Trump Trades Words With Arizona Senator

Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) told reporters this summer that while he wasn’t quite ready to support Donald Trump as the Republican nominee, he didn’t want to be confused with the NeverTrump crowd.

“There’s one sure thing,” Flake said in an interview with Politico in June. “I don’t want Hillary Clinton to be president.”

Well, people who smoke don’t necessarily want to get lung cancer, either, Mr. Flake. That doesn’t change the effect of their smoking. And for you to still be out there on the Sunday circuit three months later, still launching bombs at the GOP nominee, proves that you’re either self-destructive, ignorant, or dishonest.

On CNN’s “State of the Union” program, Flake told host Jake Tapper that he still can’t bring himself to support the billionaire.

“I would not vote for Hillary Clinton, and as of now, I would still not vote for Donald Trump,” Flake said. “I would like to vote for Donald Trump. It’s not comfortable to not support your nominee. But given the positions he’s taken, and the tone and tenor of his campaign, I simply can’t.”

Flake warned that Trump’s campaign could result in a major upset in his home state.

“Arizona should still be a red state,” he said. “But Donald Trump, with the rhetoric that he’s under and the characterizations of, you know, many of the state’s population, have put the state in play.”

By this, Flake presumably means Hispanics – a population that Trump has never had anything but praise for. But Flake, like your average liberal, can’t see the distinction between Hispanics and illegal immigrants.

Trump apparently saw Flake’s interviews (he did another one over on CBS, where he criticized Trump’s immigration speech) and was not pleased. He issued a couple of tweets with some thoughts about the Arizona senator.

“The Republican Party needs strong and committed leaders, not weak people such as Jeff Flake, if it is going to stop illegal immigration,” Trump said.

Well, that’s just the thing: the Republican Party doesn’t have the slightest interest in stopping illegal immigration.

Flake knows that better than anyone else. As part of the “Gang of Eight,” he tried to make illegal immigration a thing of the past by making the term a thing of the past. As though we need millions of foreign workers to come into the U.S. through an expedited, expanded, and federally subsidized visa program.

Thankfully, the Gang of Eight bill was destroyed and immigration-friendly Republicans have been marginalized by the conservative base. For the time being…

In the meantime, Democrats and Republicans alike are chastising Trump for once again getting into a feud with a fellow GOPer.

“There’s going to be no one left in Washington for Trump to work with who he hasn’t insulted,” Hillary Clinton quipped.

Well then, we know what Phase 2 needs to be:

Replacing these bums with conservatives who will actually listen to the American people.