AZ Political Podcast: Former Congressman Jeff Flake on moving forward after political violence
Jeff Flake recalls his brushes with political violence and talks about how the U.S. can move forward peacefully on the AZ Political Podcast.
Watch: AZ Political Podcast: Former Sen. Jeff Flake shares thoughts on the state of the U.S. | 33 mins
My guest this week on the AZ Political Podcast delivered a speech at Utah Valley University on Tuesday, Sept. 9 — just one day before Charlie Kirk was shot and killed on the same campus.
Jeff Flake, a former Republican senator and representative from Arizona, has had close brushes with political violence. He was on the baseball field when Republican Rep. Steve Scalise was shot in the head in 2017 during practice for the Congressional baseball game.
Not only that, but Flake also was in Tucson not long after Arizona Democratic Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot by a man at a constituent event in 2011. Despite their political differences, he came to comfort the family of a Congress member from the other party.
AZ Political Podcast: Jeff Flake reflects on political violence
Flake sat beside Giffords during the 2012 State of the Union (right before she resigned from Congress) and helped her stand during the parts of President Barack Obama‘s speech so she could cheer with her fellow Democrats.
Despite criticism from fellow Republicans, who thought he was standing to cheer for Obama, he said at the time he didn’t care about the optics and simply wanted to help a colleague.
After the assassination of Kirk, Flake reflected on how the U.S. can move beyond partisan divisions and reconnect through empathy, kindness and shared national values.
I believe that’s what Jeff Flake is trying to accomplish in his latest role: founding director of ASU’s Institute of Politics.
I don’t know if we’ll ever achieve a world where Democrats and Republicans respect and work with each other again, but I sure like hearing the way Flake describes it.
The AZ Political Podcast is available at KTAR.com, the KTAR News app and everywhere you get your podcasts.
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Comments
7 Comments
Who's calling who Hitler and his supporters naz*s?
Flake represents a different era of American politics. A time when we could disagree with each other on policy without vilifying each other, without questioning each other’s patriotism. A time when we all used the same set of facts, before one side decided they didn’t like the facts so they made up their own alternative “facts.”
Biden beat Trump.
Hobbs beat Lake.
Covid killed millions of people.
The Covid vaccine saved millions globally.
The Idiot is a convicted felon.