Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona said that if President Donald Trump continues going down the current path he isn’t just likely to see an independent challenger in 2020, but also someone from his own party may decide to throw his or her hat in the ring. “I do believe if the president is running for reelection, if he continues on the path that he’s on, that that’s going to leave a huge swath of voters looking for something else, who are unwilling to go where the president’s going unless he changes course,” Flake said on ABC’s This Week.
When he was asked whether an independent candidate would likely run against Trump, Flake went further and said the challenge could come from a Republican too. “Oh yes, I think he’s inviting that. He’s probably inviting a Republican challenge as well … but certainly an independent challenge,” Flake said.
Flake, who has emerged as one of the most outspoken Republican critics of the president, said he will be leaving the Senate when his term is up at the end of 2018. When he was asked whether he could be the one to run against the president, the senator gave his best non-answer. “I don’t rule anything out, but it’s not in my plans,” Flake said when asked whether he was “open to running for president in 2020.”
Flake insists he hasn’t “thought that deeply about” running but is confident Republicans could lose the Senate and the House if Trump continues down the current path. “When you look at some of the audiences cheering for Republicans sometimes, you look out there and you say, those are the spasms of a dying party when you look that the lack of diversity sometimes,” he said. “And it depends on where you are, obviously. But by and large, we’re appealing to older white men. And there are just a limited number of them, and, you know, anger and resentment are not a governing philosophy. So you have to actually govern and do something.”
