Earlier this week, while he was investigating animal trafficking in Africa, Arizona Senator Jeff Flake’s convoy was charged by an elephant. That’s an apt metaphor for what is about to happen to him and his party.
Senator Flake comes from a long line of Arizona Flakes — early Mormon settlers who’ve been extremely influential in Arizona politics. It’s unlikely Jeff will pass his political genes on to the next generation, as his one son earned a national spotlight for posting homophobic, racist, anti-semitic rants, while another son is in the news because he may have killed more than a dozen dogs at the boarding facility he managed.
But what really concerns Senator Flake these days, in addition to charging elephants and naughty children, is Donald Trump — specifically the very real possibility he may be the Republican nominee for president.
Jeff Flake said this week "there's a feeling of dread right now on Capitol Hill" because of Donald Trump.
“I kept dismissing it and dismissing it,” Arizona's junior U.S. senator told New Times, referring to the possibility that Trump can take the Republican nomination for president.
Now, though, Flake said he's "a little worried."
Senator Flake has endorsed Marco Rubio, but how, specifically, are Trump’s horrible ideas any different from Flake’s or the majority of GOPers in congress? Trump may be more bombastic, more the carnival barker, but he says essentially the same things that other Republicans have said about immigration, health care, BLM, entitlements, Wall Street, the Middle East, minimum wage, the environment and education.
Earlier perhaps, because of the state they represent and its large Latino population, Arizona Senators McCain and Flake were considered GOP moderates on immigration, both serving on the Gang of Eight plan. But those days are long gone: attacked by the looney far-right here, Flake and McCain now spew the same toxic shit about immigrants and border walls as Trump (just leaving out the “rapist” part).
Flake and his GOP colleagues have fed Trump's ego, not to mention his racist platform, for a political generation. More recently, they encouraged the ugly Tea Party bullshit we saw leading up to the 2010 midterms — the racist pictures of Obama, the Hitler talk, the immigrant bashing, the LGBT hate. Few Republican senators talked about “a feeling of dread” then; on the contrary, they welcomed, even nourished, the vitriol and craziness.
I don’t recall Senator Flake or many others in the Republican Party standing up to those Tom Paine-hat-wearing jerks (who the real Tom Paine would likely kick in the nuts). Roost, meet chickens.