Sen. Flake Blasts "Dangerous" Trump And Republican Complicity (UPDATED)

Here's a portion of Sen. Jeff Flake's (R-AZ) stunning speech moments ago on the Senate floor, announcing that he won't run for re-election in 2018, and scorching moron authoritarian Donald "Rump" Trump and the Republican Party. Emotional, profound, historic:



BONUS:  Mark Sumner on the Republican reaction which, in a sane party, would have been for more to break their silence...

But silence is what he got. What he will get. From Senate Leader Mitch McConnell meekly shuffling along at Trump’s side to House Speaker Paul Ryan willing to answer any question but the one he’s asked, what the Republicans have demonstrated is silence. Also known as cowardice. 

Sen. Flake may have quoted from Abraham Lincoln in his speech, but he might better have quoted U. S. Grant: "There are but two parties now: traitors and patriots.” 

And this was just another day where that became more clear.

UPDATE:  Flake can't see using impeachment or the 25th Amendment to remove Rump. What was that about "enough?"

Fear The Turtle?

The New York Times tonight:

The relationship between President Trump and Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, has disintegrated to the point that they have not spoken to each other in weeks, and Mr. McConnell has privately expressed uncertainty that Mr. Trump will be able to salvage his administration after a series of summer crises. 

What was once an uneasy governing alliance has curdled into a feud of mutual resentment and sometimes outright hostility, complicated by the position of Mr. McConnell’s wife, Elaine L. Chao, in Mr. Trump’s cabinet, according to more than a dozen people briefed on their imperiled partnership. Angry phone calls and private badmouthing have devolved into open conflict, with the president threatening to oppose Republican senators who cross him, and Mr. McConnell mobilizing to their defense. [snip] 

Mr. McConnell has fumed over Mr. Trump’s regular threats against fellow Republicans and criticism of Senate rules, and questioned Mr. Trump’s understanding of the presidency in a public speech. Mr. McConnell has made sharper comments in private, describing Mr. Trump as entirely unwilling to learn the basics of governing. 

In offhand remarks, Mr. McConnell has expressed a sense of bewilderment about where Mr. Trump’s presidency may be headed, and has mused about whether Mr. Trump will be in a position to lead the Republican Party into next year’s elections and beyond, according to people who have spoken to him directly.  (our emphasis)

One of the "basics of governing" that's beyond the Man Baby is, "Don't alienate your party's leader in the Senate if you want to get anything done."

Rump is in Arizona tonight, the home state of one of the Republican Senators he's attacked recently, Jeff Flake. As a shot across Rump's bow, McConnell's PAC just put out a nasty ad attacking Flake's likely primary opponent, crackpot "Chemtrail Kelli" Ward, whom Rump has hinted he might endorse.  "Chemtrail Kelli" has also put out an attack ad declaring her undying love for Rump.

If Rump dings Flake tonight, that would certainly add fuel to the feud, which is good news for all of us. In the longer term, it might also give us a Democratic Senator from Arizona in 2018.

Today's Cartoon - Legalizing Discrimination in Arizona?

(click to enlarge)

(Steve Benson, Arizona Republic)

Arizona Republican Gov. Jan Brewer has a bill on her desk (SB 1062) that would allow businesses in Arizona to discriminate against gay people based on the religious beliefs of the business owner.  To his credit, Republican Sen. Jeff Flake has called on Brewer to veto the bill.  She has five days to do so, otherwise the bill becomes law.  Now that Flake has given her some cover, let's hope she does the right thing (as she sometimes does).  After all, discrimination is discrimination regardless of any misguided "teachings" being used to justify it.

UPDATE:  Next up:  Rethugs in the Georgia House are pushing a nearly identical bill.  They're unfortunately not alone among Republican-led states, where it seems to be at the top of the agenda.

Rethuglicans: The Next Generation

Who says the Rethuglicans are striking out with today's youth?  Here are two fine examples of Rethuglican Youth (who happen to have Congresscritters as fathers -- Happy Father's Day, Sen. Flake and Rep. Heck!) channeling core Rethuglican values.

Little Flake, take it away:

Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, a devout Mormon and family man, has apologized for homophobic, racist and anti-Semitic comments posted online by his teenage son.

The high schooler, Tanner, posted the offensive remarks in February and March. In one message he threatened the “f—-t” who stole his motorcycle from a church parking lot and frequently used the N word in a series of Facebook postings. [...]

“To the f—-t who stole my dirt bike from the church parking lot, I will find you, and I will beat the crap out of you,” the boy, whose Twitter handle is @tflakey, wrote on March 20.

“I’m down to own some f—-ts,” he wrote in February, in a tweet directed at another Twitter user. [...]

"Say something hilarious, and I guarantee that ... will say it louder and get all the credit. Jew," he tweeted in February.

Not to be outdone in his promotion of Rethuglican values for the next generation is master Joey Heck:

A review of tweets by Joey Heck, 16, dating to August of last year shows numerous examples in which Heck used words like “faggot” and “nigga.” For instance, on Sept. 11 Heck tweeted “Fanny pack = fag bag,” and on August 23 he retweeted a tweet that read, “There are gays everywhere. Maybe that’s gods way of thinning out the population because faggots can’t have babies.”

Heck’s twitter feed also included numerous racial slurs. During a Sept. 16 Jets football game, the younger Heck tweeted “[Mark] Sanchez can hop the border faster than he can throw the ball.”

During the Oct. 16 presidential debate, Heck took issue with the performance of moderator Martha Raddatz, ABC’s Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent. “This is why men need to be moderators,” he wrote.

He also wrote that Mitt Romney “raped” Obama and made him his “slave” during a debate.

In an exchange with a friend during the debate on October 3rd, Heck asked rhetorically, “I would like somebody to tell me one good thing Obama did in these past 4 years…. I got nothing.” Later in the conversation he said “yeah like spear chucking and rock skipping. The sports they do in his home country…”

With youth like Flake and Heck representing the next generation of voting Rethuglicans, we see those eternal core Rethuglican values of intolerance, hatred, and stupidity lasting for way too long.  Teach your children, eh?