Posted on 09/02/2016 2:58:02 PM PDT by Hildy
BULLHEAD CITY — Arizona U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake says he still has issues with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and is unlikely to vote for him.
Flake, in Bullhead City on Wednesday, gave an exclusive interview to the Mohave Valley Daily News. “I’m not part of the ‘never Trump’ movement. I want to be able to vote for him, but I can’t see myself doing that, unless he changes the positions he’s taken and the language he’s used,” Flake said. “I don’t think he can win the presidency and if he doesn’t change the way he’s campaigned, I don’t think he should.” Flake said he strongly disagrees with Trump’s positions on trade. Flake said he supports the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump calls “the worst trade deal in history.”
Flake said he also favors the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, which Trump has said will hurt American workers.
Flake said he supports accepting refugees from war-torn Mideast countries if properly vetted, while Trump has said the program of accepting Syrian refugees should be suspended.
Republicans who are not supporting Trump — or who are reluctant to — are facing sharp criticism from Trump supporters who said those Republicans are helping to defeat Trump.
Flake disagrees.
“I say exactly what I said to Donald Trump himself ... every Republican in Arizona could line up behind him and unify and it wouldn’t be enough,” he said. “We’ve got to persuade swing voters, independents, who, until a couple of months ago, outnumbered Republicans in the state. And he seems to be going out of his way to offend just about every swing voter out there. “ “And I see much more damage done to the (Republican) party and to the conservative movement by unifying, if you will, behind that intolerant message that he has that will impact not just this election but future elections as well.”
During the primary season, Flake favored presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.
“I think if Marco was on the ballot now, we’d be running away with it. Hillary Clinton, her unpopularity is hitting new highs if it weren’t for Donald Trump. I’m really chagrined,” Flake said. “With Trump, I think those of us in the Republican Party who think he ought to run differently, we ought to tell him so. He’s unlikely to change if we’re telling him, ‘You’ve got to change.’ He’s certain not to change if we all say, ‘We’re behind you. We agree with you,’ ” Flake said.
Flake said he is especially concerned about polls that show younger voters overwhelmingly favor Clinton over Trump.
“Put another way, only one in five voters under age 35 is planning to pull the Republican lever and we consign ourselves to oblivion as a party if we latch onto that Trump message that is just repulsive to most young people. People will sometimes break their pattern of voting in later years but in general people tend to stick with how they first vote. That’s really death to us as a party,” Flake said.
Asked whether or not he thinks the Republican Party can maintain its control over the Senate, Flake quoted analysts who have said if the election were held today, the Democrats have a 60 percent chance of taking the Senate. Republicans hold 54 seats in the 100-seat chamber, but their seats in at least six states are vulnerable.
“So, I’m glad the election isn’t today. And I would expect a lot of Republicans, between now and November, will distance themselves from Donald Trump,” Flake said. “You’ll see a lot of advertising kind of in the name of checks and balances: You’re going to have a Democrat in the White House, you’ve got to have a Republican Senate to check that. That’s what we did in ‘96 when Dole was the candidate (running against President Bill Clinton). Everybody knew that he probably wasn’t going to win ... and we picked up three seats in the Senate that year. So I do think that we can maintain (a majority) but if we all adopt the Trumpian message I think we’ve lost hope,” he said.
Flake said he does not believe the Republican control of the House of Representatives is in jeopardy but he does think the party will lose some House seats. Regarding whether he will vote for Trump, Flake said, “I hope to be able to, but I’m losing hope that he’s going to change.”
Flake is serving in his first term as senator. He faces re-election in 2018.
Scr#w you and your gang of 8, jerk.
This turkey Flake is talking out of both sides of his mouth, Trump is the nominee and Flake should support him.
AZ Republicans should end his political tenure in 2018.
Flake does a Crazy Ivan against the GOP BASE (us), and (unknowingly) volunteers to retire is seat in 2 yrs.
He must be a lawyer, he started with the Big Lie.
Pro Tip: If you're ever trying to find a lie in a contact that a lawyer wrote, or in a statute or regulation, look to the first section, the first paragraph, the first sentence or even the first word. Bingo. They seem to be trained to stick it in right off the bat, so you accept it before you even get started reading.
Same goes for parsing politicians and journalists...
We can see you eating Crow sushi style after Nov 8th Flake out.
Flaky should be easier to defeat in the primary than McCain.
Flake knows that if Hillary wins, elections will no longer matter. They will be just for show and he intends to be part of the ruling elite and playing the roll of Potemkin opposition.
Not even finished with his first term, and he has already learned to kowtow and grovel at the feet of his elitist masters. I sure hope flaky Flake does not get reelected.
Flake out is feeling emboldened now that the AZ old geezer Senator McLame got voted back in.
What would the GOP have done 4 or 8 years ago to a sitting politician who would not support the nominee?
I believe enough of them either benefit directly from illegal alien labor or from the wage suppression resulting from their presence. Combined with the statists and dependent classes who can vote in the open primary, it's enough to keep Flake and McCain immune from conservative displeasure.
His name matches him PERFECTLY..a flake for a flake..a pro amnesty flake, probably thought Reagan was an extremist too
What’s wrong with AZ Republicans that they keep electing Flake and McCain?
Stranger Together
You realize McCain was just re-elected by these same AZ voters, right? RIGHT?! Your faith in the AZ voters is sorely misplaced.
Another senatorial winner from Arizona.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.