Republican Senator Jeff Flake has launched an extraordinary attack on Donald Trump as he announced he would not be standing for re-election in 2018.
Speaking on the floor of the Senate, the Arizona politician said he was retiring at the end of his term because the GOP had “given in or given up on core principles in favour of a more viscerally satisfying anger and resentment” under Trump.
He added: “Reckless, outrageous and undignified behaviour has become excused and countenanced as ‘telling it like it is’ when it is actually just reckless, outrageous and undignified.”
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Flake implored Republicans to “do away with the political considerations that have enabled Trump to challenge to norms of governance and basic decorum,” The Guardian says.
While the Senator is one of Trump’s bluntest Republican critic, his speech “represents a significant elevation of his rhetoric”, says The Atlantic.
Flake is the latest Republican to announce he is retiring due to the actions of Trump, following chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee Bob Corker, with whom the US President has been fighting a public war of words.
Prior to Flake’s speech, Corker told CNN that Trump’s presidency would be remembered for “the debasing of our nation, the constant non-truth telling, and the name calling”, adding: “I think world leaders are very aware that much of what he says is untrue.”