Has Republican Party been redefined under Trump? Sen. Jeff Flake says so

PHOENIX — Republican U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona has been among the most vocal critics of President Donald Trump, and it does not seem like that will stop anytime soon.

In an interview with ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday, Flake argued that the president has redefined the Republican Party — for the worse.

“Unfortunately yes,” Flake said in response to host George Stephanopoulos’ question of whether Trump “redefined” the party.

“When John Boehner said the other day this is the president’s party, he was speaking the truth,” he added.

“The Mark Sanford loss clarified something if it wasn’t clarified before. You can’t, as a Republican, these days, stand in — you know, in opposition to some of the president’s policies or not condone his behavior and expect to win a Republican primary. That’s the reality and then we’re seeing that played out.”

Sanford, another Republican who was critical of the president, lost in the primary for his seat earlier this month. Trump tweeted on the day of the election urging voters to elect his opponent, Katie Arrington.

Mark Sanford has been very unhelpful to me in my campaign to MAGA. He is MIA and nothing but trouble. He is better off in Argentina. I fully endorse Katie Arrington for Congress in SC, a state I love. She is tough on crime and will continue our fight to lower taxes. VOTE Katie!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2018

My political representatives didn’t want me to get involved in the Mark Sanford primary thinking that Sanford would easily win – but with a few hours left I felt that Katie was such a good candidate, and Sanford was so bad, I had to give it a shot. Congrats to Katie Arrington!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 13, 2018

Flake’s comments also came amid an immigration crisis dominated by the separation and detention of children of all ages who crossed the border with their families.

The separations came after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new “zero-tolerance” policy that refers all cases of illegal entry for criminal prosecution.

The policy had led to a spike in family separations in recent weeks, with more than 2,300 minors separated from their families at the border from May 5 through June 9, according to Homeland Security.

Trump signed an executive order to end the policy, but only after repeating the false claim that the only way to end the practice was for Congress to pass new legislation.

Flake said he believes lawmakers do need to address immigration and border security in a new piece of legislation, but that the president’s rhetoric of dividing the parties is making that more and more difficult.

“I mean, Congress has to fix this. And what is bothersome is the president’s rhetoric about the Democrats and their unwillingness to have any type of border security or control,” Flake argued.

“I was part of the effort in 2013 — the bipartisan bill, the so-called Gang of Eight bill. That provided $41 billion toward border security — infrastructure, manpower, technology. Every Democrat voted for that bill, every one of them,” he added.

“So they are on record supporting significant border control and so when the president says that, and calls them clowns and losers, how does he expect the Democrats to sit down and work with Republicans on these issues? Words matter, what the president says matters and he ought to knock it off.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Related

Sen. Jeff Flake seeking info on separation of asylum-seeking familiesPresident Donald Trump calls Maricopa County ‘dishonest’ after vendor mails ballots earlyCrash closes eastbound Interstate 10 near BuckeyeArizona Attorney General investigator indicted in shooting death of Mesa mother of 7Pilot injured in plane crash in Yuma agricultural fieldRep. Andy Biggs says ‘water’s No. 1’ as he hears from Arizonans during run for governor