By KK Ottesen | The Washington Post
Jeff Flake, 57, served Arizona in the U.S. Senate from 2013 to 2019, and for six terms in the House of Representatives before that. He is a contributor at CBS News and lectures around the world.
You said, “Never has a party so quickly abandoned its principles as [the Republican Party] did in the campaign of 2016.” Where does that take the party?
Well, this is the topic that’s discussed a lot. Not publicly. [Laughs.] But privately, certainly. I don’t know anyone who thinks that this is the future of the party. This is a demographic cul-de-sac we’re in, if nothing else. Anger and resentment only go so far; you have to have a governing philosophy. I don’t know of any of my colleagues who really believe this is it. I just couldn’t support [Donald Trump] long before he started to run. The birtherism thing was just too much for me. And then it piled on. So, for me, it would have been just a complete 180-degree turn. And I’m not saying that hasn’t been the case for many of my colleagues.
