The greatest offense that a Republican can make today?
According to former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), it’s honesty.
Flake, in a scathing essay about the GOP and its capitulation to its twice impeached ex-President Donald Trump, slammed the party for bringing America to a “low and dangerous” place.
American freedom “has been predicated on truth,” Flake noted in his article for The Washington Post. But “the destructive effect of the president’s behavior — and the willingness of Republican elected officials to indulge, excuse, defend, justify and, in many cases, just roll with it — has taken a devastating toll.”
Flake, a Republican senator from 2013 until 2019 who left citing Trump’s danger to democracy, said “we did not become a great nation by believing or espousing nonsense, or by embracing lunacy. And if my party continues down this path, we will not be fit to govern.”
Flake ended with a tribute to Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who faces being purged from her House GOP leadership role on Wednesday because of her unwillingness to accept Trump’s election lies.
“Hold your head high, congresswoman,” wrote Flake. “Those of us who believe in American democracy and who live in objective reality are grateful that you have chosen to take a stand for truth — self-evident truth — regardless of the consequences.”