WASHINGTON -- Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., says his fellow Republicans have let President Donald Trump lead the country away from conservative principles and democratic ideals.
In his new book, Conscience of a Conservative, Flake argues that Republicans are staying silent as "the government of the United States has been made dysfunctional at the highest levels."
As for Republicans controlling Congress, Flake warns that his party may be putting "at risk our institutions and our values" even as it faces the likelihood of scoring long-sought policy victories.
In the halls of the Senate on Tuesday, however, it didn't seem as if Flake's views were shared by his Republican colleagues.
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"My primary job is to work with the White House in the best interests of my constituents and the country, so I don't really understand this argument that our job is to stand up to the president or to somehow oppose him," said No. 2 Senate Republican John Cornyn of Texas.
"We've got challenges obviously when we to try to get things done around here, and we've got to be able to work with the administration in order to do that," said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., when asked to respond to Flake's missive, most widely read as an excerpt published Monday night by Politico. "So I think it's fine that everybody has different opinions about where we are and where we need to go. He chose to express his, and some members may choose not to express theirs."
Flake, who was narrowly elected to the Senate in 2012, has long been a critic of Trump. Unlike some Republican critics of the president, whose voices became softer after Trump's surprise victory, Flake has remained unsparing.
"To carry on in the spring of 2017 as if what was happening was anything approaching normalcy required a determined suspension of critical faculties. And tremendous powers of denial," Flake wrote.
Flake's book carries the same title as Arizona icon Barry Goldwater's 1960 book. Flake has built a strong political brand in Arizona, but his criticism of Trump and his fellow Republicans has already lit a fire back home.
"America -- strong & unapologetic under realDonaldTrump," tweeted Flake's GOP primary opponent Kelli Ward. "#globalists like Flake are the problem #FireFlake."
Democrats praised Flake, a Mormon with a reputation as a straight shooter.
"I think he's one of the finest people I've met in politics in terms of his principles and his morality," said Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
Other liberal commentators observed that Flake has remained a loyal vote for GOP leaders and Trump, even as he worries that Trump's penchant for rhetoric and ridiculing his opponents works against conservative goals.
Flake has voted for Trump's nominees and efforts to reverse rules from President Barack Obama's tenure, and he broke with fellow Arizona Sen. John McCain on Friday's health care vote. On one foreign policy issue, Cuba, Flake has been at odds with Trump, supporting rapprochement with Havana.
"If we ascribe the worst motives to our opponents and demean them and call them clowns or losers, you just lose the ability to sit down and solve the big issues and actually enact conservative policy," Flake said in an interview on MSNBC's Morning Joe. He added, "You know, somehow conservatism has become being mean or loud, and you can't enact conservative policy if you act that way."
Flake's book, published by Random House, went on sale Tuesday.
A Section on 08/02/2017