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Sen. Jeff Flake Pens Blistering Op-Ed, Says GOP In Denial Over Trump

August 02, 2017
Staff

WRITER

A GOP lawmaker is speaking out against both the president and Republican leaders, saying that anyone who thinks the state of things under the Trump administration is normal must be in “denial.”

Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona has written a book criticizing not only President Donald Trump’s lack of conservatism but also the lack of principles among GOP leaders titled Conscience of a Conservative: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle.

Flake turned his attention to Republican leaders who haven’t fought for conservative policies and seem to be pretending the tumultuous White House has been business as usual the past six months.

“It was we conservatives who rightly and robustly asserted our constitutional prerogatives as a co-equal branch of government when a Democrat was in the White House but who, despite solemn vows to do the same in the event of a Trump presidency, have maintained an unnerving silence as instability has ensued,” he wrote in an excerpt of the book published by Politico.

Tuesday on radio, Glenn agreed but expressed skepticism that any politician can be trusted.

“I’m politician-agnostic now,” Glenn quipped.

GLENN: And so where does this even fit? Have you seen the Jeff Flake -- you know, my party is in denial about --

STU: Yeah, it's amazing that, you know, this is -- it's an op-ed he wrote, which is actually a part of his book. Saying he's in denial about Donald Trump -- the party is in denial about Donald Trump. And he signed his name to it. There's been a lot of these comments that have floated throughout the media since he was elected from unnamed officials. This is --

GLENN: Now, Jeff Flake. I'm trying to remember where we lost track of Jeff Flake. When Jeff Flake sold his soul.

STU: We were not a fan of his stance on one of the gun bills, I remember.

GLENN: Yeah.

PAT: And immigration.

GLENN: And immigration. Yeah.

PAT: Terrible on both.

GLENN: Yeah, he was really, really great. And then he started selling his soul to the party.

STU: To be fair, he still is good on certain things.

GLENN: Is he?

STU: Spending, he was good on.

GLENN: Was he ever for Trump?

STU: I would say he's --

GLENN: Agnostic?

STU: No, I would say he was more on the I'm not a fan of Trump side. He was more consistent on that. However, he was -- you know, public officials, particularly senators taking public positions against the president is pretty notable. It's not -- it's not as notable as if like one of his big allies came out and took him on. It's -- he's definitely on the side -- he's not a fan of Trump's.

GLENN: Our forbearers knew that keeping a republic meant, above all, keeping it safe from foreign transgressors. They all knew people could not live and work freely and develop national institutions conceived -- conductive to freedom, except in peace with independents. So where should Republicans go from here?

First, we shouldn't hesitate to speak out if the president plays to his base in ways that damage the Republican's party ability to grow and speak to a larger audience.

So listen to that. I mean, he's putting his -- the party -- second, Republicans need to take the long view when it comes to issue like free trade.

Populist and protectionist policies may play well out in the short-term, but they handicap the country in the long-term. Third, Republicans need to stand up for the institution and prerogatives like the Senate filibuster that served us well for more than two centuries.

We've taken our institutions conductive to freedom, as Goldwater put it, for granted. And we have to engage in one of the more reckless periods of politics in our history. In 2017, we seem to have lost our appreciation for just how hard-won and vulnerable those institutions are.

Well, it's nice to have you to the party, Jeff.

STU: You seemed almost dismissive. I almost got a sense that that was dismissive.

PAT: Really?

GLENN: I'm so done -- I'm so done -- I'm really so done with all of the politicians. I mean, honestly, should we have any politician on here? I'm politician-agnostic now. With the exception of very, very few.

PAT: You're not sure you believe they exist?

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: No, I'm unfortunately -- I know they exist. I'm not sure how --

JEFFY: This is a struggle we've had for a while, right?

GLENN: I know they exist. I'm agnostic on how many good ones exist. I know one. I know Mike Lee. I would -- I would swear by Mike Lee. But what does that mean?

STU: I mean, there's certainly a few.

GLENN: Yeah, there are a few.

STU: There's no doubt.

GLENN: And I like a few of them. But the only one I know personally really well I feel is Mike Lee. And unshakable.

STU: And he has been --

PAT: Ben Sasse. We don't know him that well. But we know Ben Sasse.

GLENN: Ben Sasse? Yeah, I like Ben Sasse.

PAT: Like him a lot.

GLENN: I think there's several of them.

JEFFY: Louie Gohmert.

PAT: Yes.

GLENN: Yes. There's several of them. I'm not throwing all of them out.

PAT: Hank Johnson. His concerns for Guam.

JEFFY: That goes without saying.

STU: Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

GLENN: Okay. You guys aren't helping.

STU: But obviously there are some.

PAT: Yeah, there's a few.

GLENN: There are many there, and I hate to abandon them. But I'm just so done. I'm just so done with them.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: Why would I stick my neck out for any of you? Why would I endorse or help or anything? Because I don't know what you guys are going to do when you get in?

