"... As of now, I would still not vote for Donald Trump," the Arizona senator told Tapper, adding that "you can always write somebody in."

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"I would like to vote for Donald Trump. It's not comfortable to not support your nominee," Flake said. "But given the positions that he has taken and the tone and tenor of his campaign, I simply can't."

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The bad blood didn't start this weekend, of course; there's history there. Recently, we took a look at Flake's conspicuous — and unapologetic — lack of enthusiasm for his party's standard-bearer, and why he's comfortable keeping his distance. Here's that previous story:

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) is quickly becoming the Republican Party's anti-Trump standard bearer, mostly because he can.

His home state politics, the fact that he doesn't have to run for reelection for two years and even his religion make Flake the perfect Senate Republican to call out Donald Trump — and, possibly, get away with it.

Flake, unlike fellow GOP Trump critics Sens. Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Susan Collins of Maine, hasn't officially said he won't vote for Trump this election cycle. But Flake goes out of his way to dis Trump, writes my colleague, Paul Kane.

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Here's a snippet from Kane's great new story out of Arizona:

Even when no one asks him about Donald Trump, Sen. Jeff Flake makes sure the audience knows how much he despises the Republican presidential nominee. “No Trump questions,” the Arizona Republican mused at the end of two meetings on Tuesday with employees and executives at the Allstate Insurance office. No matter. Flake went on to tell the roughly 50 workers that he will not support Trump, “given the kind of campaign he is running.” He has “little faith” that Trump will change his ways, dooming him to defeat in November. Furthermore, Flake added, emphatically, “I don’t think he should win if he continues to campaign as he is.”

This isn't the first time Flake has stood up to Trump and let the media know about it. Earlier in the summer, he introduced himself in a closed-door Capitol Hill meeting with Trump as "the other senator from Arizona — the one who didn’t get captured." Then he confirmed the comment publicly.

Flake's vocal anti-Trump strategy is not without risk. Kane reports that arch-conservatives in Arizona are already threatening to finding a primary challenger to punish Flake. But the senator seems to be betting he can speak his mind on Trump and not hurt his political future. Here's why:

1. He's not up for reelection this year: Despite having pretty much every reason to un-endorse Trump, Flake's partner in the Senate, John McCain (R-Ariz.), has stuck by the nominee. There are a few reasons for that, my colleague Aaron Blake theorized recently, but most pressing was probably the primary McCain had on Tuesday. His main challenger, state Sen. Kelli Ward, was a Trump supporter, and Trump won the state's presidential primary in March by almost 20 points. (McCain defeated Ward.)

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Flake doesn't have those problems — at least not yet. He's up for reelection in 2018. Even if Trump ends up winning in November and Arizona voters love their new president, voters have pretty short memories.

2. Arizona's a changing state: Even though it has voted for the Democratic presidential candidate only once in the past 60 years, Arizona has all the signs of a rising swing state, thanks to (a) shifting demographics and (b) Trump.

First, demographics: As in much of the West, Arizona's Hispanic population is booming. Hispanics make up some 26 percent of the state's eligible voting population, way above the U.S. average. And the state's Hispanic voters overwhelmingly voted Democratic — just 26 percent voted for Flake in 2012, while 72 percent voted for his Democratic challenger. Flake's election ended up being one of the closest Senate races in the country.

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From 2008 to 2012, the Hispanic share of the electorate increased from 12 percent to 17 percent, while the white share of the electorate decreased from 78 percent to 72 percent.

When you fold in other Democratic-leaning voters — unmarried women, African Americans and millennials — that's 60 percent of the state's eligible voting population.

The challenge for Democrats, as always, is how to get these people to actually vote, since they tend to show up to the polls in much lower ratios than Arizona's older, whiter population. But the long-term trend is clear: The Hispanic share of the vote in Arizona is growing, while the white share is dropping

Next, Trump: If there was ever a year for Democrats to motivate Arizona Hispanics to become active voters, this might be it. Something like 8 in 10 Hispanics dislike Trump, which could be one reason Trump is leading Clinton in a new CNN/ORC poll in the state by just five points even though Mitt Romney won Arizona in 2012 by 10 points.

Clinton, sensing an opening, is starting to invest in a get-out-the-vote team in Arizona. It's just one of several red states that could be in play in 2016.

Flake seems to be calculating that it's a matter of when, not if, Arizona becomes bluer, and is positioning himself in a way to take advantage of it. (That helps explain why Flake has supported bipartisan immigration reform, too.)

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3. His religion: Flake is a Mormon. And Mormons, speaking generally, don't tend to be terribly fond of Trump.

The Pew Research Center found Mormons are the most reliable Republican voting bloc in the country. And yet, "many Mormons see frightening parallels between Trump’s attacks on Muslims today and their own fraught history," writes Dan Cox of the Public Religion Research Institute.

That was a bigger problem for Trump in Utah, where he got walloped in the state's GOP caucus, losing to Ted Cruz by 55 (!) points. And Utah is now on our list of 2016 battleground states, thanks in part to Mormon opposition to Trump.

In Arizona, Mormons make up just 6 percent of the state's population (compared with 60 percent in Utah). Flake is part of that 6 percent. And he's not a Trump fan.