby match their actions to their words."
Come on now! Just because Flake voted as Trump desired 91% of the time doesn't mean he SUPPORTS Trump; surely you heard about his speech on the Senate floor.
And just because Flake sent a letter to a relative of a Sandy Hook victim, expressing support for more extensive background checks for gun buyers, but then voted against such a proposal in the Senate, doesn't mean Flake is a hypocrite.
Does it?
2
Sorry, Michelle, but I am not gushing about Jeff Flake like you. While it is nice that he and Bob Corker have finally began telling it like Trump is, a real hero would have stood and fought. When the going got tough, they got going. So these guys are basically ceding their seats to the potential election of Bannonite/Mercer wing nuts and conspiracy theorists.
John McCain spent five years in a POW camp with severe injuries from the beatings inflicted on him. But I guess these two NRA-ready tough guys couldn't stand the specter of a political campaign against a member of their own political party, or the potential of more Tweets from the deranged egomaniac they helped elect.
2
Senator Flake is no knight-in-shining armor; he is a gutless coward, who fled the fray. Instead of fighting to be re-elected to the Senate, where he could effectively block Trump’s authoritarian jihad, he gave a pretty speech, an extended pat on his own back, showing off his nobility ... on his way out the door to a cushy sinecure somewhere. He objects to Trump’s schtick ... but was a reliable supporter of his agenda, so good riddance. "Real men laugh at opposition; real men smile when enemies appear." Marcus Garvey
2
Flake is no hero. He is a reactionary right wing Tea Party republican brought to you by the Koch Brothers and represents the most retrograde forces in our society. He loathes Trump's style because Trump is vulgar, crass, and gross - yet he voted in the repulsive cabinet and supports the cruel and despicable republican agenda. He won't rise to a primary challenge but removes himself from the battle while an even more odious ideologue seizes the nomination in this nitwit state. The Democrats have a superb candidate in Kyrsten Sinema, but it remains to be seen if she can prevail against the perfect crapstorm coming her way. If Flake finds Trump so reprehensible, why not stand up and fight? All profile, no courage.
2
"Don’t they worry about the judgment of history?"
Should they? They won't be around to see it unfold and are fattening their accounts in order to pass on what they can accumulate to their family and friends.
Real life is not a movie, fake or otherwise, and while Mr Flake stated the obvious he is certainly not a man concerned with the welfare of the average American.
To consider Mr Flake as behaving heroically indicates the need to consult a dictionary. Rather he behaved as a man who knew he was facing political defeat and bailed before that reality set in. The fact he offered his criticism before that reality is not more than a practical withdrawal for a man who may have his eyes set on another political office.
The next step for the men both mentioned and unmentioned may be to seek another form of governamce which does not need feel good political parties and the exhorbitant expenditures entailed.
The truth of personal existence is not nor will it ever be found outside any of us, but unless we are educated to make that determination on an individual rather than a collective basis dissent will inevitably follow.
We need a bureaucracy which has the purpose of service to all citizens without consideration of personal religious or political belief. Half a loaf may be better than none if there is an end to starvation in sight, but a scorched earth can't be expected to grow any grain.
I don't see how anyone who is self-serving individual to the end. Sure, Flake denounced Trump on the senate, but it is only because it server his own purpose and his angst against someone who is basically kicking him out of job. It is not based on the good of the country! Flake is a flake and fake. No need to thank him, even for his recent actions in the senate.
GOP Senators are not revolting against Trump. Non-Trump Senators are being purged from the party.
1
Republicans DO have patriots in their ranks. Add Sen Flake to Sen Collins, Sen Murkowski and at some notable times, Sen McCain and Rep Corker. On the whole, these elected officials act for the benefit of ALL their constituents and the country's best interests, NOT the 1%.
As an Arizona I was saddened to hear that Jeff Flake will not stand and fight. A primary battle might have awakened Arizona to the dangers of the lunatic far right. We soon lose Senator McCain a true American hero and then we will lose Jeff Flake. I do not think they can be replaced with people of their quality. We lose in Arizona and the Country loses as well.
2
> "Now that they’ve spoken, the next step for Flake, Corker, Senator John McCain and other Republicans who hope to be remembered kindly by history is to act."
Both Flake and McCain are two of the four Republican members of the "Gang of Eight" immigration bill that seeks to dramatically increase the H1-B Visas to allow even more foreigners to compete with Americans including new college graduates for STEM jobs while depressing STEM wages. They are severing the needs of big business including Disney and Silicon Valley over American citizens with STEM degrees.
Both Flake and McCain are very out of touch with the voter while serving the interests of big business. By combatting H1-B Visa abuse, President Trump and Attorney General Sessions are on the side of the voter and against big business. If Flake had only cared for voters the way that Trump and Sessions does, he would not have trailed his Republican primary candidate in the polls.
I suggest the NYT interview college students in STEM program and ask them if they think it is a good idea to increase the number of H1-B Visas with the resulting competition for jobs by foreigners and depression of wages.
How far do we go with this "enemy of my enemy is my friend" argument? Do we want a Congress full of people who will vote for policies we hate, as Flake has repeatedly done, so long as they respect the legal and political norms Trump flouts? Not really, no.
1
Flake quit. He didn't fight, he didn't join with Democrats to stop trump and he certainly didn't leave the Republican party despite his criticism of them. He was losing the race so he quit and lashed out at the President. That's not heroic.
3
Awesome review. We may not agree with Senator Flake’s politics- but we must give him the credit for his bravery. He went out publicly against the thin skinned clueless pathological liar child bully tyrant. Remember the thin skinned narcissist is well known for throwing red meat to his deranged manipulated supporters. It is an irony that the elections in the US are a game of money. Those criticizing Senator Flake cannot be naive not to understand the game. They tyrant swamp king is taking away every basic thing we need for survival- the quality of air we breathe, water we drink and the education for our children. The con man manipulated his supporters by “drain the swamp”slogan - in reality, it became “fill the swamp” with corporate polluters, special interest groups to fatten their wallets. The liar king’s cabinet is mostly filled with the swamp and they are changing all regulations which protects us the people. Of course, the same swamp is putting millions to get their chosen corrupt incompetent legislators. So, it was David vs. Goliath. Flake’s chance of funding from the money machine could be a challenge since the thin skinned tyrant would make sure to push the swamp to spend millions to defeat him by propagating lies after lies during the election. Bravo Senator Flake- the nation is proud of you. However this is not the end of your leadership. We need you to continue your bravery and provide leadership against the attempt to destroy our great nation.
1
I listened in awe to Flake's speech. I listened in awe to Churchill and Roosevelt during WW II. Their speeches, Churchill 's and Roosevelt's, were followed by action. I'm waiting for Flake to call for trumps impeachment and to speak and vote against his hurtful policies.
T
2
I hope Senator Flake continues to call out Trump and his policies and actions.
It is a breath of fresh air to hear the truth coming from a Republican senator!
I admire his honesty because he could have decided not to run for the senate again and gave no reason or a false reason.
Since the conversation has been started concerning Trump and his ethics other senators need to speak out if they agree with Senator Flake. The fact that there base likes Trump it is up to our leaders to tell the truth to the American people the conditions of our government with Trump as President. It is morally and ethically wrong to ignore the true facts and it endangers our country and the American people. These senators will be remembered for their lack of courage and in my opinion, aiding and abetting wrongdoing
done by Trump.
The conclusion of why these senators refuse to tell the truth is because Greed replaces morals, ethics and patriotism!!!!!!!
1
It’s too serious to waste time criticizing Flake. We need good men him more than ever.
1
Its very nice that Michelle congratulates Flake and Corker on their public disagreement with Trump.
But where is her encouragement for Democrats to break with the far left loons who are also dangerous to society ?
Michelle herself just this week called for Trump's impeachment.
While that will no doubt endear her to the far left, there is simply nothing that Trump has done that even remotely calls for impeachment.
The Times and its columnists are sinking to a new low on a daily basis.
2
Who are theses dangerous " loons" you are referring to?
The only dangerous loons are trump and pence,
both of whom collided with Russians, committing treason,
If that's not an impeachable offense, I don't know what is,
2
Talk is so very very cheap, especially when the be is in an actual position to do something about the glaring and obvious problem.
Jeff Flake, Mccain, Corker are no heroes.
Flake was going to lose the primary because he is part of the do-nothing swamp and could not win re-election. How interesting that failures like Flake are heroes because they say bad things about our president. Good Riddance!!!
I appreciate Flake and Corker finally coming around to telling us that the Emperor is stark naked, and ugly as sin. But they really should have stayed the course and run again.
1
Bob Corker and Jeff Flake are dropping out of their Republican races because they know they cannot win reelection. They want to save face and not look like losers to their constituents. The praises being bestowed upon these two men now are comical. Since criticizing President Trump they have become heroes to liberals and those who detest and loathe him. These people are such hypocrites.
They both voted for the policies of President Trump the majority of the time and Bob Corker even supported him at the beginning. Jeff Flake never supported him and even wrote a damaging book about Mr. Trump. They are not to be trusted by Republican members and this proves they could turn on anyone in the party on a dime. I think both are finished with political careers but of course the voters are fickle. I would never vote for either man nor trust them again. I think to criticize the president of your own party is bad form and unforgivable.
Where is their party loyalty? Apparently it does not exist with these two former politicians.
I totally disagree with Flake / Corker / McCain on public policy. But I do thank them for their courage in rebuking Trump. Yes, anyone *should* be able to acknowledge Trump's bullying, obvious lies and support for racists. Yet almost no Republican politicians have the courage to do that. These three Senators surely knew that they'd be vilified as traitors to their party, but they stood up for their convictions anyway.
1
Before we start thanking and praising Jeff Flake, it is quite transparent that he saw the writing on the wall that he would lose to Ward. It would have been a display of courage for him to battle it out in the primary while maintaining his distaste for our boorish president. We don't need the Flakes and Corkers to chide Trump as they exit. We need the existing gutless GOP legislators who run with their tails between their legs in fear of going against Trump's base to say what Flake and Corker are saying. For Heaven's sake, does anyone in the GOP (McCain excluded) have the capacity to stand up against Trump?
Ever since the rise of Ronald Reagan, the Republican Party has blamed Democrats ("those liberals") for their own failures of leadership. As the Republicansfell further down the slippery slope of the moral high ground, they called Democrats unpatriotic and treasonous. Who can forget New Gingrich and his diatribes?
Today, news organizations such as that of CBS, have worked with conservative strategist Frank Luntz to gather opinions at the grass roots level. How ironic! Luntz was instrumental in working with Gingrich and his followers (congressional henchmen) in developing their loathing of all Democrats and painting them as an enemy of the people. Since then, Trump has taken up the Luntz message of name-calling to belittle an opponent, to the cheers of the tiny-brained faction at rally after rally.
Senators Flake and Corker have said in public what they have heard their colleagues say in private: Trump is incompetent, arrogant, unhinged and too unstable to occupy the Oval Office. Nationally recognized psychologists and psychiatrists have finally stepped forward en masse with their similar analyses of the deranged Donald J. Trump, a shallow man of intense insanity trained at an early age by the chief counsel for Joe McCarthy, Roy Cohn.
Cohn taught DJT to never apologize or back down; to hit back harder than you were hit; use the courts like a game of million-dollar poker to win those lawsuits filed against him thousands of times.
Oh, the light of day looks so sweet.
1
Of course Jeff Flake deserves respect for having spoken up. But he did so after his career was finished and he had become ineffectual. Speaking openly and honestly was the least he could do in these cirumstances. Think of him as the person who yells, "Fire, call 911." A lot of us are doing just that.
Which was Flake's more boldly anti-Trump stance, when he voted to put Ben "blatantly incompetent" Carson in the cabinet, or when, on the same night as his empty wind against Trump, he voted to let banks go back to kangaroo arbitration?
1
I'm having a hard time recognizing Flake's speech for much more than empty theater. He got behind a candidate who clearly did not understand domestic or international nuances; he didn't make a similar speech after Charlottesville or the Access Hollywood tapes. . . etc. . . (pick one). This isn't so much a heroic last stand a la the Alamo, Rorke's Drift, or 300-style last stand as much as Flake attempting to dramatically save himself for posterity . . . sort of like Thomas Jefferson speaking out about the evils of slavery but still keeping slaves.
1
Flake should run on the platform of his speech. It would give Arizona conservatives a chance to show the world who they are: are they just conservatives? or are they rabid followers of Trump?
1
Words are cheap. Show some real courage and call for his impeachment.
1
Flake will get more credit from me when he denounces Fox News or votes against the tax bill or stands up for DACA kids. One speech gets a golf clap.
1
Mr. Flake is a day late and a dollar short. As a rabid Tea Party member, he helped create much of the chaos and disarray that exists now. Trump's election merely makes Flake look like less of a lunatic. So now he's sorry? I'm not buying it.
2
flake, like corker, is no hero.
1
Flake talks a good game, but as others have pointed out he then turned around and voted for a tax that is a give away to billionaires. He's just another republican with a big ugly mouth trying to salvage some kind of "after" career for himself when he leaves the Senate ( and he was leaving whether he wanted to or not.).
2
Take the L out of the man's last name, and you've got the measure of the man. How easily we are duped.
1
I was in the process of writing this brilliant comment on this column when I tried to text select with my mouse where the 'next story' arrow is in the margin. The arrow brought in the next article, and my comment is gone--wiped out.
I have tried to get NYT to correct that defect. I guess I'm too much horse and buggy. They said they were working on it and to be patient. Well quite of time has elapsed. Right now, I'm upset and used multiple colorful words about NYT.
I like to comment too and I don't have auto-voice or a green automatic inclusion check or any such thing. A great Goldberg column, great addition to NYT, but right now this thing vacuums air.
1
The real reason hidden behind all the moral preening and sanctimonious blather. Flake has about 16% approval in AZ and a 100% chance of getting primaried out.
Oh, by the way, he continues to have a 100% voting record with the Trump agenda.
1
It may may seem strange that the Times, along with many Democrats, now regard Jeff Flake as their “hero,” as this columnist does, until you think about Trumps relationship to the entrenched political establishment, Republicans and Democrats in DC - who he ran against in 2016. Yes, Trump defeated every establishment candidate put up by the RNC during the primaries - and then he defeated the establishment candidate put up by the DNC - and Flake is part of the established political order that Trump ran against, but one that the Times and many Democrats support. Trump has upset that order, and my how upset they are! He doesn’t have the fine manners they’re used to while they were engaged for years in gridlock and dividing the nation into hostile camps. He’s thrown a wrench into their works! He has upset their proper and wise political order!
