President Donald Trump’s three most prominent critics are set to retire, allowing the president more public support from Republican lawmakers.
Trump’s three most prominent critics, GOP Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Bob Corker of Tennessee, are set to retire after their current terms, leaving Trump with the public support of the remaining 49 GOP senators and 239 House Republicans, including every member of leadership.
SEN. JEFF FLAKE: ‘YOU CAN BE CONSERVATIVE ON POLICY AND IT DOESN’T MATTER AS MUCH… AS BEING WITH THE PRESIDENT’
Trump has managed to prevent widespread party defection despite a stagnant legislative agenda and constant media criticism and public spats with Corker.
The degree of public support Trump enjoys among Republican lawmakers was reportedly on full display during Tuesday’s tax reform luncheon where he received a standing ovation from Senate Republicans while Corker, who he had just spent the morning publicly assailing, was present.
Flake’s retirement can also be understood as further evidence of Trump’s consolidation of power. His home state approval ratings, while already rather bleak, continued to plummet after the release of his book, “Conscience of a Conservative,” which he focused on addressing the perceived shortcomings of Trump’s agenda.
The Arizona Republican essentially acknowledged Tuesday that he would be required to adopt Trump’s national populist agenda on trade and immigration if he were to make a run at re-election.
“Here’s the bottom line: The path that I would have to travel to get the Republican nomination is a path I’m not willing to take, and that I can’t in good conscience take,” Flake told The Arizona Republic in a telephone interview. “It would require me to believe in positions I don’t hold on such issues as trade and immigration, and it would require me to condone behavior that I cannot condone.”
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