President Trump is not an advocate for "America First" but "Me First." For those who challenge his capacity to lead, his ability to comprehend, his very manhood, there is but castigation and contempt.
Among the ones most brutally treated are the Senators and Congressmen within the ranks of his own party who have not sworn an undying oath of fealty. And maybe none more so than the triumvirate who have engaged in a lengthy war of words with Mr. Trump.
It is not that Mr. Flake, Mr. Corker or Mr.McCain earned the enmity of the President for breaking with the Republican rank, continually and consistently voting against the stream. Their battles (apart from the critical votes by Mr. McCain on the issue of the demise of Obamacare) have been almost entirely of person, not party.
These have been "dead men walking" for some time as the President has taken direct aim at their continued careers. For Mr. McCain, it has been both the cancer within and the disease of the President he has been forced to endure. For Mr. Flake and Mr. Corker, thoughts of reelection in Arizona and Tennessee have grown as dim as the light in Mr. Trump's brain. And their recent most impassioned words have been in many ways but concession speeches.
Do I applaud Mr. Flake for his memorable plea this week? Of course.But it was ultimately nothing much greater than a death bed confession. Not sounds of revolution, but an announcement that he could no longer stand the heat and was exiting the kitchen. That the Me First king had claimed another victim.
5 comments:
so right. gave up the fight.
FCL
Ok, this may be true BUT I think the value of Flake's resignation and his refusal to be "complicit" exposes other Republicans in their own complicit support of the "Emperor with no clothes".
I feel this is similar to the McCarthy times and that like McCarthy himself the sheer ludicrousness of the man will bring him down.
FLake being a Republican Conservative and expressing his ire publicly makes those of Trump's base with "buyer's remorse" more comfortable about their own rising doubts.
I am encouraged by Flake et al going public.
KS
I appreciate your thoughts and do agree that Mr. Flake exhibited some courage in his comments. However, I feel this expression of ire did not and will not lead to inner reflection on the values he has long espoused as a tea party Republican, nor will it move the bar on any of those who feel, no matter the wrongs committed by Mr. Trump that he can ultimately do no wrong.
For all the whining and complaining about a failed President, the Republicans continue to vote in virtual lock step with his agenda. They are not at war with him, nor are his supporters.
I am waiting for a tipping point, a moment when passionate indignation from both parties will bring him down. But it has not come. Will it ever? --RE
HERE-HERE! One of your BEST!
Now, we’ve got to get you on TV —or RADIO!
JB
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