Who is this sans-culotte trying to mingle with those in fancy britches? How dare he! And that is essentially Flake’s and the Times complaint: Trump is not one of “us.” And consider what they complain about: his “decorum.” The men in fancy britches and the women in pearls and fine wraps are shocked by this peasant who has dared challenge their right to rule! Of course, that is what he was elected to do, and many Democrats who now regard Flake as their hero, are simply demonstrating that they have been supporters of the status quo all along, because he doesn’t have the manners we’re used to.
I can't agree to assign hero status to a man who would vote for the vicious ACA replacement plans that, in fact, would hurt the voters that put the "hero" into office.
I also can't agree to hero status to a man who is virtually certain to support the Trump tax cuts, overwhelmingly for the rich and particularly Mr. Trump. And definitely not for the voters that put the "hero" into office.
It is not a matter of me not agreeing with his politics. He is a man who is either incredibly stupid to believe conservative Republican lies about the benefits of Republican health plans or else he is a liar himself.
For healthcare, falling behind the lie that the recommended healthcare plans were better and offered better choice when they in fact were not better and offered a choice only to people who could afford very expensive insurance. The tax plan is for the rich and only for the rich. Either Flake stands up and tells us that the purpose of the plan is to pay off rich supporters or else he is a liar, not a hero.
1
Please! Stop with the kudos for Jeff Flake. He is morally repulsed by the current slimy occupant of the White House but votes in lock-step with every bankrupt Republican/Conservative policy - from tax cuts for the rich, to destroying the safety net to wanting to raid Medicare and social security.
He is only marginally better than the presidents toadies.
1
"Ushering in a berserk reactionary postmodernism in which truth loses its meaning" -- great writing!
Telling the truth on your way out is not courageous.
Senators Flake and Corker (and any other Republican in congress who knows that President Trump is a danger to the nation),
Here's a suggestion. In your remaining time, go to the Republican leadership and tell them that something needs to be done about this President. (Ask him to resign, and if he doesn't, initiate impeachment proceedings or invoke the 25th Amendment.) If they don't - and this is the part that's critical - promise them you will vote against every single bill that Pres. Trump favors.
This will mean that they won't be able to get anything done. The Republican agenda will be on hold.
Make not mistake the rhetoric against you will be vicious. You will be accused of being hypocrites, unpatriotic losers, traitors, or worse - Democrats! But so what? What can they do to you? You're retiring.
I admit this isn't a perfect strategy; after all, being good conservatives, you will favor most of the legislation you'll be blocking. And your fellow Republicans may just decide to wait you out. But you will have made more than just a symbolic stand, and unlike most of your fellow Republicans, you will be able to live with yourselves after your political careers are over.
A "berserk reactionary postmodernism in which truth loses its meaning"--yes, all this and more.
Thank you for coming to his defense - so many on the left have been unwelcoming.
As with Jeff Flake, also with Megan Kelly, the comments and actions of conservatives are dismissed with concerted criticized when they first break ranks. Oh they may be saying what we would say, but don’t listen to them because they are bad people.
Idiots!
If you seek converts you should welcome them gently, not throw stones as they approach. We need to bring people to us, not reject them. I’m not asking you to agree with their views, but at least celebrate the newly discovered common cause rather than merely spit.
2
This is a ridiculous column. Words don't do anything, especially when you're running away. Anyone can be "brave" when they have nothing to lose. Flake and the other Republicans should be fighting for power instead of abdicating to the Trumpians.
An open letter to Senator Flake:
The working class, middle class and below, are set to lose the taxcut battle again … for one reason: despite the rhetoric, there's never been a tax cut emphatically for them.
Now's the chance for Jeff Flake to ask why and show how it can be done: A clear-cut, level-cut, tax cut. A combination tax credit and rate reduction on the first taxable dollars of everyone, not the next millions of the influential and privileged.
Not a confusing bundle of tax gimmicks and giveaways - just one simple even-handed, uniform cut. Easy to calculate, easy to understand, easy to compare.
There's 1.5 to 2.2 trillion dollars on the table. Divided among the total number of filers, that's $1,000 - not a fuzzy math “average” - but the actual amount every year for every filer, including EITC, and with money left over for investment in infrastructure and community needs.
The tax savings amount may fall under pressures - some valid some less so - from current vested interests and corporations. But if Trump's negotiating on behalf of the working class, isn't this the place for Flake to challenge him to start?
“A time comes when silence is betrayal.” MLK, Jr.
Those in congress who see the ineptitude and incompetence of this President and fail to acknowledge publicly what they know are, in fact, betraying their office. What will they tell their children and grandchildren?
We have a chief executive who is not normal. It is time we stopped our collective denial. This is far beyond politics now, it is a direct threat to everything we have strived for since 1776.
Call your senator and demand that they live up to their oath of office. They swore to protect and defend the Constitution. Hold them to their oath.
11
"What will they tell their children and grandchildren?"
They'll say "I sold my soul, my integrity, and my honor in order to retain power and amass the great wealth that I'm able to pass on to you, thanks to our repeal of the estate tax."
1
If these GOP senators really want to damage Trump, they should switch parties immediately. They could then be considered conservative Democrats - there used to be such a thing! If enough defect, it will hand control to the Senate to the Democrats, and that would be a huge achievement.
87
The Rahm Emmanuel style of politics? The advancement of issues important to those on the left gains zero traction by placing Conservatives into Democrat seats.
1
"They could then be considered conservative Democrats - there used to be such a thing! "
Good grief! There still are plenty of conservative Democrats. They are aligned with the Third Way and corporate Dems. They are fighting like crazy to maintain control of the party and keep those terrible, awful, scary progressives from making gains. The other name for them is Rockefeller republicans. Hillary, Bill, Tom Perez, Immanuel, Wasserman-Schultz, and Schumer (and the NYT) are all Rockefeller republicans for heaven's sake!
If Flake votes against the tax reform travesty I'll give him some credit. If not, forget about it. His speech would be nothing so much as opportunistic hot air.
4
Ms. Goldberg, you too, like Senator Flake, have clothed yourself in glory. You have been able to look beyond your ideological agenda, cast off the biases of others on the left, and recognize a political opponent for his courage and his principles. As a conservative, let me too reach across the ideological and partisan divide and very modestly attempt to model your graciousness. Kudos!
2
@ Charles
What "courage and his principles" are you talking about?
Precisely, please.
Not some empty platitudes.
Enlighten me, please.
Opposing Trump because he is an embarrassing, foolish, foul-mouthed misogynist with a worrying lack of impulse control and knowledge of world affairs?
That passes for "courage" these days with conservatives?
LOL.
2
If the naivete of Goldberg is all it takes to clothe oneself in glory, we're doomed.
2
Flake is no hero. He just voted for the budget with severe cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and more. He is a grandstander, nothing more. He claims to care about his what his children and grandchildren will think but not that much. Flake voted with the president 91 percent of the time.
7
I am a liberal, but one of my most trusted friends is a conservative's conservative. We rarely talk politics because we know we would disagree, and losing a friendship over policy is not something we either want. BUT: my friend is a person of deep integrity, and I would trust him with my life just as I would trust anything he says. The difference between a true conservative and a GOP operative is simple: a high regard for truth, vs. a craving for power. Mr. Flake can vote conservative, and I'm sorry, but as long as he speaks out, loudly, for truth, I will honor him.
82
Courage is speaking out when you have much to lose. McCain, Corker, and Flake have nothing left to lose. The honor, kudos, glory that readers are laying at their feet are utterly misplaced. Not only do Corker and Flake no longer have anything to lose, they have suffered defeat at the very hands of Trump/Bannon. It looks much more like vindictiveness than "high regard for the truth," a laughable accolade given the systemic mendacity of the GOP of which they have been integral players.
Well, if Mr Flake continues to speak out, steadfastness and some courage will be shown. We must hope this is just the beginning for Corker, Flake and McCain.
Whatever else their protests mean, the remarks of Jeff, Flake, Bob Corker, and John McCain remind us that there are men of character in all parts of the political spectrum that elicit our admiration despite the fact that we disagree with their politics. If we could foster that admiration and regard, perhaps we could return to the bilateral negotiations in our Congress that have always been necessary to make responsible democratic governments work.
56
Thank Jeff Flake for what? If Flake and Corker truly care about this nation
and ALL of its citizens, they should absolutely vote against the most destructive tax bill their party has ever proposed. If they can do that, then we can thank them. Until that time, it's all words and lip service.
9
Perhaps had he spent the majority of his time on the "hill" tending to his constituents' business instead of devoting his time to writing a book, his poll numbers would be better, and his re-election chances improved.
3
I give Flake a lot of credit for his public criticism of Trump. However, despite this criticism, he has always and universally voted pro-Trump in the Senate. Voting affects people, not political criticism?
2
"There’s no contradiction between abhorring conservatism and being grateful to the conservatives who stand up to Trump."
Thank you.
I, too, abhor Flake's extreme right-wing beliefs. But give the guy his due in showing the courage and principle to openly criticize this monstrous President.
9
Competing values are one thing (conservative vs. liberal, etc. etc.) but intellectual dishonesty is quite another. Kudos to Senator Flake for recognizing the all important difference.
6
I was a senior at the University of California, Berkeley in 1964-65, the year of the Free Speech Movement there. One of the most dramatic moments during that time was when Mario Savio, a leader of the movement, got up and gave a speech before students staged a sit-in at Sproul Hall, the administration building. I was standing not far away when he said these words:
“There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part; you can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!”
These words do not exactly capture the problem we face with Trump and the right wing in this country, but the passion expressed here is exactly how I feel about what's going on in our country right now. I thought Flake's speech was an eloquent indictment of Trump and his sycophants, and hope that he will continue to speak out. Perhaps more Republicans with any semblance of integrity and courage will also call out Trump and take action to reverse this disaster we are enduring right now. We need the passion of a Mario Savio to restore the America I thought I knew.
8
Much as it took some guts to come out against Trump, there's no doubt in my mind that Flake is doing what he thinks is best for himself and for his agenda. Were he truly the selfless advocate we are waiting for, he would have tried to keep his seat in an attempt to avoid more candidates like Roy Moore. Even if he thought he would lose the race, if he really wanted to protect the country from this sort of person he aught to have lost with dignity and endorsed the opposition. If he really believes in all he says, then running interference is his civic duty to protect his constituents from tyranny.
3
I agree with most of this. But let's see how Senator Flake votes on increasing the deficit by giving huge tax breaks to the rich. He has spend his entire career arguing agains deficit....let's see what he does now.
5
None of us know what is in Jeff Flake's heart and mind except Jeff Flake. We can appreciate what he says without pretending to know his intentions. I do, however, question why Jeff Flake and other US Senators voted to confirm Trump's destructive department heads -- especially Scott Pruitt. How could they be complacent about dismantling the Environmental Protection Agency?
And a big question for all of us to ponder: why have so many US citizens made the GOP's decades-long effort to "systematically tried to discredit all objective sources of information, ushering in a berserk reactionary postmodernism in which truth loses its meaning" successful?
2
All the current darlings of the media in the Republican Party -- Flake, Corker, McCain, Collins and Murkowski -- voted in favor of stripping away the right of customers to sue banks via class action. All of them voted in favor of the horrific budget that just passed the Senate. None of them seem especially willing to step up and oppose the absurd tax cut proposals designed to pay back Republican donors for their support. None of them, I suspect, voted against the nominations of Sessions, Pruitt, or Zinke. Collins and Murkowski engaged in a kabuki drama over DeVos and only voted against her nomination when McConnell had enough votes to confirm her without those Senators' support.
How about announcing they will not confirm Brian Benczkowski as head of the criminal division at the Department of Justice for starters? How about refusing to take up any bills until an Ambassador is appointed to South Korea? How about refusing to vote on tax "reform" until Trump releases his taxes? There are many ways Republicans like Flake could act to show their mettle, but I don't expect any of them to do so.
4
Of course Jeff Flake is doing what he calculates is in his own best interests. As someone outside of his mind (no crystal ball here in Cheyenne) I applaud him for taking the path he's told us that he's taking because I've longed too, for months, that those in power would speak out loud and clear against this megalomaniac in power. Flake said that he does not want to be "complicit" and I applaud him for that. As some other commenters say, we wish he would stay on and fight to be a voice of truth in the Senate, but he doesn't see that as a possibility. The Trump forces are out to "get him" big time from way back, when even during the primaries he was speaking the ugly truth about the unhinged NYC tabloid sleaze kjing who thinks of himself as the Almighty Boss. Let's honor Flake for having a spine and speaking out to the entire world at the podium of the Senate. For that one act I am so grateful.
1
Finally a column that extols the positive side of the falling out of Flake and Trump. The articles and comments the past few days have all been about attacking Flake's politics and motives. But in the end the Republican Party that had a 52-48 majority in the Senate now has, by forfeit, lost it. 100% Trump's doing. He is is own worst enemy.
3
"I suspect there’s a connection between his intense political commitments and his bravery."
True, Ms. Goldberg.
You should compare his reaction with the mind of a combat pilot who´s plane is hit and is losing fuel so he has no chance any more to fly back to his base or his carrier, so there is no survival chance any more
He knows there are only two options left for him:
- drowning in the sea without any impact or
- attacking the enemy with his aircraft lethally hit but full loaded with fuel and bombs.
His political life in GOP is finished. No chance anymore.
He has chosen the "fighting option" like many patriotic combattants - particularly pilots or sailors - of many nations did in recent wars when they had been in similar situations.
It´s uncommon behavior in history. It´s a matter of willingness to carry out his duty, of strong personal commitment and of determination.
2
I appreciate what Flake and Corker did; but I am saddened to see that an adoption of normal decency as a basis for policy thought is seen as heroism. Most of us manage to disagree with our families, our neighbors and our colleagues without lying, mischaracterizing their opinions, and overemphasizing our own wisdom and accomplishments. It's called being a human being. Flake and Corker seem to have rediscovered that which they probably learned as kids. I am grateful; but they are no more heroes than someone who sinks a three-pointer in the last few seconds.
2
Yes, a courageous and principled conservative, an endangered species these days.
3
Watch out, let's not over idealize Flake, as our standards deteriorate. We're thankful for so little.
Flake and Corker want less regulation, small government, low taxes and free trade. This removes protections for we the people that govt is supposed to provide in a democracy. Now, just to be anti Trump is a big deal. Congratulations.
But let's not lose touch with reality. The entire Gop is a radical rw party, dominating our 3 branches and will continue to weaken the American middle class that was once the world's strongest. And while using their slogans of the Founders of America----freedom, liberty, private property.
The worst harm of Trump is to make us thankful for so little-- just better than Trump.
3
After the vote on the tax cuts for the rich that the republicans yearn for happens is when we'll see more defections on the right.
