10-25-2017, 03:09 AM
(10-25-2017, 02:18 AM)Galen Wrote:(10-25-2017, 12:14 AM)Eric the Green Wrote: Conservative libertarian Senator Jeff Flake of AZ denounces the Trump style of leadership in no uncertain terms in a Senate speech, and refuses to be complicit in it by running for re-election:
http://www.abc15.com/news/state/sen-jeff...e-election
Flake is about as widely hated among the R's as McConnel and Ryan are these days. He was going to lose the primary. If you had a clue about what is going on among the R's you would realize that the Republican Establishment has been at war with its base for decades. It seems that only the Dims are mourning the the loss of this loser.
Flake barely won election in 2012, and Arizona is drifting D. Donald Trump barely won the state in 2016, the demographics becoming increasingly unsympathetic to Republicans of all kinds.
I saw the transcript of the speech. This shows something rare in American politics within at least the GOP -- principle. Like Corker he seems to be putting his country and its democratic heritage above partisan advantage and perhaps re-election.
Democracy depends upon elected officials being willing to lose elections and upon give-and-take with the opposition. Donald Trump acts more like a dictator than has any prior President acted -- and by a huge margin.
Open seats are usually much more vulnerable than those involving an incumbent with no obvious scandals Neither Corker nor Trump had any apparent scandal. Now, I am not saying that Democrats will win the seat that either Senator holds... at least not yet. Arizona is very shaky "R", and Tennessee is one of the most R-friendly states in America at this time.
America lost badly by electing Donald Trump.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.