STU: You know, you're never going to know that. People are flawed.

GLENN: I know. I know. I know.

STU: The problem here is, the second you take that attitude or all of us take that attitude --

GLENN: Then you're done.

STU: -- then there is an unrestrained move to the dark side.

JEFFY: Yep.

STU: You have to have people who are at least standing up. And, you know, you get some things. And you lose a lot of them. You just hope to slow that roll a little bit towards the progressive side. That's really all you can do. But we can't -- it's like the Second Amendment. There was a time -- because I'm not a gun guy. I didn't grow up in gun culture by any means. Though I agree with the Second Amendment. And there was a time where I would hear some of the arguments, you know, made by gun advocates, and they were just -- they seemed almost irrational to me. Like, they were -- as a guy who has never dealt with guns. Like, why are you defending that kind of gun? Like, to me, on its face, without thinking about it deeply, it just kind of seems irrational. You're just defending anything that has to do with guns.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: You have to defend anything that has to do with guns. Because the second you let them pass that barrier, they go to the next barrier. So you better stand up there and defend every single freaking thing.

PAT: That's right.

STU: Because the second they get past that wall, they are onto the next one. And they'll trample the next 50 walls past it. Wherever you set up your -- you know, your defense is where they will stop for the time being.

GLENN: Yes.

STU: So you better set it up as aggressively as possible.

Swedish town that banned church bells has approved a mosque’s call to prayer

Natalia Y/Unsplash

A town in Sweden is under fire after denying requests to ring church bells in the 1990s and the 2000s but recently approving a mosque's request to conduct a weekly Islamic call to prayer.

RELATED: Media's anti-Israel, pro-Islam bias sweeps THIS fact under the rug

Authorities in the town of Vaxjo in southern Sweden have given the local mosque a one-year permit to recite the call to prayer every Friday for about four minutes. But Fr. Ingvar Fogelqvist of St. Michael's, the local Catholic church located about a mile from the mosque, says similar requests to ring church bells were denied.

On today's show, Pat and Jeffy talked about this story and favorable bias toward the Muslim faith. The issue isn't that the Islamic call to prayer is allowed; it's that all religions are not being treated equally.

Trump is following through on his campaign promises. Here are the top 10.

Somebody might want to check the temperature in hell, it might be just a tad chillier than normal.

If you missed Friday's episode of The Glenn Beck Program, you missed something you probably never thought you'd see in this timeline or any other. Glenn actually donned President Trump's trademark red "Make America Great Again" hat and laid out the case for why he thinks Trump will win in a landslide in 2020.

RELATED: The media's derangement over Trump has me wearing a new hat and predicting THIS for 2020

Bottom line: Nancy Pelosi and the mainstream media may have pushed Glenn to this point, but believe it or not, Trump's record will make this next election a walk in the park for number 45. At this point, the sitting president has done enough to earn even Glenn's vote.

Glenn broke down what he thought were the 10 biggest campaign promises that — unlike those made by most politicians — Trump actually kept.

10. Impose a 10% repatriation tax to bring jobs back to America

Not all of Trump's promises were good ones, but regardless of what the consequences may be — he did keep this one.

"Now, I think this one is dangerous," Glenn said on radio Friday. "He did it. Ten percent. Bring all of your money back into the United States. It will create jobs. Yes. It will also create inflation. But it's creating jobs."

9. Withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)

This has been one of Trump's most passionate issues.

"The stop the TPP. Uh-huh. Right. Sure you are. Uh-huh. Yes. He did," Glenn admitted.

8. Withdraw from the disastrous Paris Climate Accord

Glenn found himself eating crow on this.

"I'm on record saying he will never do that because his daughter is a huge global warming person and he only listens to the family. Eh. Wrong," Glenn said with a puff of crow feathers coming from his mouth.

7. Bring North Korea to the table and rein them in

This looked impossible. Not so.

"'I'm going to bring North Korea to the table.' Are you? Everybody has tried to do that," Glenn said. "Now, they're at the table. We don't know what's going to happen. So the result of that is unknown. But has anybody else done that?"

6. Stop over-regulation and jump-start the economy

It's the economy, stupid.

"Does anybody feel like America is beginning to get on track somewhat economically? You know why? Because he fulfilled another promise," Glenn said. "Stop over-regulating the American people. Give them their money. Give the companies the opportunity to expand and bring their money back into the country, and maybe they'll build buildings. Maybe they'll build offices. Maybe they'll build new products. Maybe they'll build new factories. Maybe they'll hire a bunch of people."

Glenn went on.

"Now, I know Seattle is trying to do everything they can to make sure everybody in their city is homeless and unemployed, but the rest of the country is enjoying the feeling of, wow, maybe things are going to be okay."