Tax cuts for the rich is the GOP's raison d'etre, so they're not going to go against trump and alienate themselves from his base until after it passes.
The four defections so far (five if you count Romney) are, yes, form men with nothing to lose. The rest will not risk losing their majority or, worse, being replaced by trumpists, until after they've achieved their primary mission of further enriching their donors: the handful of people who own our government.
I, too, am grateful for Flake and the others in speaking out against this abomination of a "president," and I agree it's not enough. But I think more will be speaking out soon, and the voters will have their turn a year from now, and we can perhaps end this global trumpian nightmare.
1
I was very happy to hear both Mr. Corker and Mr. Flake voice their opinions, but it all still begs the question: "Will the Real Republican Party please stand up?"
40
There is none. That's the point. They are a bunch of independent operators trying to push the right buttons to pander to their local voters and get re-elected. Only occasionally do enough of their interests align to the point that they can pass meaningful legislation. So far during the Trump administration that has happened exactly ZERO times.
3
It can't stand up --- it's slouching around as low as possible beneath all radar hiding it's pathetic tax cut for those who don't need any more money while all else crumbles around them.
1
To Pono and Frank - Both of you are exactly right - that is my point. The night Trump was nominated, we witnessed the death of the Republican Party.
1
Flake may have said words that Democrats long to hear, but the meaning behind them was the opposite of what Democrats believe. He is an extreme conservative. Like Pence, if he had his way we would launch off to the far right from where Trump is now.
Be careful what you cheer for. You may get it.
2
@ Mark Thomason
Please keep reminding Democrats of that. This fawning over Flake is revolting. The guy supported war crimes, torture, the Patriot act, Guantanamo Bay...like Hillary Clinton but with nasty social politics on top of it.
Unfortunately, people just want to hear what fits their narrative.
2
The real GOP hero will be one who actually intends to be reelected and is trying to forge a new, better and more honest identity for the Republican Party. I don't want to demean Flake, Corker or McCain, but they all have in common the extreme-unlikelihood of ever again seeing elected office. They're actions in defense of ethical, moral, professional governance are admirable, but lots of folks act admirably when they haven't anything to lose by doing so.
There are Senators out there who could bear this mantle. Ben Sasse, for example, has high aspirations and talks the talk, sometimes, without generally walking the walk. Real courage for a Senator is putting your future aspirations on the line for the current and future good of the nation whose citizens you've been elected to represent.
12
Mr. Scottgerweck: Please name one Republican Senator, "with that courage", who represents the intent of our 'Founding Fathers', and the 'Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness for ALL citizens ethos', at least attempted until recently, by "Our Democratic Republic Government" during the past 241 years. Make no mistake, these people - do - represent the people they were elected to represent ! The wealthiest Corporate and Family Elites of "our" nation who provide the - millions - of $$$$$ to get them elected and reelected . I can't think of even a single current Republican Senator that could be unqualifiedly defined as "courageous" . However, there - are - 52 plus a President and Vice-President I can identify as totally Un-American Hypocrites. I would be happy to compare names and long lists of reasons. Cordially, DJL
As suggested by others, Flake, Corker, Collins, Murkowski and McCain - and possibly others - could announce that they are leaving the GOP and forming a separate party in the Senate. Maybe other senators would join them. Maybe a similar event might happen in the House.
Yes, it will take efforts by principled politicians and voters to form a new party - maybe such an effort will harm the Democrats, by causing some moderate and centrist Democrats to join this new party.
Maybe this is what is needed.
7
I know many of us disagree strongly with the policies supported by Senator Flake. So what? We have democratic institutions, behavioural norms and elections to sort through those differences. Senator flake appears to be deeply committed to those institutions and norms. Just like Senator mcCain, who I suspect also generates policy disagreements with many NYT readers. But both Senators are decent, believe in democracy and strongly support the rule of law. Surely that makes them allies. Surely that makes them worthy of being admired as American patriots. Surely the occupants of the centre and the left can see some common cause in a joint appreciation of values and process? If not, all I truly lost for your country. These men (and Susan Collins most emphatically) are worthy of your respect.
13
@ Todd MacDonald
So according to your logic anyone, even someone like George W. Bush "are worthy of (y)our respect", because they dislike the Con Don's decorum and Presidential etiquette ?
Even if their policies align almost perfectly?
And, by the way, they don't "strongly support the rule of law", otherwise W. would be rotting in a cell somewhere together with his band of torturing war criminals.
SAD.
I'm still flummoxed by people who could be 'for' everything you claimed the so-called 'upstanding' republican senators and representatives you mentioned are 'for', and still have gone along with the titanic sinking of this party for as long as they have. This began back when newt gingrich was steering the ship into the iceberg, and hasn't let up. Many marginally decent men (and women) have soiled themselves agreeing to agree with something they supposedly found distasteful.
1
It was a good speech, but voting soon after to harm the consumer and vote pro bank, would have shown an effort to change the president's agenda of hurting the majority of our citizens. Actions not just words.
13
three responses to an authoritarian regime: assist (morally repulsive), exist (reasonable but questionable) or resist (dangerous but laudable)
or some combination- we need to go about our lives while resisting creatively.
More than just online petitions, somewhere short of civil war- a golden mean, you might call it
1
If Tipsy Trump has demonstrated anything, it is that he is unstable, unpredictable and out of control. Whether you're a Republican, Democrat or Independent, that's obvious. He a risk to be in the drivers seat of our nation.
6
Words are cheap. Only action can truly define the moral character. On the same day of the speech on the Senate floor, Flake voted to strip consumers of their right to participate in class action lawsuits against financial institutions, giving Wall St. a much wanted victory over the victims of financial fraud.
16
I would suggest he has in fact acted by speaking out in protest and confirming American democratic norms. Surely you must realize the price he is paying is not "cheap" in many senses. Career suicide in favour of American values deserves to be recognized and respected.
1
@ allen roberts
Amen, brother.
The man is a disgusting moral coward who has only ‘taken a stand’ at the point where he has nothing to lose by doing so. The guy who gangs together with a bunch of similarly-minded degenerates to break into your house while you’re away, pour petrol over everything, then set it all on fire doesn’t get to consider himself a hero because he saves your goldfish as he leaves.
He’s an anti-choice, climate-change sceptic who voted in Betsy DeVos and did his best to rip healthcare away from millions of his fellow American citizens.
It's not news that a republican is conservative, or that this would have him voting with his party and its monstrous "leader" 90% of the time. The important point here is that unlike at least 48 of his colleagues (I'm giving McCain, Corker, and a hybrid of Sue Collins&Ron Paul a pass) he is willing to say that regardless of what legislation he signs or nominees he offers up, Trump is a monster, a cancer, and a moral cipher. That's all we can ask for a republican senator. Flake may have had no hope of winning a primary in a state that made a god out of a sheriff chiefly known for breaking laws and racism, but he didn't need to stand up and make himself a target for the Arizona crazies. Courage needs to be applauded precisely because it seems harder and harder to find any politician with even a modest dose of it...
10
It wasn't the state of Arizona that supported Joe Arpio. That was Maricopa County. Unfortunately they also have the power in Arizona. Southern Arizona, which is those of us in Tucson, could be another state. We almost got Arizona blue in the last election. I think it really is time to separate the Republican party from the Conservative party. My daughter, living in Texas, is Republican, believes in fiscal responsibility, a woman's right to make decisions about her own body, less welfare and work for those who get it, immigration reform. She calls me a bleeding heart liberal although we believe close to the same things except that I favor single payer insurance after seeing how successful it is in every country that has it and speaking to so many people who have it and love it. As I am preparing to go back to teaching high school at age 65 because I cannot live on social security, i am asking why the richest country on earth is treating its most vulnerable, children and elderly so shabily while so few have so much. Did Donald Trump sacrifice more than most of us teachers, or police or firefighters??
5
Trump's job is to get rid of the administrative state, i.e. to destroy the United States of America and open it up for looting. Trump, in the future, will be known for what he is: a hardened criminal. It is because he is so hardened that he can do what he does; destroy anything and everything with impunity including American values. Jeff Flake saw this extremely obvious phenomenon going on and, even though "bought and sold" just like his Republican counterparts in the senate, decided that he would do the right thing and remember for his propaganda infected Republican constituency what America is supposed to be about so as to counteract what it is becoming: an evil clown show. Jeff Flake saved his family name for generations, especially if Trump finally cracks, which I have no doubt he will. Flake walks in the footsteps of Oskar Schindler. The other Republicans, unless they speak out, will be decimated by the historical record. At least Flake will be able to sleep well at night even if he did fail his corporate employers. Money truly isn't everything.
10
I agree. Senator Flake should be applauded for what he has done.
11
The novelist Gore Vidal called America "the United States of Amnesia," a condition which Donald Trump's presidency seems to have severely aggravated. Doesn't anybody remember that it was not more than a dozen years ago that the Bush-Cheney administration was lying us into a disastrous war that ultimately killed more than 1 million, and left the region in flames? The invasion of Iraq was, by many standards, a major war crime, and a US foreign policy disaster. Yet now, somehow, G.W. Bush is being elevated as a paragon of statesmanship and leadership.
Senator Flake poses the questions, “When the next generation asks us: ‘Why didn’t you do something? Why didn’t you speak up?,’ what are we going to say?” Well, where was the senator while the Bush-Cheney team were spreading their calculated lies and disinformation to the American people? Voting for the resolution that approved the Iraq Invasion!
Perhaps this is the ultimate goal of Donald Trump's presidency: to distract us and make us forget.
3
I agree with you but I take it a step further and call it self induced amnesia. It happens with greater and greater frequency with the American voter especially in the Republican Party.
@ANDO ARIKE: Recall that decision to launch Operation Shock and Awe was bi partisan, and many Democrats, including Kerry and HRC voted for the war."N'oublions pas" General Powell who laid out the case for war and Iraq's alleged possession of w.m.d.'s before the UN. Ironic, isn't is that a leading correspondent on MSNBC, Nicole Wallace, now so resolutely anti Trump, anti Republican, is a former close adviser to Bush "fils,"and part of the same inner sanctum of the elite, which retinue included George Tenet, former CIA chief, which egged the hapless Bush "fils" on to war--ha[pless because he was impetuous, a non reader, not introspective and even openly declared that he was going ahead with his war plans because "Sadaam Hussein tried to kill my dad!" One tip, decades ago when I was translating a book for the Carnegie Foundation, Anne Wilson, first class editor, advised me that you never "pose a question," --incorrect--but put a question or formulate a question. But you do pose a problem!
Re. Flake voted to invade Iraq...yes he did...s did many Democrats....including Senator Clinton...human beings make mistakes...you were all lied to by Cheney.
1
Ms Goldberg writes: "...I asked ...how his Republican friends in Congress live with themselves. He said some justify their silence by saying that if they speak out, they could be replaced by Trumpist lunatics.
Interesting variation on the "just following orders" defense.
10
The Republicans are never going to act against Trump. There's no chance of this happening. This is an absurd fantasy. They may make a few angry speeches but not much else. The GOP controls the Presidency, both House of Congress, the Supreme Court, the majority of state legislatures, Governorships, & most important local offices. Why jeopardize their position? To make NYT pundits happy? Get real. If you're wondering, like many others, what it would take for the GOP to break with Trump the answer is nothing short of impeachment. Trump could put on a black cocktail dress today & the GOP will still back him. Repubs are playing the long game. Trump will be gone soon. They will still be here. The GOP can wait him out & achieve all of their objectives. They have their eyes on a bigger prize. Their goal is to nominate 2-3 very conservative Supreme Court justices. That's why they are putting up with Trump for now. Trump has gotten one SCOTUS appointment, he may well get more. He’s moved more quickly on lower-court appointments than Obama did. The legal arm of the conservative movement is probably the best organized, most far-reaching and far-seeing sector of the Right. They truly are in it — and have been in it — for the long term goals. Control the Supreme Court, stack the judiciary, and you can stop the progressive movement, no matter how popular it is, no matter how much legislative power it has. That's an inconvenient truth that the Dems need to face while there's still time.
11
Agreed, but perhaps it's too late already. The corruption runs deep through the executive and legislative branches, leaving the judiciary with more power than the Founders ever intended. It's starting to look like the British Empire in the mid-1700s, when Parliament was all but a lackey for King George III and Jefferson, Franklin and Henry decided enough was enough. If there are no longer checks and balances, there's no America. That's where we are.
Flake, Corker, McCain, Collins and Murkowski could absolutely dictate whether any Senate legislation passes in the next 14 months. We'll see how serious they are about battling Trump through their votes. Corker absolutely appears to be setting up a Presidential run. He won't steer clear of a camera and has actually been seen smiling at the camera. If Flake is thinking about running he can forget it; he's a mild mannered intellectual. Tens of millions of Americans instinctively hate anyone who is intelligent, articulate and educated. It's their own insecurities that drive this, although none would admit it. Much of the Obama hatred was driven by this jealous hatred of 'the elite.'
9
Ms. Goldberg, you're bending over backwards to give Jeff Flake a pass for standing up to the president and the GOP, now that he's exiting the political arena. Flake is no heroic gladiator who fell with his shield on the battlefield. He didn't defy Nero or the Republicans who demanded blood in the arena with a thumbs down gesture to hack away at decency, civil and morally upright behavior. Where was Flake's outrage when the president pardoned Sheriff Joe Arpaio in August. Why didn't Flake stand up to the president when he paraded families who were victimized by undocumented Latinos as racial grandstanding and profiling in rallies in Phoenix right under his nose? No, Ms. Goldberg, Jeff Flake was an enabler of the president when it was politically expedient to support him. Now that he's bowing out, he's decided to become a patriot in the name of American values. He's as phony as the Republican brand and I'll bet that deep down you know it too.
7
How nasty...how callous...it must be so easy to sit on the sidelines and judge without being in the game....I admire his decision
1
All a politician needs to oppose trump is a lack of mendacity. Bravery, principles and intelligence are welcome but not required.
I am glad that Flake said what he said however in politics there is always something else. In his case, he has cleared the path to the Republican primary in 2020 and has established himself as the trump alternative in the event a window of opportunity appears.
What remains of Flake, after his speech, are a set of principles which are generally antithetical to anything a progressive or liberal could countenance. He would be a disaster as a president despite his principled stand.
3
Political fantasy on your part...cleared himself a path to oblivion in the Republican Party that Trump now owns...his stand was principled...regardless of his policies that we both strongly disapprove op
Completely agree. Those who dismiss Corker and Flake for "only" speaking up after deciding to quit are still not giving them respect for just how abused they will be by the President and his base/cronies regardless. Also, by continuing to criticize them after they made these strong speeches of disapproval also discourages other Republicans from speaking up because they will still be battered by both sides. Support any signs of rebellion by any Republican, no matter how small or how late. We can hold them accountable for their past actions later. We need their help to save us from the maniac inc charge.
