Trump’s Agenda Is Taking Out One Flake at a Time – by Suzanne Sharer
Arizonans are proud of the many things for which our great state is known – from five Star Resorts, award winning golf courses, an abundance of trendy restaurants to an array of natural wonders that leave you in awe. Throw in some of the most beautiful weather on the planet and you have a recipe for Arizona bliss.
We certainly have quite a lot to brag about when it comes to our beautiful state. But sadly, our two US Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake are no longer on the list. In fact, for many Arizonans McCain and Flake have become a source of shame and embarrassment.
Until recently Arizona has been known as a heavily conservative state, the home of Barry Goldwater Conservatism. But over the last few years the good people of Arizona are finally waking up to the fact that their Republican Senators are not with them on the important issues.
Consider the self-proclaimed “Maverick” Senator, John McCain.
McCain campaigned on leading the charge when it came to repealing and replacing ObamaCare. Along with tax reform and immigration policy, there is no greater issue facing the country or Arizona. Of course, the Senate effort to move the repeal ObamaCare was stalled, if not ended, because John McCain didn’t think it was proceeding in “proper order.”
Now millions of Americans and Arizonans face the uncertainty of diminishing choices, higher premiums and lost coverage. Does that sound principled to you?
That brings us to Senator Jeff Flake. Recently, he stood on the House floor and delivered a righteously indignant speech. He claimed that it would be better for him to leave Congress to serve Americans and his conscience by “freeing myself of the political consideration that consumed far too much bandwidth and would cause me to compromise far too many principles.”
But is he really principled? Let’s take a look.
During Obama’s Presidency, Senator Flake praised the President calling him a good guy and remained eerily silent as Obama pushed his big government agenda. Now with President Trump in office, Flake has been more than outwardly critical and unsupportive of the President, including publishing a book long in the works – all the while knowing it would hurt the effort to repeal and replace ObamaCare, pass tax reform and address the border concerns of Arizonans.
Does that sound principled to you or a means to sell his book?
As for immigration issue, it is unquestionable that border security and putting an end to illegal immigration are of paramount importance to the people of Arizona. Illegal immigration has had a high toll on Arizona both in dollars and in human life due to the lack of enforcement of our current laws. Indeed, we have literally lost control of miles and miles of the Arizona border.
Yet, both our Senators joined up with the democrats in the notorious “Gang of Eight.” A strange mix of Senators who pushed amnesty for millions of illegals undermining our border security and our rule of law – without any assurance that our border would be truly secured.
Flake also backed Obama’s DACA plan from its inception and attacked President Trump for reversing this unconstitutional act against the American people. He then tied Trump’s border wall funding to a bill that would keep Obama’s “Dreamer” program in place.
In other words, instead of prioritizing the protection of Americans, Flake has prioritized the fate of those here illegally.
Is that the principled behavior he referred to in his speech on the floor?
Sen. Flake also took a swipe at our sovereignty when he backed President Obamas TTP trade deal. On the other hand, Flake harshly criticized Trump’s position on NAFTA to either get America a much better deal or get out altogether.
That, however, is not all. Arizona’s issues with Senator Flake doesn’t end at the borders.
Flake agreed with the Left on many issues, including rubber stamping several of Obama’s liberal judge picks. In 2009, Flake, along with Bob Inglis, became the first Republican law makers to introduce legislation to impose a carbon tax on producers and distributors of fossil fuels.
Was it Flake’s principles that led him to be a fervent opponent and saboteur of Cruz’s effort to defund Obamacare in 2013? And when it comes to supporting Obama normalizing relations with communist countries such as Cuba who have zero respect for human rights, I guess we can count that as Flake principle well.
Are all of those principles that Flake is supporting really for the benefit Arizonans and the American people?
As for his decision not to seek reelection, could it be that Flake’s profound principles conflicting with President Trump may not really be the reason he is choosing not to run for re-election?
Recent polls showing his challenger, Dr. Ward up 26% on Flake. That is a very large gap for an incumbent to be down by at this point in an election cycle. It is hard to argue anything but that the polls are clearly sending a message that Arizonan’s are disappointed with Jeff Flake.
Could there be a second reason behind the incumbent Republican Senator’s decision not to run?
Steve Bannon is blazing onto the scene with his populist movement like the new Elliot Ness of DC and recruiting his new team of uncorruptables! Bannon has declared war on corruption and those in office who are failing our country by not backing Trump’s agenda and/or failing to keep their own campaign promises. Flake knows that Bannon and Trump had him in their crosshairs and with Bannon’s endorsement of Dr. Kelli Ward he had to have known it was not looking good for him.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders summed up the situation nicely with her response at a press conference when questioned on Flake’s haughty and indignant speech from the floor of the senate where he made his announcement that he would not running for reelection by saying “Based on the lack of support that he has from the people of Arizona, it’s probably a good move.”
In the final analysis, Flake didn’t fight for the people of Arizona so why should anyone be surprised he didn’t fight to retain his seat? Whatever was behind his abrupt departure from the Senate race, there are a lot of Arizonans as well as Americans across the nation that are quite happy just to know there will be one less Flake in Washington.
