“Once upon a time, Flake was a stand-up guy before being ruined by Juan McCain.”
I saw it happening before my eyes. John McCain escorted Jeff Flake around the state, pushing for his election. You could see McCain “mentoring” him the whole time, bringing him into the “inner circle”.
FWIW, I have friends and family from Arizona who told me the same thing. Flake was once a rising star before he got in with the wrong crowd. Sigh!