5
The speech was not worth of the fake nmovie because it was a fake speech. There is no difference between Flake and Trump that matters. He is focusing on the trivial annoying immature antics of the president while he was voting along with the presidents agenda 91% of the time. If the man was that hero he would be fighting tooth and nail to keep his seat and to motivate the people and his fellow Congresspeople to do something about the presidents trivializing of the office or for turning over the most important agencies in our government to people who want to destroy them and are doing so. He'd be fighting the tax cut which is yet another in a long line of republican tax cuts for 40 years that have only hurt the country and helped the exorbitantly wealthy people they are meant for.
A hero risks themselves in some way for a result that does not directly benefit them. No republican has ever done so since McCain was in the POW camps of the NVA and he may be the only once since Lincoln. Mr flake has not sacrificed anything. He bailed to save the war chest of "election campaign" money he has been paid for the votes he gave to corporate America to the detriment of his electorate and the nation.
Where is the bravery? He was already not going to run and he now has a chest full of money and the false moral authority he gained in his Pyrrhic speech that cost him nothing.
Your good intentions are misplaced and wasted Ms Goldberg.
3
What was Mr. Flake's vote on the confirmation that completed the carjack of the Garland nomination? Can anyone deny that the GOP senators that DID NOT EVEN HOLD A HEARING on President Obama's validly made nominee ignored their constitutional duty and violated their oaths of office?
We understand the reason for it - Drive greater turnout to the polls from their side in November! Mr. Trump won by 77,000 votes out of 13 million cast in three states (6 per 1,000). That small a margin of victory may well be due to this unorthodox and unconstitutional action. There is a term for an organized rebellion from within the government to neuter the elected leader and steal the course of American jurisprudence for a generation. It's called a coup d'etat. Every decision that Neil Gorsuch participates in is the fruit of an illegal act, in my opinion, and ought to be considered suspect.
Mr. Flake went along with Trump for the stuff he likes and is breaking with him because of his demonstrated unfitness for the office he holds. Better late than never, I guess, but in my opinion, it's better never late.
The greater weight for the election of Donald Trump is the 100 million eligible voters who did not bother/insist that their vote be counted. 42% didn't care enough to vote in what turns out to have been a very consequential election. This CIC is on you.
5
It's not what Trump says; it's how he says it that's most disturbing to Flake Because flake and Trump are in lockstep favoring policies that would wreck the Health and financial security of the middle class, the poor, minorities in favor of the wealthy. they are both wolves, they only difference is that Trump shows his fangs; flake is a wolf in sheep's clothing.
one positive difference I'll credit F lake with is he realizes his brethren won't be able to enjoy their increased exalted status likely to result from implementing of his favored policies if there is a nuclear war. If we we put him and Trump on the opposite sides of risks/ benefits of provoking nuclear Armageddon then flake is the good guy. But his stance is hardly heroic. He's just not insane.
2
Yes, thank you, Jeff Flake and Bob Corker! Thank you, very, very much. In my mind, the both of you should be awarded medals of honor. Your words were both refreshing and uplifting and helped to build trust during a very difficult period when many of us have begun to question the allegiance of our president ...But why don't your fellow Republicans in both the Senate and the House speak up, too? Why are they sheepishly mute? Are they cowards? Have they sold their souls to the highest bidder? Are they fearful of Trump?
There is plenty about this president of ours that is deplorable to say the least...And, as a Democrat and a liberal progressive, I'd like to know why we haven't heard voices of outrage from the Democrats in Congress, too?! They need to speak up loud and clear, too, so that every single American fully grasps the horrid reality of this miserable Trump presidency.
The damage that Trump is doing both here at home and abroad is both shocking and depressing. Our trust in our elected representatives needs to be confirmed. We need to hear from those who we elected to serve and preserve our interests and cherished values. Do they not also cherish those same values that helped to distinguish the USA as a trusted beacon of light, truth, and justice to the rest of the world?
We must all insist that our voices be heard and demand that our congressional representatives remain true to those wonderful ideals that have become emblematic of who we are as a people and a nation.
6
As a Progressive Democrat, I'm already disgusted by Tom Perez's lack of leadership, understanding, his tone-deafness to both the Liberal/Progressive base, and his HORRIBLE sense of timing, all combined with his muddle-headed self-righteousness.
His attack on Jeff Flake right after he purged top Keith Ellison and Bernie Sanders supporters from key DNC positions shows all of the above. It was narrow-minded, and solely to support the power and position of the increasingly unpopular Old Guard wing of the Democratic Party, the so-called Clinton wing.
Now it's true that Senator Flake's withdrawal from running for re-election weakens his attack on the authoritarian/vulgarian incompetence of the Trump presidency, but when even Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio are prostituting themselves to a man who lashed out at them with some of the most vicious and disgusting accusations ANY Republican who stands up to Trump should be praised.
While Tom's protecting his little and shrinking fiefdom, and preparing the Democrats to lose even more seats in 2018 (Kiss Joe Donnelly, Joe Manchin, Heidi Heitkamp, Claire McCaskill, Jon Tester, and possibly Sherrod Brown, Debbie Stabenow, Tammy Baldwin and Bob Casey goodbye, giving the GOP 60+ seats) in both Houses, Trump and Bannon are engineering the destruction of the "Deep State", ie, Constitutional checks and balances and the independence of the 3 branches of government. Flake is warning us against this. He should be praised, not condemned.
2
Why doesn't he face his radical opponent in the upcoming election . Give those statements to the good citizens of Arizona and let them decide. Oh wait, He's in a Republican primary and he is outnumbered. He should go down fighting but I do applaud his speech. His losing campaign might make a few good points and make his opponent seem even more radical than she is already.
excellent article - well argued and well writtien
2
Ms Goldberg's article (I think she's great, by the way) and all the comments, make one big mistake — that the American political system is functioning. If Trump conspired ("colluded" is a weasel word) with Putin, Mueller's team will find out, and action will be taken. Will it, with Republicans doing everything they can to thwart it? And everyone agrees, Mueller needs another year or so to build an airtight cast. Do we have a year? Trump only needs 15 seconds to nuke North Korea, and HE WANTS TO — it's the ultimate fulfillment of his malignant narcissism: the power over life and death. And throw in Teheran while he's at it. Everyone is assuming there's time, the "Trump problem" will be solved in time. But the "Trump problem" is 15 seconds.
3
"Ode on a Grecian Urn":
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,"--that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
John Keats, 1820
4
The legal removal of this insane president has to start somewhere, and notwithstanding his conservative views, I fully support Senator Flake's comments - and hopefully concrete future actions - in this regard.
4
No, Ms. Goldberg...... Real credit should go only to the [evidently non-existent] Republican Senator who would speak all these truths about Trump, while looking forward to his or her next campaign, whatever the prospects for re-election victory might be.
Flake and Corker and McCain risk nothing.... and still vote for the vile policies on Trump's, and the conventional Republican Party's, agenda.
No profiles of courage there..... just empty conscience-massaging.
2
Yes! The Democrats who have diminished Jeff Flake are missing a crucial opportunity. They should be rushing to ally with Republicans who are ready to act against Trump's evident authoritarianism. Surely, this is the most important work facing Congress today. There are other issues that are very important but they are completely secondary to preserving our country as a free republic.
4
Corker and Flake deserve some credit for their position against the current president, but they are still voting to give him victories and to benefit the top 1% of the nation. I don’t care that they call themselves conservative; if they are truly as concerned about a Trump presidency, they cannot allow him to think he can get away with anything he wants to as long as he advocates for conservative values. Until they acknowledge that there are more important things than tax cuts for their donors, they do not merit the praise that they are receiving.
3
Thank you for this column. I completely agree.
Many (most?) of my fellow progressives are making a category error in condemning Flake: they're substituting specific policy choices for a holistic worldview. Yes, Flake--like McCain, Corker, Collins, Murkowski and other Trump-resistant Republicans--has made many votes we liberals vehemently disagree with. And they will continue to do so.
But we've come to a moment when specific outcomes matter less than preserving the basic rules of the contest. Anyone who stands up for our core institutions and norms, who speaks out against indecency, intolerance, and interference in the democratic process, and who defends traditional liberalism, must be welcomed as an ally in the battle for our nation's soul.
3
The Republicans intend to cut $1 trillion from Medicaid. Don't you think that this "specific outcome" will matter more to Americans in the years ahead than Trump's vicissitudes?
https://thinkprogress.org/senate-gop-budget-would-cut-more-than-1-trilli...
Outstanding article. To answer your question 'how his Republican friends in Congress live with themselves,' the answer is that they pray to their make-believe god with whom they believe they have a personal relationship. It's a massive collective delusion that has collided with reality. Hence why they so ardently support a demagogue who they believe is 'not afraid to tell the "truth"'--namely, what they want to hear.
4
I, too, am glad Flake said what he did, despite the fact that his motivations appear to be a mixture of principle and political calculation. However, if Flake truly believes our democracy is being undermined, as he says and as I believe, he can and should do more. Instead of leaving the Senate, he could leave the Republican party and become a Democrat. If he convinced three other Republicans (possible converts are McCain, Sasse, Corker, Collins) to follow his lead, the Senate would be controlled by the Democrats. That would go a long way to making Congress a co-equal branch of government -- something Flake cited, rightly, as of vital importance.
1
RE: "Flake promised to use his remaining 14 months in office standing up and speaking out"
Question. Did Flake have to announce he was not running now?
If he didn't have to make the announcement now wouldn't anything he has said regarding Trump have had more gravitas and he would have been seen as someone with something to lose for having said it?
He had to leave now so potential Republican replacements could mount their campaigns for Senate. A year is a short time in campaigning these days.
2
So.... he leaving.... upset at Trump... but not quite so upset that he'd want a fellow Republican, and likely a more radical one that will do the Don's bidding, to be at a disadvantage VS the Democrat running.
Yeah, he's not through with politics yet and needs the party or it's all just words.
I was truly very pleased and reassured with Flake's comments on the president. I thought a Republican is finally speaking clearly and accurately about this travesty of a president, someone in authority is declaring the emperor is wearing no clothes, someone is publicly stating that some have tried to "gaslight" us into believing this is normal. Then, sadly, I watched a segment on MSNBC getting reaction from Arizona voters. One woman, older and "reasonable" looking, said that she likes Trump and he is trying to drain the swamp and to bring back the constitution in order for us to live the way our founders intended. I was non plussed. That comment is not only baffling to me but made me want to hit my head on the counter. I truly do not understand anything about the Trump voter. It's as if we were different species.
4
I agree about Flake's courage. He could have withdrawn from his Senate race and cited personal reasons. What he and Corker and McCain should do, if they are serious in their views about Trump, is to vote against every bill Trump wants; do it publicly and demand specific acts from Trump if he ever wants their votes again.
1
"Jefferson has beliefs, Burr has none"
We shouldn't get all our history lessions from Broadway musical, but this line fits.
But his character is not the only reason that most liberals should be able to form common cause with conservatives like Jeff Flake.
There probably is broad agreement about what America is today that is mostly reality based. And despite the demonizing rhetoric each side sometimes uses about the other, I think there is broad agreement about what you want America to become.
The Trumpist view of the world laughing at us and cheating us is NOT reality-based. White nationalist views are certainly not reality based. While true white nationalists are a small portion of Trump supporters, they create many of the alternate facts and memes that others buy into.
I am not sure that there is a single Trumpist view of America's future, but many seem very alien to me.
I am a moderate Republican who hasn't thought any recent President represented a threat to the type of America I want my children to live in.
Until now.
That gives me a great incentive to form political alliances I would not have expected.
4
Why is Flake considered a hero? Yes, his last speech said what needed to be said. And under normal circumstances his speech would be political suicide for a career in the Trump Republican Party.
Except that he didn't make this speech as part of an ongoing commitmment to fight back against the Twitter In Chief. He did so in the wake of a career that was effectively over as his submarining poll numbers have buried it over the past couple of weeks.
Being heroic is when you take a stand at a cost, a risk. But a dead career isn't any risk.
The fact is that those in the GOP, who criticize Trump, are giving up rather than continue to fight. These guys are not heroes.
1
Most employees give two weeks notice of leaving, Senator Flake gave 14 months notice.
So DJT will now have to continue on knowing that Flake has the potential to impede anything he chooses without fear of retribution. Corker, the same!
I expect to see more from Congress jump ship prior to the 2018 midterms if they have any aspirations of remaining in Congress beyond 2018.
Over time there will be the extreme conservatives that will side with DJT and bannon but other less conservative members of the GOP will come to realize that math alone will show that the path DJT has chosen is not sustainable.
It's time to pick sides!
1
"ll the same, he’s now arguing that telling the truth about Trump is more important than enacting his most cherished political priorities." As much as I would like to agree, I think it far more likely that Flake will support all of the horrid, regressive, dangerous policies that come through his Republican Congress, regardless of how he feels morally about Trump. Like all Republicans, except Trump, he is an ideologue. His crime is merely that he took the political risk of NeverTrumping when all the others Trumped. Further, if he caves (not impossible) and swears his fealty, both Trump and the Party will ignore this episode just to get his votes, and let him float off into nothing. They care about nothing but the Koch/Mercer money and getting reelected. So, in fact, anything is possible that insures that outcome.
Words words words. They were better words than most Republicans say, but Flake's deeds helped set up The Trump nightmare. Flake is no "principled conservative." He was a willing foot soldier in Mitch McConnell's crusade to destroy President Obama's presidency by any means necessary, including breaking "norms." Flake filibustered every bill and appointment and agreed not to give Merrick Garland a hearing after his nomination to the Supreme Court. He ditched "regular order" to vote for secret bills to kill Obamacare and the more recent Budget and Consumer protection bills that couldn't survive in the light of day. He supports slow walking the Russia investigation by Republican-controlled committees. None of this bothers Flake, but Trump is icky. Flake and his colleagues paved the way for Trump.
2
Fear of judgment of history is a highly overrated, overworked concept. A person who is willing to face indignity and shame during his time on earth (Trump comes to mind), why would he worry about history's verdict over his life's work after he's gone?
I do not support or sympathize with conservatism as practiced in our country. And most ceetainly not their use of emotional, cultural issues to win the support of unknowing voters whom the conservative policies affect and hurt the most. Still there are a number of concepts in conservatism that I admire: Like the concept of individual responsibilty and free capital system that is reasonably monitored more than oppressively regulated. With that mindset I cannot judge Mr Flake harshly, or question his record in the senate, as the Democratic leadership seems to be doing from the DNC or Think Progress platforms.