5. Reverse Obama's executive orders

If you're like Glenn, you've gotten used to politicians promising "no new taxes," but you can really tell they're lying if their lips are moving. Guess what? That's apparently not Trump.

"The executive orders? Yeah. He's reversed a lot of Obama's executive orders," Glenn said. "These are outrageous promises."

4. Pull out of the Iran nuclear deal

No big deal...

"'I'm going to cancel the Iran Deal.' Yep. None of these are small. You know, I've got maybe ten minutes. I think we can get that done in the first term. And they did," Glenn said.

3. Give tax cuts to middle-class Americans

Maybe this could have been better, but we'll take it.

"I don't like the tax cut. I think he could go a lot further," Glenn said. "But that's not even his job. His job is to sign things that Congress puts in front of him. Not to design it. You Republicans in Congress, you disgust me. You disgust me. 'Imagine what we could do if we had the House and the Senate and the White House.' I can imagine what you'll do — nothing. You'll do nothing."

2. Change strategy and defeat ISIS

The mainstream media have been radio silent on this.

"How about the president's — well, I know I can defeat ISIS. I know I can do it. I'll defeat ISIS. He did," Glenn said. "And did you notice no one in the press even talked about it? All of a sudden, we're not talking about ISIS anymore. How come? Oh, I know. President Trump. That's why."

1. Recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and relocate the US embassy

This one is a true game-changer.

"Now, every president will say to you, when he's running, 'I'm going to make Jerusalem the home.' Well, really? The home of the embassy. Really, are you? Because everybody says that, nobody does it. He did it," Glenn said. "And I think that's going to go down as the biggest game-changer possibly in my lifetime. This is going — it already is — it is changing the game in Iran."

Glenn continued.

"And when it does, this president is going to come out and say something directly to those people, that we support them," he said. "And that's going to add fuel to the fire. And you might see a regime change and a collapse of the Islamic regime in Iran. And it will be 100 percent Donald Trump that made that responsible. One hundred percent. You're going to see changes because of this. He kept that promise. A promise I said, he's not going to do that. Nobody is going to do that. He did."

One chapter of ISIS has ended, but another may be starting

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images

For the most part, ISIS has fallen in Syria and Iraq. But before we celebrate the demise of this awful terrorist group, before we let our guard down, we should zoom out a bit, because ISIS is spreading. ISIS has largely just scattered out of the region as if someone turned on the kitchen lights and they scrambled.

RELATED: It IS About Islam: This Is a War Against Evil

The Wall Street Journal spoke with Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at the Nanyang University in Singapore. “Although Islamic State's ideology has suffered, it still has a huge potential," he told them. “Islamic State has entered a phase of global expansion, very much the same way al Qaeda extended globally in late 2001."

ISIS has spread into West Africa, and throughout much of Southeast Asia, and, as is typical of ISIS, they have done it violently, with a sick venom.

The world is their potential rubble, and their fight is endless.

Again, from the Wall Street Journal: “One chapter of ISIS has finished and another is beginning," said Hassan Hassan, a specialist on Islamic State at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy in Washington. “Their resurgence is coming sooner than expected."

The world is their potential rubble, and their fight is endless.

'The Handmaid's Tale' got it right, just with the wrong religion

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

Just in case The Handmaid's Tale's heavy-handed message wasn't already heavy-handed enough, a recent episode made it clear there's always room for further hysteria. Particularly, in relation to depictions of a “patriarchal society" run by Christian doctrine and determined by men — oh those dastardly men.

RELATED: Christian privilege is the new white privilege

The show appropriates Margaret Atwood of the same name, depicting a totalitarian society led by Christian doctrine in which women's bodies are controlled, and they have no rights. The story sounds familiar, but not in the same way Atwood and the show's creators have so smugly assumed.

Just as tone-deaf as 4th wave feminism itself, and tone-deaf in all the exact same places. Most notably, the show's heavy-handed indignation toward Christianity. Toward the patriarchy. Toward conservatives and traditional values. And just like 4th wave feminism, the show completely overlooks the irony at play. Because there is a part of the world where women and children are being raped and mutilated. In fact, in this very real place, the women or girls are often imprisoned, even executed, for being raped, and they are mutilated in unspeakable ways.

Theirs is a cruel, bloody, colorless life.

There is a place, a very real place, where women are forced to cover their entire bodies with giant tarp-like blankets, which is all the more brutal given the endless heat of this place. There is a place where women literally have one-third of the rights of men, a place where women are legally, socially and culturally worth less than men.

They cannot drive cars. They cannot be outside alone. They cannot divorce, they cannot even choose who they marry and often, they are forcibly married at a young age.

They are raped. A lot. Theirs is a cruel, bloody, colorless life. This is the life of tens, perhaps hundreds of millions of women. And, I'll tell you, their religion isn't Christianity.