The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Deepening GOP split, Trump attacks 2 senators
President says Flake, Graham are ‘publicity-seeking.’
President Donald Trump went on the offensive Thursday against two Republican senators, attacking them for their recent criticisms of his divisive governing style and response to the violence in Charlottesville.
In a morning tweetstorm, Trump lambasted Sens. Lindsey O. Graham, of South Carolina, and Jeff Flake, of Arizona, calling Graham “publicity-seeking” and Flake “toxic,” and endorsing a primary challenger to Flake in his re-election bid next year. Flake recently published a book that was highly critical of Trump.
Trump appeared to throw his support behind former Arizona state Sen. Kelli Ward, who is already mounting a primary challenge against Flake.
Trump tweeted: “Great to see that Dr. Kelli Ward is running against Flake Jeff Flake, who is WEAK on borders, crime and a non-factor in Senate. He’s toxic!”
Flake wrote in his book that Republicans abandoned their principles in the face of Trump’s unorthodox campaign and surrendered to the “politics of anger.” The party gave in to “the belief that riling up the base can make up for failed attempts to broaden the electorate,” Flake wrote in “Conscience of a Conservative: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle.” “These are the spasms of a dying party.”
Ward is an osteopathic physician who unsuccessfully challenged Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in 2016, using the senator’s advanced age against him. This time, Ward is hoping to use Flake’s opposition to Trump to her advantage.
“Jeff Flake has been unable to effectively serve the people of Arizona. That’s the big story,” she said in an interview last week. “That’s why he has such dismal job approval ratings. He’s been there almost 20 years and has accomplished really nothing. His values don’t align with his constituents and it’s time for him to be sent back home and send somebody to Washington, D.C., who can accomplish the America First agenda that the president put forth but that the American people embraced across this entire country.”
Ward said that she’s especially upset with Flake’s recent words and actions on health care and tax reform — even though he voted for the GOP health care bill and is supportive of attempts to overhaul the tax code. So where has Flake gone wrong? On taxes, “he’s already come out with his opposition,” Ward claimed. “Rather than saying, ‘I’m looking forward to what Donald Trump puts forward so that we can accomplish the goal of lowering taxes across the board and making sure that our American economy thrives,’ he puts a negative spin on it from the beginning.” And on health care, she said she’s upset with “his behavior — I’ll call it his behavior on Obamacare.” “When the bill was over in the House, Jeff Flake was over in the Senate telling reporters ... that there just was no appetite for full repeal of Obamacare in the Senate. He was whispering to his donors in the hospital corporations and the insurance industry not to worry.”
Ward specifically cited a Washington Post story from May that included Flake telling constituents that he had a “hard time believing” that the Senate would vote to pass health care legislation before the August recess.
Trump also slammed Graham, who was among the Republicans who criticized Trump for failing to offer a full-throated condemnation of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. In going after Graham, Trump suggested the senator, who also ran for president in 2016, was still smarting from his loss to Trump in the Republican primaries. Trump tweeted: “Publicity seeking Lindsey Graham falsely stated that I said there is moral equivalency between the KKK, neo-Nazis & white supremacists ...... “...and people like Ms. Heyer. Such a disgusting lie. He just can’t forget his election trouncing. The people of South Carolina will remember!” Graham responded with a statement in which he said Trump’s handling of the Charlottesville violence was being praised by “some of the most racist and hate-filled individuals and groups in our country. For the sake of our Nation — as our President — please fix this. History is watching us all.”