A bit of pesonal note, I'm thinking of moving to Arizona next year. I will be glad to lick envelops and stand in any que to support senator Flake in any of his future tries in public life.
1
Here's an idea--let me suggest every Republican in Congress speak out against Trumpism. There's no possible way Steve Bannon could organize the 300 or so primary challenges if everyone does it.
Let Republicans have their tax cut--elections do have consequences--but at least we might restore some measure of decency to our politics.
It's the Steve Bannons of the world--smart and sadistic--who truly terrify me.
2
Fine but hollow words by Senator Flake. Were he as courageous as his speech professes, he would stay in the arena and for the next 10 months use his elevated prominence as an genuine conservative and concerned American to expose the fraudulent maneuvers of the president and congress.
1
I am a Democrat, and I consider Jeff Flake a hero and an American patriot for his courage to stand up against a demigod! I wish Sen. Flake would run again for the senate even with a challenger. He might discover that 'regular' Republicans would support him, if only to save their party!
Senator Flake, one favor, sir, please vote against the tax cuts. The best way to diminish Donald is to make sure that his beloved tax cuts fail to pass!
It will be a great gift to the hard working Americans who would otherwise have Medicare, Medicaid and the ACA cut, slashed and de-funded so that Donald and his wealthy friends can have more money in their pockets!
Please, Sen. Flake vote NO on the tax cuts! And thank you for calling out the narcissist in the White House!
3
I, for one, want to see Flake's seat flip to the Democrats next year, so I want to see a knock-down drag-out fight among Republican candidates for his seat. Hopefully we'll end up with a bozo like "Chemtrail" Kelly Ward.
Also I doubt sincerely that Flake would vote against the tax cuts. No vote he has taken so far this year would lead to that conclusion.
1
I think the word you need is demagogue.
Trump is no demigod.
He's a flawed and simple man.
Enough about the republican right-wingers' "bravery" discovering that they don't like trump. They like his policies enough to keep on voting for them, they just don't like admitting that they're with stupid.
Where are the moderate Republicans, the ones that are still around? If they really can't stomach any more of trump and the moneybags-friendly Republican party, they should find the spine to quit the party and caucus with the Democrats. I can think of two right off the bat, Collins and Murkowski; a third one would take Senate control away from the GOP and lance the boil from the nation's politcal rear end.
And what are the Dems doing about it? In the old days of Democratic control, the Republicans worked every which way to get Democrats to defect; and one or two did, I seem to remember.
10
Gop moderates have been purged from the party Soviet Union style. Flake and friends are conservative, thus harmful, just not totally radical. Our standards are all distorted. We put up with what would have been rejected in our past history.
The Gop dominates politics and has redefined what is center, left, right.
I'm a life long Democrat, spent 35 years as a political consultant in Washington DC before retiring to Arizona. Jeff Flake is a hero. His speech is one of the most eloquent and thoughtful I have heard in my many years working in politics. Lets hope Tom Perez and other Democrats reach out to the Jeff Flakes and their like minded Republicans all over the country and let them know that the Democratic Party welcomes them, that while we don't agree on all issues we share their commitment to democratic ideals and their concern for the constitution and rule of law. Now is not the time to be small, it is a time to save our Republic. As someone once said, often "one man with courage can make a majority" lets hope so.
47
I give Senator Flake great credit for the stand he has taken. I am pleased by it. I am made happy by it .... but there is no place, and their should never be a place, for his policy ideas in any progressive or moderate democratic party. Hell....even if ('god' forbid) the democrats moved to the center-right, there would be no place for his "conservative" positions.
P.S. There is nothing, etymologically 'speaking,' conservative about those who brand themselves political conservatives. Indeed, those who do are incredible -- in the actual meaning of the word.
1
Bravo, Michelle Goldberg! Thank you for this wonderful precis and analysis. Its exactly what I was thinking!
28
I live in Arizona and am proud to be represented by both Senator McCain and Senator Flake, though I often disagree with their policies. Both are men of principle and courage.
Over the next 13 months, I expect that they will vote down any tax bill that increases the national debt by an estimated $1.5 trillion, cuts the 401K savings program for the middle class and gives 80 percent of the benefits to the Super Rich.
I also doubt that they will vote for a tax cut bill that will give hundreds of millions of dollars of benefits to a President who refuses to release his taxes and thus denies Congress and citizens the information they need to determine just how much this legislation is for the benefit of Donald Trump and his family.
This is what courage and principle looks like in action.
39
And, let each and every one of us consider just how rare are "courage and principle". Especially in our world of politics and elections, and Trump.
1
Looking forward to watching you be gravely disappointed. Count on Flake and McCain to do the wrong thing when it counts. Bets anybody?
1
What I find fascinating about a lot of the comments is implication or suggestion that Flake, Corker, and McCain can effectively only redeem themselves if they become democrats for the remainder of their respective terms.
I believe, maybe naively, that there are still republicans that are republicans for truly heartfelt philosophical reasons. That they see a good in what I would describe as traditional republican principles. I think Jeff Flake is one such individual - a politician tragically not of this time, this moment. I find it a bit disingenuous for Tom Perez to point out that Flake has voted with Trump 91% of the time, without parsing what is included in that 91%. He is a republican, who may have many reasons independent of the president to vote for something the president also champions. This is another example of a hollow fire for effect statement, that has no meaning out of context, and little meaning in context. To me we continually undermine our arguments as a party with these statements. They are lazy, and counter productive.
I may not agree with his politics, by I commend his principles. I cannot begrudge him or Corker or McCain their principles or philosophies, or require that they repent to be redeemed.
15
I doubt you would have more respect for Flake if he had voted with Trump only 50 percent of the time. You would fail to vote for him if he supported Trump 45 percent of the time.
Trump is simply the shiny object distracting everyone from the damage being done daily to the USA by the Republicans in Congress and by the industry lobbyists now in all agencies of our government who are busy removing every protection that used to keep our air breathable, our water drinkable, while hurting the minimal health care available to the lower middle class and the poor and preventing ordinary Americans from joining together in unions or in class action lawsuits etc etc.
Before Trump, the 'shiny object" relied on by the Republicans and their true base - the super rich - was "those people" who were the alleged cause of all of the job losses, crime etc etc etc..
This is not my country anymore.
27
Spot on Michelle. Character matters in politics even if you disagree with a politician's policies. I find the responses by some on the Left, including the head of the DNC, disappointing as they indicate that partisanship is alive and well in the Democratic Party. I'm afraid that even if Senator Flake achieved world peace and found a cure for cancer, those folks would find something to criticize him for. While I agree with the Democrats on many issues, that's the main reason why I'm not a member of the Democratic Party.
5
Great column.
While I would never characterize Flake's or any other Senatorial speech as "heroic", (I don't believe losing your job in congress are high enough stakes to qualify), doing something nobody else is willing to do is admirable and of course necessary if you want to effect radical change in the thoughts or actions of others.
Flake's speech lies somewhere on the spectrum between the predictably insipid, overwrought fawning of the media in search of a "hero for a day" and the "too little, too late" crowd of the far left. I lean toward the latter, but still appreciate what he was trying to accomplish.
Now, let's see if Flake and Corker can actually "do something" constructive after they've told everybody what they "really" think.
10
JayK: Move to Arizona and run for Flake's seat.
1
Those who fail to recognize Jeff Flake's courageous stance because he voted for Trump's legislative agenda more than 90 percent of the time are missing the big picture: It is Trump's disdain for democracy, his reckless approach to foreign affairs, and his desire for divisiveness, not his legislative agenda per se, that threaten America's long-term future. Democrats should thirst for more principled conservatives like Jeff Flake.
20
The implication is that Trump is somehow LESS repulsive and deranged than Steve, Mnuchin or Betsy DeVoss, or Scott Pruit or any of the other goons this awful excuse for a president has surrounded himself with, when the reverse is actually the case.
9
A profile in courage is not painted as you state the obvious at no cost to you as you walk out the door. A profile in shame is painted by the amoral GOP retinue who support a moronic, dishonest and damaging administration because they value power above principle. The awful, selfish and blind cronyism in the political profession is the only truly bipartisan activity!
21
Thank you! Courage doesn't hit you in the a** on the way out...
1
He voted to gut health care for millions.Where's the decency and honor in that? So he wants to appear a patrician while taking unconscionable actions like the majority of Republicans. Thank God McCain, Collins and Murkowski really stood up for the people of America.
25
Jeff Flake said what needed to be said, but by deserting the political arena they seem a bit hollow. Sen. Flake only opened the door for another Roy Moore to join the Trump-Bannon white nationalist takeover of the Congressional Republican Party. The Democrats only hope of stopping that is to join with the Corkers and Flakes and offer "fusion" candidates that would attract both disaffected Republicans and disaffected working-class Democrats as well. The fight for America's future is a political one that will not be won from the sidelines. Clearly, the establishment Democratic Party and the establishment Republican Party alone have not, cannot, and will not save our democracy from descending into autocracy unless they unite in common cause. That is the real message that Jeff Flake and Bob Corker are warning us about.
4
I thank Ms. Goldberg. "Horror," "abomination" - these are words of truth from Goldberg about trump. They reflect the true feelings of some Republicans who now have nothing to lose by speaking out against the worst disgrace in US presidential history. I understand why the press dwells on the dissenting words of Republicans, but I'm constantly dismayed by how weak the voices seem to be of the main opposition, Democrats, including Pelosi and Schumer. Where is the outrage, and why isn't it screamed in daily headlines? Ms. Goldberg's language matches the direness of this crisis, but that of Democratic leaders does not. Trump must be impeached and removed from office by 2019.
14
The Democrats are so busy figuring out how to save Big Gov entitlement programs, and pandering to the unrealistic Sanders agenda and identity interests of LBGQTUVXYZABC... that they don't see how or why becoming the party of responsible government for all is important or feasible. I say this as one of the many socially progressive, economically "conservative," educated non-partisan who is nonplussed by the failure to recognize that we have a giant vacuum in the political (economic and social) middle where real solutions and sensibility could, and should, prevail.
Well to answer your question. The Democratic party is really Republican lite with the same donors, patrons and political objectives. They represent "the kinder, gentler machine gun hand". The iron fist wrapped in a silk glove. We need real leaders with the courage to stand up to these power blocs for to good of ALL the people. That is something we do not have and are unlikely to get without some horrible trauma attached to it.
What we are seeing is a Battle of the Bullies. Republicans in Congress have used bullying for decades now, using people's faith, patriotism, "moral and family values" and the like, as weapons against Democrats, not to mention abusing their power as Congresspeople to harass Democrats, beginning with Pres. Clinton. Mitch McConnell's Supreme Court bullying was worthy of Donald Trump - no conscience, no respect, no sense of fairness, just what he wanted, period.
Now along comes a bully so narcissistic and lacking in a conscience, it must be like looking in a scary mirror for McConnell and Ryan and Gowdy, et al.
But what we know about bullies is that, at their core, they are insecure cowards, and that is what Trump has clearly brought out in Congressional Republicans. They are terrified, behaving cowardly, capitulating to the bully who has overtaken their bullying.
Whatever his motives, the fact is, Flake and Corker have stood up to this bully. I haven't even seen Democrats do it.
I respect people who stand up to bullies, and it's time for the right-wing bullying in the highest levels of our government to end.
20
Every time a Democrat casts a "NO" vote in the House or Senate against any repulsive, regressive piece of GOP legislation, they're standing up to Trump and Trumpism. Like this week's budget-bill for instance. It's standing up where it actually counts -- with their votes.
6
You must not be paying attention to the fact that Democrats have voted against every evil and ill-conceived policy the Republicans have come up with. You must not be paying attention to Kamala Harris, Maxine Waters and Frederica Wilson who have been telling the truth about Trump and his band of White supremacists since day one. Perhaps you need to inform yourself instead of making statements that lack facts.
"In doing so, he’s sacrificed a career he’s spent a lifetime building."
This would be accurate if he had a reasonable shot at re-election and chose to speak truth to power anyway. But as the column clearly points out, he essentially had no shot at getting back to the senate. It was a powerful speech which might be used to set up a presidential run, but it's not correct to say he sacrificed what he had already lost.
7
I am sure he already has a paycheck waiting making millions of $$$$$$$$$$$ for the donors he has been working for during his tenure as a money making politicians. I could be wrong and he hasn't taken monies from the industries?
Why don't we point out all is donors and amounts.
It was a good speech though but he followed it up with votes against the people.
I understand the desire to limit regulation, have lower taxes and smaller government. But I don't understand how any moral OR thinking person can support the Republican Party, when, as Douthat says:
"For decades, Republicans have stoked the culture war to win the support of people hurt by their economic policies. Under the guise of pushing back against left-wing bias, the right has systematically tried to discredit all objective sources of information, ushering in a berserk reactionary postmodernism in which truth loses its meaning. And though the Republican Party’s racial appeals used to be more coded, it’s been capitalizing on white resentment for a long time."
12
For two days, I agreed and was moved by Flake's comments on the floor of the Senate. Then he voted full Trump line on the horrible legislation that will allow the GOP/Trump's despicable tax bill to pass through reconciliation rather than face a super-majority vote. Again, the GOP philosophy, even with a person who has some moral backbone wins out...Actions, not words, define who a person really is.
29
I’m sorry but thanks for what? I think what we are seeing involves the salving of a large ego. The capital is awash in them. It’s true that the buffoon at the top has the most inflated of all but there is no shortage of self important publicity driven characters mascarading as public servants. We are all at their mercy.
I will thank someone when he/she not only starts to stand up to White House bullying but also starts to stand up for the American people. After all we are the ones who pay for them, in more ways rhan one.
Flake cast a vote this week that said more to me than all of his comments about Trump. And increasing the deficit is definitely not conservative, so that is not cover for what he is helping his party to do.
95
Well-said. Trump's failures started as a boy when he was not taught any integrity or fundamental values. His deficiencies go far beyond politics and make him quite dangerous. I hope and pray that we do not find out how dangerous.
6
Ill always remember Flake as an honest man that spoke up. Just as McCain and Corker got new respect from me, Flake impressed me. His speech was about doing the right thing. Finally a Republican that goes by morals instead of greed.
5
And this would explain Flake/Corker/McCain's subsequent late-night votes against the people how, exactly? I'm a little confused. Words can matter. Deeds always matter more.
2
I suspect that negotiating the labyrinth of legislative politics on a day to day basis is quite different than assuming a bully pulpit in a political speech or a newspaper column (or a comment). Ms Golberg Is already quite accomplished at the latter but so far hasn’t demonstrated any knowledge of, or respect for, the former. If and when she does, I will start to pay more attention to her.
