Free Republic

The immigration concession won by departing Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake in exchange for his vote on the tax bill is both a taken prize and warning flag for what promises to be a brutal and high-stakes debate over amnesty, corporate subsidies, and immigration reforms. The fight may begin in earnest next week because Texas Sen. John Cornyn hinted Thursday that a group of GOP Senators will soon release their wide-ranging amnesty proposal. The proposal has already been rejected by the second-ranking Senate Democrat, Sen. Richard Durbin. Flake is a strong advocate for amnesty, and he was a member of the...

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) on Sunday urged Republicans not to succumb to “political tribalism” in backing embattled Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore (R). “After what we know, for Republicans to support Roy Moore over Doug Jones is political tribalism at its worst," Flake tweeted. Moore is under pressure from numerous Republican lawmakers to step down in the race. He faces allegations of sexual misconduct from multiple women, including claims that he made advances on teenage girls decades ago when he was in his 30s. Moore has been defiant, refusing to drop out of the race and calling the allegations an...

President Trump slammed Sen. Jeff Flake Sunday over comments he made during a hot mic moment.“Sen. Jeff Flake(y), who is unelectable in the Great State of Arizona (quit race, anemic polls) was caught (purposely) on “mike” saying bad things about your favorite President,” Trump tweeted. “He’ll be a NO on tax cuts because his political career anyway is “toast.” Sen. Jeff Flake(y), who is unelectable in the Great State of Arizona (quit race, anemic polls) was caught (purposely) on “mike” saying bad things about your favorite President. He’ll be a NO on tax cuts because his political career anyway is...

Republican Sen. Jeff Flake defended the top Democrat in the Senate against attacks from President Donald Trump, who blamed the deadly New York City terror attack on a program that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer helped shape but later tried to end. Trump tweeted Wednesday morning that suspect Sayfullo Saipov, an Uzbek immigrant, came to the country through the Diversity Visa Lottery Program, which Trump described as a "Chuck Schumer beauty."

Senator Jeff Flake’s decision to abandon his 2018 re-election campaign in Arizona has thrown open the Senate race there, exposing deep fissures not only on the Republican side where a nationalist insurgency is gunning for the party establishment but also among Democrats contending with a rising left. Establishment Democrats have high hopes for Representative Kyrsten Sinema, a centrist who recently dined in the Blue Room of the White House with President Trump, teaches a bipartisan spin class in the House gym and has broken ranks with her own party on key votes. She was one of only seven House Democrats,...

<p>Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said he "couldn't sleep at night" having to support or condone the actions and behavior of President Trump, and that he was confident the Republican Party would eventually distance itself from the president's brand of politics.</p>

Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona on Tuesday issued an unprecedented indictment of the behavior and practices of the president of the United States, who also happens to be the leader of Flake’s own party. Flake declared that “none of these appalling features of our current politics should ever be regarded as normal.” This has been a common refrain since November 2016 — the sentiment that what we are living through is not “normal” but is instead an aberration, an unwarranted usurpation of a consensus about what American public life is supposed to be like. In essence, we are being told...

Immediately after Jeff Flake's tap-out speech yesterday, the Ze-Person Trump Haters Club on the left began praising this brave voice crying into his party's wilderness. As usual, they were wrong in their assessment of the situation. The journolist crowd is nothing if not repetitive, so one example will suffice: Flake WANTED to. But realized he couldn’t win given changes in today’s GOP https://t.co/GRorC5rI3H — Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) October 24, 2017 The sentiment being sold by Flake's new-ish (he's been actively courting their favor for months) fan club is that Trump's GOP has changed so much that a principled politician like...

One day after Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake delivered a rebuke of the president on the Senate floor, Donald Trump told reporters Flake “did the right thing” by not running for reelection in Arizona. “He was against me from before he ever knew me,” Trump told reporters Wednesday. “He wrote a book about me before I ever met him, before I ever heard his name.” “His poll numbers are so low in Arizona that he couldn’t win,” he continued. “And I don’t blame him for leaving, I think he did the right thing for himself.” Trump took some additional shots at...

Jeff Flake no longer wants to be a senator. On Tuesday, the Republican senator and frequent Donald Trump critic delivered a grandstanding speech on why he decided to throw in the towel on campaigning for another term in office. "There are times where we must risk our careers in favor of our principles," Flake declared. "Now is such a time." [Snip] His speech was typical of his recent commentary on the president - the now-retiring senator even wrote a whole book about how his principled conservative self couldn't stand Trump. But to several liberal journalists, Flake's speech was one of...

