While only a handful of Republican senators have signaled they will convict former President Donald Trump on a charge of inciting an insurrection on Jan. 6, former Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona told Boston Public Radio he worried a second acquittal will say more about "what a president can get away with, rather than what we can't."
Flake announced in 2017 that he would not run for re-election in 2018, citing the party's growing support of Trumpism and a growing disregard for truth. He said Tuesday were he still a senator, he would "likely vote for conviction."
Flake said he believes many Republican members of Congress "know there is no future with Trumpism."
"They understand it's ripping the country apart," he said, adding that a private vote on impeachment would be more likely to result in a conviction, but that he did not support that.
"It ought to be a public vote, but I just wish that people would stand up" and acknowledge how Trump's actions leading up to the insurrection clearly show culpability, said Flake. He cited Trump's call to Georgia election officials asking the secretary of state to find votes to overturn the election, and the former president's speech on Jan. 6.
"There of course is a link to what happened at the Capitol, and I think the impeachment managers will do a good job of laying that out," he said.
Flake, who has previously described himself as a traditional conservative, voted with Trump on a number of issues but broke with the president on a 2018 immigration proposal. He told Boston Public Radio he didn't believe his policies aligning with Trump's contributed to an enabling of Trumpism.
"Many of those issues on tax and regulatory policies where my vote aligned with what the president wanted, those things I had voted on many times before," he said. "I wasn't a fan of the president obviously, but should I vote in opposition to initiatives I'd supported and introduced in many cases, just out of spite for the president and his position?"
Flake said he decided not to run for re-election when it became clear to him that doing so would require him to change his values in order to suit this rising subset of the party who was "all-in with the president."
Flake said there is no excuse for Republican members of Congress to continue to support Trump in the wake of what transpired on Jan. 6. They can argue that the impeachment is not valid because he's left office — though Flake said he disagrees with that argument — but they cannot continue to support Trump.
"He'll fade, and people like Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney who have been courageous enough to stand up [to Trump] will be fine, and other legislators will discover they will too, if they'll stand for truth," Flake said. "But it's a difficult thing. You don't want to admit you're wrong when you're in those positions. It's not going to be without pain, but it's the only way forward for Republicans."