A helpful point in this lucid comment is that it is important --if we want to have a meaningful national conversation, which seems more and more remote--is that people who disagree with you are not necessarily bad people. I don't agree with Jeff Flake's positions on almost any issue. But he has behaved honorably in this case. But Trump has crossed the line with him into reprehensible behavior that he sees as damaging the country he pledged to serve. For many of us, that line was crossed before he was elected. But let's be grateful that the airwaves are starting to hear dissent. There are a lot of people right now willing to say no (including the women who are coming forward because it is now safe to report what happened to them; like Flake, they don't have much now, to lose,, but does that make their reports less important? I don't think so). Bring it on.
8
Thank you for cutting and running? His resignation makes him even more complicit! He has prove he knows exactly what Trump is but he will not stand and fight. Sorry, Flake is no profile in courage.
4
So Senator Flake is anti-Trump, but not apparently against the policies of his anti-agency cabinet leaders, when the next day, he voted for an anti-consumer bill that took away the ability to join class action lawsuits, and mandated forced arbitration.
7
The fact that Donald Trump has gone out of his way to repeatedly attack and disparage Senator Flake, can be seen as nothing less than a good sign.
The truth hurts. And it always hurts this exceptionally thin-skinned and combative president.
That Trump and his acolytes continue to tout an assertion that Mr. Flake is only stepping down because he wouldn't have been re-elected, says far more about the current lock-step mentality of the Republicans than it does about Jeff Flake.
And if there is any truth to the axiom 'Fortune favors the Bold', then there is only one winner here.
4
The larger question is, what's going on with the Arizona GOP? Why is someone as extremely conservative as Flake so unpopular with them? If the answer is that he has previously expressed his disapproval of Trump's divisive tactics, that he is not sufficiently loyal, then this isn't about supporting conservative policies and ideological purity. It's about a GOP so consumed with rage and resentment that only a Trump clone can channel those emotions and win a primary in Arizona.
8
As a middle-aged African-American man I'm disgusted with the state of our politics. Since the signing of the constitution I've felt that there is little place in American life for people like me. I appreciate what Sen. Flake did, but the debasing of our politics has a long history. We now have another challenge to our constitution. It'll be interesting to see what happens.
4
Jeff Flake a hero? Child please.
He's spent his entire political career voting for the same cynical, dishonest proposals as the rest of the GOP - tax cuts for the wealthy, taking health coverage away from tens of millions, denying climate change, and on and on. Pretty much anything that will serve the top 1% at the expense of everyone else.
And, where was he when this heroic courage might have mattered - BEFORE the election?
If he now decries the obvious unfitness of Trump for the presidency, hurray. That's the barest minimum any conscious human being should be able to discern at this point.
9
We have always overused the word "hero" in this country, as if someone excelling at the playing of a game legitimately compares to someone risking his or her life to save a child from a burning building.
Jeff Flake said what needed to be said, and I applaud him for it. Yes, the resistance needs all the help it can get.
But to equate what he did with heroism is utterly wrong. He did what any decent, responsible, caring human being should do, especially one who has accepted the responsibility of representing the people of the United States in our government. It is in his job description.
Heroism is going above and beyond the call of duty. That Jeff Flake found it within himself to do his duty at this time is laudable, but should be expected of all, every day, not treated as some exceptional act that only heroes are capable of.
He is considered a hero by some only because the Republican Party has sunk so far below the bar of what ordinary decency, responsibility and integrity look like that he seems heroic in comparison.
And that should shame us all, but particularly his collegues, who barely noticed what he said before they dismissed it and went on with Republican business as usual.
4
Edmund Burke once said "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing". We are currently witnessing the triumph of Trumpism abetted by those competent, principled, GOP members of good character who continue to cede the field of political leadership to the demonstrably unworthy. History will not be kind to those who continue to play "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil". Flake, Corker and McCain are beacons of light in the gathering darkness. What we most need now is a few more brave souls to follow their lead.
8
Ms. Goldberg points out that "Trumpism" could have been anticipated. For decades, the Republican Party has been sliding toward the balefully mutant manifestation of mindlessly resentful malice that grips the nation today. Trump is the inevitable conclusion of a long-simmering trend.
The few remaining sane Republicans with any sense of the hypocritically immoral bankruptcy of today's GOP have no choice but to acquiesce to the madness or to walk away from their political roots. These colleagues confront a groundswell of colleagues who value partisan victory over everything, including a healing, self-ameliorating nation.
These colleagues are the counter-patriots who wrap themselves in the shroud of patriotism while debasing the very notion of the American ideal, excoriating those who kneel before the flag in support of their fundamental constitutional right of equal justice under the law. Either that's who these colleagues are or they are cowards who prize their own political survival over their country.
3
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Ms. Goldberg. No one should dismiss Jeff Flake, or his actions on the Senate floor. Please everyone, read Flake's speech. Flake did not merely criticize Trump. Flake called on his colleagues to RESIST. Let that marinate for a moment. A Republican Senator on the Senate floor called on his fellow Republican Senators to resist The President who is a Republican. Have we become so jaded, so numb to not see how monumental and unique this is? The fact that Flake is choosing not to run again is dwarfed by his call for a resistance.
I am a liberal progressive and find no solace or merit in Senator Flake's policies, but find Mr. Flake's call to resistance a truly courageous moment, and disagree with those that say he has fallen on his own sword to avoid suffering the slings and arrows that will most definitely come his way. Make no mistake he will suffer immeasurable and never ending criticism. The Republican Party is going to be burning him in effigy for quite some time to come. His political career is over, and he knows it.
Many on my side of the political fence do not want to hear this: Flake is a hero.
7
Am I the only one that notices the two republican senators who have been heroic for a while; Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins?? How come they are continually overlooked when "heroism awards" are handed out for resisting trump?
6
Gee, any chance their gender might have something to do with it? Happened with all the Repeal and Replace votes too.
1
From within the Republican party, resistance is futile. The "establishment" is a clear minority in most areas of the country. The GOP has become the party of populism, racism, religion-first, and America-first.
The story is an old one: Ever since LBJ pushed through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and, in his words, "Gave the South to the Republicans for at least a generation" the party of Lincoln has become the party of the Confederacy. Ever since Roe v. Wade, it has become the party based not on secularism but on old-time religion. Ever since Reagan's amnesty it has become the party opposing any immigration. Ever since the corporate elites exported good paying jobs to China in exchange for cheap goods it has become the anti-globalism party. And ever since the fiasco in Iraq it has become the anti-intervention party in world affairs
But all of this was caused by the "establishment" embracing policies they did not believe in to get the votes for their real principles - tax cuts and less regulation.
In short, the GOP has learned the lesson taught by Dr. Frankenstein - it is much easier to create the monster than to control it.
Flake, Corker, McCain, and the rest would do better fighting from outside than from inside.
2
From the article:
"Both Corker and Flake should be willing to support legislation protecting the investigation of Robert Mueller, the special counsel, into Trump’s ties to Russia."
Let's keep in mind two things here:
1. Trump has never even suggested that he might fire Mueller, nor interfered in any way with Mueller's investigation -- don't take my word for that: Ask Mueller.
2. If #1 ever ceases to be true, Trump will have very serious problems, law or no law (for example, a near-total loss of support).
1
Republicans in Congress must be truly terrified of Trump, or of what the GOP establishment will do to punish them for their apostasy, if the most courage anyone can muster is the courage to shout the truth over their shoulder as they sprint for the exit.
3
There will always be those that see the glass half empty, like those that brush aside Flakes speech to remind us he is still a conservative, yes he is, which makes his speech all the more remarkable.Anyone who has the vision to recognize there is a problem within their ranks & speaks out against it, is a hero with immense courage.A rare individual who puts country before party.Flake could have left silently, never to be heard from again, but his inner decency compelled him to repent.
8
Flake, Corker, McCain (Murkowski and Collins?) should leave the Republican party, become Independents, caucus with the the Democrats (along with Sanders and Angus King), and thereby match their actions to their words.
3
The only thing Jeff Flake accomplished by announcing his abrupt retirement from the Senate was losing the chance to eventually become the Senior Senator from Arizona. The sad truth is that Flake's poll numbers were abysmal. Therefore, the only option Flake had left was to make a dramatic grand gesture by quitting the Senate with the whole country watching. That would show America that not all Republicans are soulless sellouts kowtowing to anything the Tweeter in Chief demanded.
However this is all for the best. Flake's departure from the Senate may give the Democrats a glimmer of hope that they could win the open Senate seat in a red state. Besides President Flake just doesn't sound quite right.
If Mr. Flake really wants to have an impact, he should work with Mr. McCain and others to vote against Trump's outrageous tax plan. That would indicate a stronger backbone than anything else he could do right now.
3
How terribly sad. The founders of this nation signed “The Declaration of Independence” and put their lives, honor and treasure at risk for the promise of living in a world where they would not live in fear of the monarch. We fought a war, forged a Constitution, created a government and a set of laws that serve as a beacon to the nations of the world. We’ve survived poor-to-bad presidents and legislators and held true to the oaths to The Constitution and laws of the nation.
We now have elected officials who are, as cited in various reports, afraid of Trump and Bannon and willing to trade loyalty to an individual over loyalty to The Constitution and laws.
The Republicans would never have put up with similar behavior from any Democratic President, yet they give Trump standing ovations and vilify fellow Republicans who oppose Trump. This is the slippery path towards Trump declaring himself and his family “President for Life” and creating a dictatorship.
4
It's been said previously by others commenting within these pages, but it's worth repeating: Senators Flake, Corker, and McCain should formally switch to being Independents who caucus with Democrats.
That swings the Senate immediately, at least until January 2019. Every day counts in the resistance to this horror of a President.
1
"Flake had voted with the president 91 percent of the time,
More importantly he voted to approve of every one of Trump's appointees.
And, it should be mentioned, with the NRA 100% of the time.
I am not sure why anyone would expect Flake to speak out - except against the interests of Americans, and America the land, air, and water, just as he has voted:
Vote to allow people to be forced into arbitration: YES
Vote for disaster relief 10/24/17: NO
Vote for disaster relief 10/23/17: NO
Vote on budget to allow for tax cuts to wealthy: YES
Vote on disaster relief 9/7/17: NO
Vote on "Healthcare Freedom": YES
Vote on Medicare for All: NO
Vote on Repeal of "ObamaCare": YES
Vote on Trump's 'destroy the government from the inside' appointees: YES
Vote to disapprove an Interior Dept rule that restricts hunting practices on national wildlife refuges in Alaska: YES
Sponsor and Vote to disapprove the rule submitted by the FCC relating to Protecting the Privacy of Customers: YES
Vote to disapprove stream protection rule: YES
Vote to for legroom standards on airplanes: NO
Vote to prohibit transfer of firearms to suspected terrorists: NO
Vote to delay transfer of firearms to suspected terrorists: NO
Vote to amending the gun background check system: NO
Vote to deny firearms and explosives to dangerous terrorists: NO
Vote to prohibit straw purchasing of guns and firearm trafficking: NO
Vote to appropriate funding to transportation programs: NO
4
Flake and Corker should change their minds--and run again. Be as unpredictable as Trump. Really stir things up, open them up. There must be more senators and representatives who think like these two. For the sake of us all, there must.
2
Everybody makes the error of thinking that the Republican party is some combination of the elected officials and their national council. It's not. The Republican party is the assemblage of Republican voters, specifically the Republican primary voters. And that Republican party is solidly in favor of Trump's white patriarchal nationalist agenda. Defections by elected Republican officials are meaningless.
1
Flake, Corker, and McCain. Either choosing not to run for re-election in 2018 or fighting to live long enough to finish his current term. Meanwhile, the other GOP senators try to figure out how to hold onto their own seats -- how complicit do they have to be to avoid getting "primaried" from someone further to the right.
They didn't speak up at first, because Trump was going after Democrats, and they weren't Democrats. They didn't speak up later, because Trump was going after RINOs, and they weren't RINOs. Then they didn't speak up because Trump was going after moderates from purple states, because they weren't moderates from purple states. Eventually Trump came after them, but by that time there was no one left to speak up. Sound familiar?
2
Michelle, I very much appreciate your insightful analysis of Flake's evolving response to Trumpism. By refusing to participate in the dismissal of Flake's action by many progressives, you have elevated the discourse to a plane we are sorely missing lately. What a welcome addition you are to the Times.
5
It's all well and good for Senator Flake to troll our president, but he really needs to connect the dots between his politics and how they led to Trump. The only way out of this morass is for Democrats to win in 2018, a tall order given gerrymandering and other electoral shenanigans. Pretty speeches by retiring GOP senators ain't gonna cut it.
1
Let's not go overboard in praising Jeff Flake's heroics or forget his rightist voting record. The same commentary applies to John McCain who thoughtlessly unleashed the genie - the deplorable Sarah Palin - and thus inaugurated much of the current political disfunction. It's sad (to use the the Great Leader's formula), that a few sane thoughts during this dark period - Flake's, McCain's - cause disproportionate relief among normal, despairing people. It's small relief in the face of chaos. A true anti-Trump revolution is needed and the feeble Republicans don't have the courage to conduct it.
2
Senator Flake had the courage to renounce his silence and stop being a "good German". I can only hope other Republicans will follow his lead and concur this is the hill on which they should take a stand and kick Trumpism to the curb and perhaps Mr. Trump with it as well.
4
Sorry, Michelle; Jeff Flake is not a hero and he's not standing on some imagined moral high ground. He's a far-right politician who willingly rode the horse of Trumpism until it no longer served his political interests. The ThinkProgress headline has it right: "Jeff Flake is not a hero, despite what he wants you to think."
1
Yes, Senator Flake made a brilliant speech, but speeches without action is just grand standing. Other than quitting the Senate, what is he actually going to do?
He came in on the Tea Party wave, now he finds himself consumed by it.
1
Excellent column. Thank you for your clear-eyed analysis of the most important break so far in the lockstep Republican march into fascism. The left's critique of the decisions by Flake, Corker, McCain and others to openly decry Trumpism are self-defeating. Instead of carping, why don't liberals work with these dissidents to build the moral antidote to Trump and Bannon, as David Brooks suggests in his column today?
3
I hear you but the jury is out. Until Flake et al stop living in the rhetoric space and use their position to act, we must hold our applause. It is interesting to note that Flake objects to Trump's behavior and not his policies that will most certainly undermine America. He's on notice....and history will not be kind.
53
Jeff Flake is courageous, we will give him that. But the same reason why Mitt Romney did not win, they both belong to a church that has been less than transparent and honest. Although both Mitt and Jeff say the right things, from the bottom of their hearts, they will never sound authentic, as long as they are channeling their church.