"As I contemplate the Trump presidency, I cannot help but think of Joseph Welch," Flake wrote. "The moral power of Welch’s words ended McCarthy’s rampage on American values, and effectively his career as well." Flake said that, thanks to President Trump, America has reached a similar point in its history.

Political retirement speeches are not usually all that memorable. A celebration of your many accomplishments, a nod to the great institution you serve, a hat tip to all the sacrifices your family made over the years to let you live the life you've lived. Which is what makes Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake's speech on Tuesday all the more remarkable. Flake's address was a clarion call to the governing wing of the Republican Party to wake up from the fever of Trumpism. It was a call to action and a warning. A plea and a push. It was, in short, the...

The day after Sen. Jeff Flake announced he would not run for re-election, citing his dismay over President Donald Trump and the state of the GOP, the Arizona Republican acknowledged Wednesday that his decision came after he realized he wouldn't be able to win a GOP primary. "The bottom line is if I were to run a campaign that I could be proud of, and where I didn’t have to cozy up to the president and his positions or his behavior, I could not win in a Republican primary," Flake told MSNBC’s "Morning Joe." "That’s the bottom line." "It's not...

Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) gave a bridge burning speech on the Senate floor after news broke that he will not seek re-election in 2018. According to Daily Beast reporter Andrew Desiderio, every lawmaker who attended the speech , both Democrats and Republicans, stood and clapped for Flake — except Rand Paul.   The KY lawmaker didn’t see the virtue in trashing Trump as tax reform is on the table. Trump hater and RINO Jeff Flake trashed the Republican party and POTUS Trump on his way out the door! “All stood and clapped after Flake’s speech—except @RandPaul,” tweeted Desiderio.Good riddance! We don’t need Democrat...

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) announced his decision to retire from the Senate rather than seek re-election in 2018, citing the new tone and political values that President Donald Trump brought to Washington, DC, as the reason. “When the next generation asks us, ‘Why didn’t you do something? Why didn’t you speak up?’ What are we going to say?” Flake said sorrowfully as he stood up in the Senate for his announcement. “Mr. President, I rise today to say, enough.” Flake said that he no longer could serve as a conservative in a party that no longer valued free trade or...

GOP Sen. Jeff Flake isn’t ruling out a primary challenge to President Trump in 2020. “I won’t go there. That’s a long time away,” the Arizona senator told CNN, when asked if he or another Republican should oppose Trump in the next election. “It’s early. Time will take care of itself.” Flake announced that he would not be seeking re-election on Tuesday in an emotional speech that sharply criticized Trump and his leadership. After the speech, he told CNN that Republicans like himself, who are willing to criticize the president, have a “narrow path” to election. “I would have to...

Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona delivered a sharp rebuke to President Trump on Tuesday as he announced he won’t be running for re-election in 2018. “Mr. President, I rise today to say: Enough,” the outspoken Trump critic said. “We must dedicate ourselves to making sure that the anomalous never becomes normal.” The senator went on to say that he’s criticized Trump out of an obligation to his “duty and conscience,” despite some members of the Republican Party who believe anything less than total loyalty is “unacceptable and suspect.” “The notion that one should stay silent as the norms and...

Democratic senators on Tuesday praised Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) for his retirement-announcing speech, which called out the GOP for its "reckless" support of President Trump. "We must never regard as normal the regular and casual undermining of our democratic norms and ideals," said Flake, who has repeatedly clashed with the president and his advisers. Flake called out Trump for what he sees as his "coarseness," his "personal attacks" and his "flagrant disregard for truth and decency" in remarks made minutes after Trump met with Republican senators for a strategy lunch. "Senate is losing a good man in @JeffFlake. He made...

In a stunning political development anti-Trump Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) announced on Tuesday he will not seek re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2018. Flake was down by 26 points to GOP challenger Dr. Kelli Ward in recent polling. He knew he didn’t have a chance. Senator Flake trashed the GOP and President Trump during his announcement on Tuesday.After Jeff Flake lambasted Republican voters and President Trump fellow RINO John McCain went up and praised the Arizona Senator. Wow!  https://twitter.com/VeronicaRochaLA/status/922908435129106432

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan mourned Sen. Jeff Flake’s (R-AZ) decision not to seek re-election, describing his retirement as a loss for “the greater cause of conservatism.” “I’m saddened Congress is losing my friend Jeff Flake. Throughout his career in public service, Jeff has been a champion of constitutional, limited government and a trailblazer for fiscal restraint,” Ryan said in a statement. “He as much as anyone helped to end a corrosive earmarking process that enabled runaway spending. Jeff’s retirement is a loss to the Senate and the greater cause of conservatism. I wish him well as he continues to...