Arizona Republican Senator Jeff Flake paid a visit to the state today to speak at Saint Anselm College’s “Politics and Eggs” series, which has long been a stop for presidential hopefuls.
At the event Flake said he hasn’t ruled out a 2020 campaign but that the odds were long. He’s been vocal about wanting someone to run against President Trump in the Republican primary though.
Flake had no shortage of barbs for Trump, calling out what he sees as chaos in the White House and attacks on the media.
“We will get through this. And when we do, perhaps what will most be remembered from this period will be the president’s war on objective reality and the reflexive impulse to speak falsely,” Flake said.
Flake also had harsh words for his own party, which he says has succumbed to a quote “propaganda-fueled dystopian view of conservatism.”
"If I didn't know better, I would say as a political movement, we've been out of our minds lately,” Flake said. “There are those in my party, for instance, who continue to marvel at the strategic underpinnings of the daily chaos let loose in the White House."
New England College student and Democrat Trevor Van Niel said he found Flake’s words heartening.
“To hear people who actually want to fight for what is good for the nation, opposed to party politics... [it’s] definitely very comforting coming from the other side,” Van Niel said.
Noah Bond, also a student at New England College, praised Flake’s remarks. “I thought he talked a lot about the civility and the want for America to reunify,” Bond said, adding “I hope that he does, hopefully, come out and run in 2020.”