1
I tend to agree, Mr Flake is a conservative who believes in his principles. of course, what has happened to the republican party, is that by campaigning on nonsense for 30 years, they can no longer control the believers of that same nonsense. as ms goldberg so accurately describes, the loss of objective truth (courtesy of fox news and other blowhards) has left this country in a mess. And the biggest damage from Trump (and there is a lot) is the loss of trust that your government at least tries to tell the truth.
as for mr flake and others, you won't have done anything with your warning if you don't give moderate republicans an alternative to stand up for, another party, or creating a new wing for the democratic party to include. This country needs rational debate between left and right in order to find the best solutions to our problems.
3
Good luck getting this bunch of Republicans to investigate Trump. Already in Congress investigations are being undermined by Nunez and Grassley, the same investigations that they are supposed to ‘lead.’ Way more important to get tax cuts enacted for their donors. And where is Trey Goudy’s or Jason Chaffetz’s outrage over the private email servers being used by all of the Trumpanistas?
Only Bob Mueller can save us. Let’s hope that he can bring charges before the vast right wing conspiracy discredits him. There is nothing that will make the feckless sycophants abandon this train wreck. In other times it took a tape with Nixon’s voice ordering his minions to conspire and obstruct to finally convince Republicans that he was indeed a crook. No such discovery will turn the tide this time, although I would have wanted to be part of the Russian press corps when Kisylak & co visited.
2
Ms Goldberg had surely gone off the rails here needing so much column space to convince the reader a square peg fits in a round hole. The picture painted is a distinction absent a difference: a newly emergent vocal oppositional figure but whose mouth and voting finger amount to the same thing. Goldberg and Flake want it both ways: a hero who stinks. Good luck with that .
Flake and Corker both will continue to serve as Senators until January 2019. Between now and then, they can do something to forcefully fight Trumpism. They can switch their party affiliation from Republican to Independent and caucus with the Democrats. John McCain should join them.
There's precedent within the party for doing this. Senator Jim Jeffords did it in 2001.
In a situation as dire as the one our nation faces now, saying the right words isn't enough. These men need to take action.
235
"take action" -- And they have. Unfortunately said action is 180-off from the words.
I was raised to believe that respect is much more what you *do* than what you say. For my coins, "heroism" is exactly the same.
Very nice of Mr. Flake to say something negative about the con man, right before voting to remove consumer protections. People who think that Corker, Flake, and McCain have suddenly become "heroes of the people" aren't really thinking this through.
3
yes, thank you for being nothing but a nameless trump toady until the inevitable moment of totally untenable distaste became too much for even you. the bravery is just inspiring beyond words.
1
:Jeff Flake is a hero to me, and I'm a progressive. He stands on his principles, whatever his poll numbers. WE need more congresspeople to put country before party, but I'm not sure there are enough to save us now. The silent immoral party of republicans, proving themselves more interested in their agenda than the country, (women's bodies, sexual orientations, abortions, Bible hypocrisy, income-producing lobbyists, and a retirement spot in their favorite chair in the Capitol), shame the name, Republican. Good for you Jeff. Maybe you'll sleep better and maybe you'll spark a good debate within your own party.
3
These so-called Republican patriots....are only fearful of losing their own cushy, financially enriching jobs. That trait, losing one's job, is the only thing they share with their base.
We are in an existential battle for the soul of the country. While Trump exhausts our attention spans and numbs our outrage with his constant depredations, the government is turned into the servant of the right-wing megadonors whose goal is to replace democracy with a permanent white nationalist plutocracy. To Sens. Flake, Corker, Collins, Murkowski and McCain: There is no time to waste. Declare yourselves Independents, and caucus with the Democrats for the purpose of salvaging what is left of the country before it is too late. Then start the hearings. Go big or go home.
298
Unfortunately, Flake agrees with the policies of destroying the Nation. He just doesn't like Trump.
Flake just spoke out against Trump's behavior not his actions or policies. That is pretty worthless as even Trump supporters know he is a Wacko. And then Flake quit. Apparently democracy isn't worth fighting for. Pretty strange to encourage your colleagues to fight back while you head out the door. Thanks for Nothing.
2
Flake and Corker’s comments validated what many of us have been thinking and saying for months! They were courageous!
.
3
Are we to assume that your next column will be about how courageous Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski are because of one single stance or vote they took, while dozens of their other votes were anti-women and pro-corporation? I'm disappointed in your judgment.
65
It’s actually hard to keep from choking on the mirth resulting from a recognition that Bob Corker and Jeff Flake, who have been demonized interminably by the left as too focused on deficits in both cases and in one for predictable opposition to spending on any social welfare initiative and any effort to raise taxes, have now so reversed themselves as to be useful to the forces of light and Kumbaya that presume to summon the “judgment of history”.
Bob Corker and Jeff Flake were losing their re-election bids all by their lonesomes, figured they couldn’t recover, and decided to pick up their marbles and go home – probably to better indulge in fly-fishing and possibly to enrich themselves eventually on the talking-head circuit. I suspect the latter because they’ve both created darlings of themselves by their denunciations of Trump and would be juicy speakers at hyper-liberal jumbo-shrimp soirées.
I suspect that there are very few Republicans in Congress, or even in the nation, who approve of Trump’s antics and bombast. That said, an HRC seeking to further Republican principles was an absurd proposition at any time, and the thought that she could accomplish ANYTHING with an undivided Republican Congress even more laughable: our politics would have remained frozen, precisely the state that summoned Trump to break the logjam in the first place.
So, we tolerate Trump and hope for the best. That’s a sight better than tolerating Obama and expecting the worst.
Thank you, Ms. Goldberg. Republicans have spent the Obama years ginning up fake crisis after fake crisis. I've been wondering what these Republicans would do if an actual crisis befell our country. Now we see what at least one would do.
Also let's not forget that a hugely flawed candidate, Hillary Clinton, won more popular votes than the repulsive crotch-grabber who now sits in the White House. 2018 will be very, very telling.
You're a racist. How much does putin pay you to write this crap?
No, that post is merely an ahistorical, farce of misdirection and subjective moral escapism. In other words, and put simply for you "folksy, regular, non-elite" posers; a total load of B.S.
What did Obama ever do to knuckleheads like you? Help save the US auto industry? Get millions of people healthcare? Shrink government payrolls more than any modern US president? Deport more illegal aliens than any other administration? Improve the US's standing all over the world? Preside over the longest economic expansion in U.S. history? You mean all of those bad things under Obama.
Goldberg nails it with: "Under the guise of pushing back against left-wing bias, the right has systematically tried to discredit all objective sources of information, ushering in a berserk reactionary postmodernism in which truth loses its meaning." Your post personifies this perfectly.
3
When do we stop focusing on the symptom and concentrate on the disease? Trump was democratically elected by Americans who were not repulsed by his obvious failings as a human being. Where does that leave a large and powerful country when enough of its citizens lack enough respect for decency to vote this man into office?
Never mind the press telling us that Trump was elected because of economic hardship among the lower classes. They mostly live in a rarified strata where they don't ever have too many beers with people lower down the socio-economic ladder. Were they to do that they might be quite surprised at the smoldering outrage that many Americans harbor over what they feel are the dangerous and misguided policies of the liberal left. Those policies have turned their world upside down. And they're frightened and upset by that. They have been hit with seismic societal changes since the 60s, most of which they have found very difficult to swallow. And they have been demeaned because of their resistance to those changes.
What is going on is not about economics. It's about a large segment of the American people feeling - rightly or wrongly - that a small group of people very unlike themselves have been foisting values on them that they find anathema. For 50 years. How do you bring those people into the fold so that they do not turn to Trumps for succor? That's the question for our times. Because if we don't find the answer, cataclysm awaits.
17
I think you'll find, if you really and thoughtfully consider it, that policies you termed dangerous and misguided have, in fact, done more for this class of people than conservatives would have done. You have completely punted on the fact that conservatives talked up cultural conflict because their economic plans would have wrecked even more harm on the lower classes.
You are concern trolling for the corrupt right.
I had also thought that it would be a good thing if Flake fought for re-election even against the odds feeling that it might allow a democrat to slip in in Arizona. It would also give him a platform to speak out against trump. Maybe, like rubio he will change his mind, but in the meantime I hope that he will do everything he can to fight this abomination of a 'presidency'.
16
You are right about the cultural changes being anathema to many, but there was also a lot of progress during the last 50 years, like the evolved way a majority view gays. Unfortunately, Trumpism has made some people feel free to voice racial prejudices they had toned down and he definitely elicits the authoritarian bent in some. It is not America's way to go backwards, though, and I pray Americans will soon have a belly full of the demons this unstable president unleashes in too many of our citizens.
1
With due respect, you are missing the point. We are dealing with a sizable number of Americans who do not consider the last 50 societal evolution. Quite the opposite. You and I happen to believe them wrong, but telling them that repeated for 50 years has made them turn to the likes of Trump. And they'll keep turning to Trumps who give voice to their frustration, misguided though you and I think it is. But the fact remains that, misguided or not, there is powerful current of cultural frustration at work in America that we have blithely dismissed for many years thinking that these stragglers on the road to Utopia will eventually catch up. They will not. What we see as Utopia they see as a triumph of misguided and condescending liberal claptrap. They will not lightly go there. Indeed they will fight it with Trumps who give legitimacy to their "demons." And when the rest of us have had a belly full of these people and their demons, what exactly can we do. Nothing. They have to change and "evolve." That can only happen through education and a broadening of the mind. Given our dismay education system in America I would not hold my breath for that day. America is in for a long and very rocky road the end of which may leave us with a country nothing like this current one. This is all much deeper than one narcissistic buffoon in the Oval Office.
I agree, Sen. Flake made a worthwhile stand. Still, if it was me I would have gone to war in the 2018 primary and made them work to get rid of me .But I'm getting spiteful in my old age.
All the same, it's what the Arizona senator does in the next year that will be the real test of his courage.
20
Flake's high water mark. He's said his piece regarding Trump and now he will fade into the ether. If he feels so strongly, why not stay and keep sounding the alarm that Trump is unfit? Instead of being carried out on his shield he will now go meekly into the night... with warm memories of when he voted for cutting healthcare for the poor and giving tax cuts to the rich.
14
Give him time -- it's not even a week since Flake gave his talk on the senate floor and wrote an editorial for WaPo https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/enough--it-is-time-to-stand-up-t...
And keep in mind that Flake is a strong conservative who has become a avid Trump opponent. He has not turned into a liberal and doesn't need to in order to actively and vocally denounce Trump.
3
Perhaps because winning is everything..,?
Talk is cheap. If Trump wasn't a loud-mouthed, crass schnook, and was instead a refined rich person pushing the same policies, Flake wouldn't have said a thing. It's nice to see them speaking out now, but nothing has changed in Trump's personality over the last year. We've known for years he's crass, rude, and rather ignorant. You don't get points for being a Johnny-Come-Lately. If he was so concerned, he should have been constantly sounding the alarm sooner, instead of being meek and using the opportunity to push his own far right policies.
19
Flake criticized Trump during the campaign and wrote a best-selling book that was negative toward him.
Just because you're just hearing about him now, doesn't mean he's a Johnny-come-lately.
1
Flake's speech was inspiring, right up until he voted to overturn the rule that allows consumers to sue banks, payday loan companies, etc. He also voted in favor of the current budget which cuts Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps), Supplemental Security Income (), the earned income tax credit (EITC), unemployment insurance, and both military and civilian federal employee pensions.
Cutting SNAP benefits may led to approximately10 millions of people without food stamps! There are also mystery and "unspecified cuts" in the budget. This budget authorizes a $1.5 trillion tax cut over 10 years. Along with cutting taxes for the top 1% and businesses, all this will lead to higher debts. For the budget’s math to make sense, every $1 of tax cuts has to lead to $5 or more in increased economic activity.
70
When you philosophically disagree with someone's behavior, crude, crass, slovenly, the way to reign that in is to hold his/her political philosophy hostage as a means to encourage change in that behavior. We do not see that in Flake or Corker. By going along with Trumps agenda, they reward that unacceptable behavior. So before I throw accolades Flakes way, I need to see some votes from him that deep six Trump's political agenda. Revenge is a dish best served cold. So I expect Flake and Corker to show some courage and sink the sexpredator president's agenda before I award them a "profile in courage".
2
It's that unilateral ability to use nuclear weapons that scares the hell out of me.
17
I appreciate Ms. Goldberg's comments and it has merit. But I would add that Mr. Flake needs to make his time left in the senate to seek the truth in the investigation of Trumps possible collusion with Russia. Something he has not supported to date. Or he could seek racial justice in supporting "all men are created equal", Something his party has forgotten. The Native Americans in his state could use a supporter in congress.
70
@ Tom
Yeah, and I want a golden unicorn, too.
Looking at his previous policy record you honestly think Jeff Flake is going to seek racial justice and help Native Americans?
And while he's at it he'll probably champion LGBT rights, women's rights, throw a parade for Edward Snowden and haul off George W. Bush to the Hague...
1
Get real. Those who criticize Trump are disgusted with his behavior, not his beliefs or policies. As for the Bannon McConnell rift, is it that McConnell is more liberal than Bannon. NO. It's style. Mc Connell's style is obstinance and complete control, if possible. Bannon's style is discord and destruction.
Flake's only failure with regard to GOP orthodoxy is that he knows how much wealthy Republicans, especially in Texas and the Western US, depend on cheap, compliant, skilled undocumented labor for their business success. It's an exploitive system, using undocumented workers. But very profitable. BTW notice how Trump focuses on the workers in his harsh immigrant crack down and not the employers. Arrest a few major home builders and we might be talking real immigration reform.
147
Right on! You just hit the nail on the head. NOT ONE illegal immigration bill has any sort of toughening or tightening of laws and regulations to be applied against companies or corporations who hire illegal immigrants. When I see an anti-illegal immigration bill with that in it, then I'll believe someone is serious about stopping the flow of illegal immigrants. Anything else is just hot air.
1
Where were these men before Trump was elected? Where were they during Trump's disgraceful carnival campaign? Where were the heroes when it counted? Every single one of them protected their own interests. Jeff Flake's speech was very moving, but tragically a year too late.
133
There's still time, as Goldberg points out, for Flake to have an impact.
Yes, it took him longer than it took you to see and express his concerns about Trump. However, as a staunch conservative, his voice, however late in the game, has more power than yours to convince conservatives.
2
It is sad but Better late than never. It is sickening to watch these politicians disregard the citizens who elected them to embrace a dictator. The tide will turn.
1
To be fair, Flake spoke out against Trump during the primaries.
1
Hold back on the awards until we see how McCain, Flake, and Corker vote on giving enormous tax breaks to the wealthy without any promises or legislation requiring investment, jobs, profit sharing or livable wages.
Giving corporations enormous tax breaks without requiring a higher minimum wage, health insurance for part time workers or job creation is just wrong.
