Jeff Flake knows Trump is the problem

Arizona Senator Jeff Flake let loose a mighty blast against Donald Trump on his way out the door. Which was gratifying in many ways but raises the question: why are you leaving?

There are several possible answers including that enough is enough. He has been in Congress since 2001 and politics is a tough life. I do not criticize politicians for being underworked, though I frequently deplore how often and how quickly they turn into parodies of vacuous partisanship. But Flake has not done so. So maybe politics just wore him down.

His resume does not suggest a modern-day Cincinnatus reluctantly compelled to come briefly to the aid of his country. After years in the political think-tank world he jumped first to the House of Representatives in his late 30s then an available Senate seat in his 40s. He looked like a lifer.

Of course he may have changed his mind. He may not be running in 2018 because he decided the toll on his family life was too high, or his Mormon faith had first call on his time. But if so, I think it must have been partly because the tone in Washington has become so ghastly. And while I sympathize, his departure is not a contribution to solving the problem.

On the contrary, if it’s as bad as Flake says, surely he should be determined to do something about it other than flee. He knows the nation needs real, decent conservatives in Congress to block the president. And he is one.

He’s certainly no “establishment” Republican whose native swamp Trump promised to drain. He’s fiscally conservative in principle and famously opposed to porkbarrelling in practice. He’s a staunch social conservative, resolutely pro-life and opposed to gay marriage. And he’s personally pleasant and interested in breaking the partisan deadlock. What’s not to like?

To his own party, it seems, plenty. As Trump has sneered, Flake’s approval ratings are plunging following his stand for decency, perhaps because of it. And he may have no stomach for a long gruelling campaign ending in defeat. But if so, his decision has a real “let’s you and him fight” quality, because somebody has to fight the good fight against Trumpism in the party and he knows it.

The New York Times recently noted the lack of GOP appetite for the “Never Trump” movement. But while the Times is right that Republicans seem increasingly committed to “grievance politics,” I must protest that the Democrats have long been so, from the New Left to the New Deal to William Jennings Bryan’s populism to, indeed, Andrew Jackson and the party’s founding.

It’s not just disingenuous for liberals to act as though this plague of resentment erupted inexplicably and viciously in Middle America while they were at Woodstock. It’s dangerous because without sharing their enthusiasm for Trump, to put it mildly, I understand why conservatives feel aggrieved and worry that criticism of Trump will just help bring back arrogant liberals who have learned nothing and forgotten nothing.

Certainly Democrats and their media allies, including the Times, are pouncing on Flake’s remarks on the apparent theory that partisanship is something only our stinking enemies do. Where is the equivalent Senate denunciation of Hillary Clinton’s appalling dishonesty or Bernie Sanders’ divisive nastiness?

Or, since neither was ever president, where were all the chic A-listers now denouncing Harvey Weinstein when Bill Clinton faced impeachment for perjury about blatant sexual harassment? Silent or even supportive of the Ozark Casanova, right? And they still honour Edward Kennedy. Hence their shrill opposition to Trump tends to inflame rather than soothe the raw wounds on the American body politic by its brazen hypocrisy.

That said, the Times has a point. It is noteworthy that Flake’s departure and Roy Moore’s arrival are both seen as victories for Trump and his backers. Some people suppose Moore is a loathsome Trump Republican because of his staunch social conservatism, which they take for granted is the ground zero of inherently repulsive politics. But it’s not about that and never was.

Trump himself was an advocate and practitioner of the Playboy Philosophy, until he made a belated change in what passes for his convictions on abortion as he sought the Republican nomination. And on substance there is very little to separate Moore from Flake. The real gap is in temperament.

Flake is a nice guy. And while I appreciate Moore’s willingness to defy the PC crowd, both the substance and manner of some of his views — especially on homosexuality — are genuinely, even wilfully offensive. And despite my respect for many who support Trump, and my appreciation of the president’s occasional moments of outside-the-swamp foreign policy lucidity, the essence of Trumpism does seem to be a petty, vicious desire for revenge.

Jeff Flake sees it too. Why then is he turning tail?

MAYBE IT’S TIME TO QUIT BOASTING ABOUT THE PAST. — KELLY McPARLAND