Republican Senator brutally tears into Trump in new book.

[DetlefK]

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/07/31/my-party-is-in-denial-about-donald-trump-215442
https://www.amazon.com/Conscience-Conservative-Rejection-Destructive-Principle/dp/0399592911

But we conservatives mocked Barack Obama’s failure to deliver on his pledge to change the tone in Washington even as we worked to assist with that failure. It was we conservatives who, upon Obama’s election, stated that our No. 1 priority was not advancing a conservative policy agenda but making Obama a one-term president—the corollary to this binary thinking being that his failure would be our success and the fortunes of the citizenry would presumably be sorted out in the meantime. It was we conservatives who were largely silent when the most egregious and sustained attacks on Obama’s legitimacy were leveled by marginal figures who would later be embraced and legitimized by far too many of us.

...

Michael Gerson, a con­servative columnist and former senior adviser to President George W. Bush, wrote, four months into the new presidency, “The conservative mind, in some very visible cases, has become diseased,” and conservative institutions “with the blessings of a president … have abandoned the normal constraints of reason and compassion.”

For a conservative, that’s an awfully bitter pill to swallow. So as I layered in my defense mechanisms, I even found myself saying things like, “If I took the time to respond to every presiden­tial tweet, there would be little time for anything else.”

...

But then the period of collapse and dysfunction set in, amplified by the internet and our growing sense of alienation from each other, and we lost our way and began to rationalize away our principles in the process. But where does such capitulation take us? If by 2017 the conservative bargain was to go along for the very bumpy ride because with congressional hegemony and the White House we had the numbers to achieve some long-held policy goals—even as we put at risk our institutions and our values—then it was a very real question whether any such policy victories wouldn’t be Pyrrhic ones. If this was our Faustian bargain, then it was not worth it. If ultimately our principles were so malleable as to no longer be principles, then what was the point of political victories in the first place?

...

our own White House was rejecting the authority of its own intelligence agencies, disclaiming their findings as a Democratic ruse and a hoax. Conduct that would have had conservatives up in arms had it been exhibited by our political opponents now had us dumbstruck.

...

So, where should Republicans go from here? First, we shouldn’t hesitate to speak out if the president “plays to the base” in ways that damage the Republican Party’s ability to grow and speak to a larger audience. Second, Republicans need to take the long view when it comes to issues like free trade: Populist and protectionist policies might play well in the short term, but they handicap the country in the long term. Third, Republicans need to stand up for institutions and prerogatives, like the Senate filibuster, that have served us well for more than two centuries.





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It's nice to see that there still are some old-school Republicans out there. Maybe the party of Lincoln isn't dead yet.

But the article glosses over an imminent danger to the GOP: "playing to the base"
It was the GOP who turned their own base into extremists, because the demonization of Obama was the laziest way to oppose him. And now this very same extremism has gone so far out of control, that an outsider like Trump speaks better to the republican base than the republican party itself.

Apolitical loud-mouth Trump winning the republican primary from under the nose of the republican party, THAT should have been the point where all alarm bells go off.

[Cracklin Charlie]

1. Wow.

Flake has been in soul-searching mode.

Sounds like he found some truth.

[Zoonart]

5. Utter self serving bullshit!

First thing any Republican trying to convince any thinking American that he has a conscience should do is not speak truth to power, but work to cut the cancer out of the white house, then turn the scalpel on his own party.

The same self serving bullshit I heard all night last night about what a "hero" and man of virtue General Kelly is. General Kelly has proven himself to be a bigot of the first order in his tenure at DHS, and NO ONE with any level of moral compass would tether himself to the compromised mess in this white house. PERIOD.

[Rollo]

2. Senator Jeff Flake, R-AZ

Of course, that didn't stop him from voting for the health care joke...



.

[hatrack]

3. Jeff Flake, facing reelection in about a year, is suddenly "reasonable" . .

But he didn't have any problem voting for McConnell's POS health care bills, and so far he's voted with Trump 95.5% of the time:

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/jeff-flake/

Fuck Flake.

[SamKnause]

4. Republicans have never had compassion or reason.

Don't trust this snake in the grass.

If you are a Republican politician your are a liar.

It is really that simple.

Republicans, the Tea Party, and Evangelicals are EVIL LIARS !!!!!!!!

Their goal is to turn the U.S. into a Corporate Controlled Christian Theocracy.

Trump's base is your base Flake.

I hope you don't sell a single book.

I watched your interview on Morning Joe.

You still support repeal and replace.

Fuck you.

[Gothmog]

6. Trump will be supporting a primary candidate against Flake