Creating a new favored tax status for S-Corps and LLCs is another slap in the face for workers who will now be the only ones saddled with a tax rate over 30%. It is all shameful.
These men are not heroes if they vote with the republicans every time. Trump speaks populism but his policies benefit only the wealthy and hurt his voters. Speaking truth to power is about honesty and integrity and no one is doing much of that these days except for comediennes
208
I agree -- the jury is still out
It's all about party before country. If it wasn't, the sex predator president would be gone by now. What do you think would have happened if Clinton were elected and behaved in a manner that put her personal business interests above national security?
The articles of impeachment would have been drafted in February of her term and voted on in the senate that same month. The Republican party is replete with traitors. They are treasonous to allow this president to endanger our nation, deconstruct international agreements and threaten nuclear war. Mea culpas will be too late when the nukes are on their way.
"Now that they’ve spoken, the next step for Flake, Corker, Senator John McCain and other Republicans who hope to be remembered kindly by history is to act."
In other words, do something about it. Making a speech doesn't cut it. Suggestion. Find another Republican Senator or two who isn't up for re-election in 2018. Get them to speak out too. Maybe even form some sort of coalition to undermine Trump. A switch of parties would be nice. Southern Democrats had no problem doing that, back in the day.
29
The point is not to turn Republicans into Democrats, but to have both parties join together to put a stop to Trump.
2
Truly, the next step for Flake should be to join the Democrats and make Chuck Schumer Senate Majority Leader but that would require real courage to stand up against the Party.
This would actually block the Trumpistas, but it’s just more fun to make nice speeches than do something politically effective.
38
Flake has no interest in standing against the party, only in standing against the president. He and Corker are about as likely to join the Democratic Party as Jeff Sessions is. As this article states, they are objecting to behavior, not policies.
6
I think Flake, Corker, Collins, Murkowski and others who are watching the Republican party morph into the Trump/Moore/Bannon/Mercer party to join Bernie Sanders and Angus King and become Independents. That's where the vast majority of the country wishes to be: without these two parties that control our lives.
3
Flake is not against his party, he's against the president. Why should he forsake what he believes?
30
Flake's actions underscore the fact that Trump's depravity isn't political, it is moral. That which is wrong about Trump is intolerable regardless of social or economic ideology.
54
A large segment of Republicans and their voters seem to have lost all sense of self-respect for both Country and self, some using patriotism, some using religion, some using Constitutional purity, some just using greed, as justification. I say justification but that assumes they realize what they are doing: I don't think they do, or not many of them. So, it's no surprise that what should have been a historical wake-up call from the floor of the Senate turned into "just shut up and vote for tax cuts".
49
Yes, thank you. Too many people believe that opposing Trump is meaningless unless one supports the classic Democratic platform. One can believe in Republican principles (limited government, limited help for the needy etc) and still oppose Trump. People who insist on the whole package are not grasping the full danger of Trump, which goes way beyond Republican policies.
52
I think it's possible for someone to passionately hold erroneous ideas and still respect our democratic norms and ideals. That is how I'd characterize both Flake and Corker. It explains why they both voted for the very harmful policies that Trump sometimes supports.
Trump's success in making truth irrelevant is dangerous. We can look back to the Vietnam War to see how we've gotten to this point. Everyone "knows" that you can't trust the government to tell the truth. Thank you, LBJ and Bob McNamara. Thank you Richard Nixon. Thank you to all the politicians who use talking points based on lies and distortions.
Neither Flake nor Corker have the moral standing to stop this. Not when the headlines during the Republican convention that nominated Mitt Romney read, "Ryan Lies." Calling out lies in an acceptance speech was sensational then; now it's futile.
3
Totally agree, Michelle. And some of the comments here perfectly illustrate why we liberals will likely not be able to capitalize on this moment of severe Republican dysfunction. There are far too many Democrats who are joining the zero-sum playbook of the Republicans; if you don't agree with them completely, then you're the enemy and will be treated as such. Even beautifully-expressed agreement on shared principles such as Jeff Flake's speech are treated with disdain because the speaker's politics are wrong. This kind of ideological Puritanism will continue to get us nowhere. Flake is wrong on the issues, but he's right about Trump and he's willing to express it publicly. It's a start. And so is acknowledging Flake's humanity. If we can't at least do that, then there really IS no hope for us as a country.
1
I guess I was one of many who sat and listened to Jeff Flakes speech and as I did ,whispered out loud a quiet bravo. It was so good to hear the truth, at last, and I hope the world heard it too. Regardless of his politics, it has to stand as
a profile in courage - a challenge to his republican cohorts, even though they
are in public denial. One of them stood up - one of them can be counted and quoting Lincoln at the end moved me almost to tears. I wish there were more of
them.
46
Don't be fooled. He is still an enabler. When he votes for the sexpredator president's agenda, he is enabling and condoning his aberrant behavior. Without consequences to that behavior, it just continues. To foster change in behavior, you must use the leverage available to you. The only leverage I see Flake and Corker have is to vote against the sex predator president's agenda. No profile in courage should attach until Flake does that.
Thanks you, Ms. Goldberg, for a timely musing. A political iconoclast best described as a liberal, I so yearn for a true conservative Republican movement to create a healthy, not a sickening, political tension in this country. Flake is heroic. He hasn't run from a fight; he has made great sacrifice defending principles almost all his GOP colleagues are either too chicken to defend, or, most sadly, have forgotten about in this lust for votes. Any votes.
24
We should all be grateful Mr. Flake's stand against Trump, but that doesn't mean we should forget his support for most every policy and position Trump takes. The key here may well be, as Ms. Goldberg says, that Mr. Flake is a man of principle. If so, we can also assume that those who haven't yet spoken out against Trump very likely lack principle, and in fact are mercenaries in service to America's dictatorial plutocrats and oligarchs. That theory has been around for a while, and is bolstered by mounds of accumulating evidence. Silence in the era of Trump offers even more such evidence.
10
The Trump presidency provides a clear example of the truth of Burke's dictum: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
4
Who do you admire in Washington? Who do you think has the general welfare as his or her primary goal?
I am hearing crickets, the silence is so loud.
Jeff Flake just announced that the emperor is naked, and reaction had been underwhelming. He's right, but that doesn't matter.
When someone in the Senate stands up on any divisive issue and demands compromise not orthodoxy; when any group of "leaders" stand up and agree on common goals, even if they disagree on common solutions; when anyone in government stands up and announces that protections of the common man are as important as protections for the common corporate magnate, I will be impressed.
Flake has spoken his conscience, and I am grateful he has one. But I'd be a lot more grateful if he were using it to advance the common welfare. the solution to Trump is better people everywhere else, doing a better job working for the nation.
20
For Democrats to criticize Senator Flake as conservative is absurd. Of course he is, that's the point. We need people of all political points of view to come together in defense of what is decent and what is appropriate in the behavior of the President. We can continue to disagree over policy, but we must find common ground in support of the Republic, or Trump will continue to undermine and eventually destroy it. Thank you Senator Flake, Senator Corker, Senator McCain and President Bush for speaking out.
62
@ eyesopen
You really need to open your eyes as to what's going on.
You are putting the bar is so low that Senator Flake, Senator Corker, Senator McCain and President Bush get props for what should be the absolute minimum in the face of the Orange Ignoramus.
"We need people of all political points of view to come together in defense of what is decent and what is appropriate in the behavior of the President."
----
So war crimes, torture, abolition of habeas corpus, etc. etc. ... is OK, but the buck stops with indecent and inappropriate behavior?
"We can continue to disagree over policy"
---
In politics, the ONLY thing people should disagree on is policy.
"Thank you Senator Flake, Senator Corker, Senator McCain and President Bush for speaking out."
---
No, opposing Trump because he is an embarrassing, foolish, foul-mouthed misogynist, with a worrying lack of impulse control or knowledge of world affairs just isn't good enough.
Especially if you do it when it no longer matters.
2
If Flake really wanted to make a difference he'd leave the republican party by stating the time worn excuse of all politicians when they flip - "I didn't leave the republican party - it left me". This would really prove that Flake means business. Give the democrats the only thing that would really bring down Trump - a Democratic majority.
25
You are clearly not familiar with Flake’s voting record. He is as far from being a Democrat as you will find.
1
How many so called Libertarians would recognize the authoritarian threat for what it is? How many would admit the threat exists? I would ask my Libertarian sister, but I already know the answer.
"All the same, Trump is not just a vulgar version of a normal conservative. His authoritarianism threatens libertarian ideals as well as progressive ones, he’s personally repugnant in ways that transcend politics, and his incompetence endangers us all. There’s no contradiction between abhorring conservatism and being grateful to the conservatives who stand up to Trump."
13
Flake is running for president. He's written his campaign biography -- I mean book about values -- and he's staking his ground as a Republican anti-Trump, the compassionate conservative of the Bush II era.
He wants everything Trump wants, only difference is he knows Trump can't sell it, and I think he has more compassion for all Americans. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt right now, but I expect to oppose him in 2020.
116
This is exactly what I thought when I heard his speech!
1
Wrong. Flake does not want everything Trump wants. Flake wants free trade, immigration reform, and our traditional role as world leader. Trump wants none of these.
50
@ M
I hate to agree with your assessment, but I also think you are right.
He'll run for governor or president.
"I think he (Flake) has more compassion for all Americans."
Think again.
Bush and Flake and the rest of the Democrats' new 'heroes' are all complicit in the radical right's ideological coup over conservatism and the Republican Party that led to the rise of Trump.
Neither Bush nor Flake had anything to lose by their statements; Flake made his walking out the door, and Bush is long retired.
When it mattered, they nurtured and benefitted from the very same forces that gave rise to Trump.
The Republican Party has no decency, much less, heroes.
1
I'm glad that Goldberg brought up that Saturday Night Live segment. I remember watching that too, and thinking who is it going to be? I never would have guessed it would be Flake.
Yes, Flake has voted with Trump most of the time, but I agree with Goldberg that he deserves more credit than he's getting for speaking up so clearly about the dangers of Trump. He will be remembered in history as a better man than 90% of the other Republicans in Congress.
41
"But while Flake has long had relatively low approval ratings, they really cratered precisely because of his opposition to Trump."
I'm not sure I agree with this. Flake's approval rating really tanked following his votes in support of the Republican version of health care reform, which Trump supported. Even if Flake hadn't been so critical of the president--indeed, if Flake fully embraced Trump and his policies--his prospects for re-election were uncertain. In 2012, he won by 3 points while Mitt Romney won the state by 9. And demographics in Arizona have shifted away from Flake since then.
10
"There’s no contradiction between abhorring conservatism and being grateful to the conservatives who stand up to Trump."
I guess. As long as Jeff Flake does speak out. But the callowness of all the others--Lindsay Graham!--cozying up to Trump, as you put it, is sickening. A bunch of sycophants preening for attention from a madman.
What scares me me more than Trump's culture wars, and tweets against Kim Jong-Un (although they scare me plenty) are all things happening behind the scenes. People only have so much attention, and Trump instinctively knows that.
He plays the political shell game when the real action is back inside the tent, where he's interfering in our justice system, attacking federal laws in the name of religion (the sordid episode of the head of Refugee Settlement flying down to Texas to try to force the teen to give birth), polluting our environment, and increasing the mix of federal funds with religious schooling.
Trump is clever, no matter how senile he sounds: by turning GOP doubters who will sell their souls for tax cuts, he's insuring himself for checks against his power.
We might think Trump is a clown but he knows exactly what he's doing, and just laying a foundation to get away with unconstitutional behavior.
So, yes, credit Flake for at least speaking out. But I want to ask him: are you ready to criticize and convince your peers before it's too late?
120
Trump! Trump! Trump! distracts the media and news cycle all the while the republicans along with Corker, Flake and Mcain are reducing regulations that protect our air and water, food, drugs, et al. Plus handing more monies to a dying fossil fuel industries, drug companies, big insurance, big agri, for profit schools, war contractors, infrastructure cronies who will get contracts .
It's the republicans and corporate democrats that are destroying democracy and will allow a dictator to take over Amerika.
1
"So, yes, credit Flake for at least speaking out"
No, we shouldn't applaud people for doing things they ought to do anyway.
How is cheering on phony bottom feeders who finally leave the hospital for the mentally ill, now that it serves them, helpful?
My bar for applause is a little higher.
2
There was a time when being at opposite ends of the political spectrum didn't preclude holding to the same standards of decency and--yes--honor.
108
What Flake should do in his battle against Trump is to stand up for the truth. The desecration of the truth, of facts, of reality itself, is what has given Trump and his followers their power. If we don't win back the truth, the war against them is lost.
The right has always been loose with the truth. With Trump, it has thrown it out of the window. Recently, someone responded to one of my comments on free speech and the importance of truth telling in the public square. He said but how do you determine what the truth is? That's how he justified that anything goes. Lies are just as valid as the truth. The attack on the truth has become so pervasive that people aren't even capable of recognizing the truth. Verifiable conditions are no more valuable to discourse than outright lies.
This is where we are. This is the hole the Republicans have dug for us. We can't even have any kind of a policy debate if we can't even agree what reality is.
We have already been enslaved to lies. Fight that battle, Mr. Flake. The battle for the truth.
260
"We have already been enslaved to lies. Fight that battle, Mr. Flake. The battle for the truth."
Could not agree more. The truth is all that matters.
2
Right you are Bruce. Bruce Bartlett, republican who served under Bush, was on the tube the other night and laid the blame squarely on Fox and right wing radio. He essentially said that when you have a monstrous propaganda mill filling willing minds with lies 24/7, the truth doesn't stand a chance. My husband started listening to Limbaugh in the 90's along with Fox. It's like a mental illness that slowly destroys the person you knew, to the extent that there's no resemblance to the person in front of you. The only facts are what he believes and they tell him what to believe. He values his anger and hatred of liberals above all and clings to it with ferocity. We are now separated. How you reckon with that, I don't know - I've given up.
1
While I disagree with Senator Flake’s policy positions, I am very grateful for his candor.
It would be fitting if the Senator’s honesty on the subject of Trump improved his poll standings and led to his re election.
101
Except that he is not running. Did you read the article?
Flake should take the next step and call for Trump's impeachment or removal via the 25th Amendment.
308
Senator Flake's exhortation is to us Americans, the majority by millions who opposed Trump at the polls. Why speculate what Flake should do next? It is our duty now to take the next step and demand Trump's impeachment or removal via the 25th Amendment.
Kevin--Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson were also impeached but got to keep their day jobs anyway.
I'm also convinced that not a single cabinet member has any idea how to enforce the 25th amendment. The 25th amendment is another pointless waste of time and sounds suspiciously like a coup d'etat