https://www.mediaite.com/tv/gop-sen...allies-look-like-the-spasms-of-a-dying-party/GOP Sen. Jeff Flake: Trump and Republican Rallies Look Like the ‘Spasms of a Dying Party’
In an interview with ABC News’ Jonathan Karl, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) bemoaned the direction his party is taking, claiming that the crowds at many Donald Trump and Republican rallies reveal that the GOP is dying.
Asked about Breitbart chief Steve Bannon’s support of defeated Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore and how Bannon convinced Trump to inevitably endorse Moore, Flake said he hoped Bannon role in the GOP had now been “marginalized.”
“The last thing we need is to push that — ultra-nationalist — ethno-nationalist, protectionist element of the party,” Flake added. “It’s not good for us.”
This led Karl to ask the Arizona lawmaker about the risks to the Republican Party if it continues to go the Bannon and “Trump direction,” wondering aloud if the GOP could lose the Senate.
“Most definitely,” Flake stated. “You look at the audiences cheering for Republicans sometimes. You look out there and say, ‘those are the spasms of a dying party.'”
He continued, “When you look that the lack of diversity, sometimes, and it depends on where you are, obviously. But by and large, we’re appealing to older white men. And there are just a limited number of them. And anger and resentment are not a governing philosophy.”
Flake has been outspoken about his objection towards Trump’s influence on the Republican Party in recent months. Earlier this year, in a Senate floor speech announcing that he wouldn’t seek reelection in 2018, Flake tore into the president, stating that servility to Trump is “morally treasonable.” Flake also contributed to the campaign of Democrat Doug Jones in the Alabama Senate election.
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