Jeff Flake said he doesn't expect many other prominent Republican elected officials to assume the mantle of Trump critics, after he and fellow skeptic Bob Corker of Tennessee leave office. | Saul Loeb/Getty Images) Elections Flake floats GOP primary run against Trump: 'Somebody needs to run' The retiring Arizona senator isn't ruling out a 2020 bid. John Kasich or Ben Sasse would be good, too, he said.

Jeff Flake said Friday that a Republican needs to challenge Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2020. And it might be him.

Flake gave at least some credence to the widespread speculation that he might mount a quixotic primary campaign against Trump, given the retiring senator’s public fretting about the state of the party. The Arizona GOP senator, who has visited New Hampshire recently, is decidedly keeping his name out there.


“I’ve not ruled it out. I’ve not ruled it in. Just, somebody needs to run on the Republican side,” Flake said on Friday in a lengthy conversation with POLITICO and The Hill. Flake said both outgoing Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Nebraska GOP Sen. Ben Sasse could give Trump a credible challenge.

Flake insisted that Trump’s popularity in the party is ruining the GOP’s long-term viability and predicted only a brutal electoral loss could make that clear.

“I hope somebody does [run], just to remind Republicans what it means to be conservative and what it means to be decent. We’ve got to bring that back,” Flake said. “You can whip up the base for a cycle or two but it wears thin. Anger and resentment are not a governing philosophy.”

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Flake was willing to rule one thing: A return to the Senate in the near future. There’s an open Senate seat up for grabs in Arizona in 2020, but the first-term senator made clear it’s not for him. “That’s not in the cards, dude … but I’m not swearing off politics,” he said.

Indeed, the soft-spoken but attention-seeking Republican is eyeing a brutal legislative battle with Trump before he retires, planning to push legislation to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The odds are long: Majority Leader Mitch McConnell thinks the proposal is unnecessary even after Attorney General Jeff Sessions was pushed out. And it’s easy enough for Republicans to shut down Flake's demands for a vote, unless he and his Democratic allies insist that his plan is included in spending legislation.

Still, Trump is taking notice, attacking Flake on Twitter Friday for pressing forward with the Mueller bill.

“Jeff Flake(y) doesn’t want to protect the Non-Senate confirmed Special Counsel, he wants to protect his future after being unelectable in Arizona for the ‘crime’ of doing a terrible job! A weak and ineffective guy!” Trump said.

On Wednesday, the president also took credit for pushing Flake out of office. After releasing a book excoriating Trump, Flake announced last year he would not run for reelection.

So on the issue of his own political viability, Flake said Trump had a point.

“In a sense, he did. The price to win a Republican primary was to stand on a stage with the president over and over while he insults minorities and ridicules both Republicans and Democrats and Americans,” Flake said. “I couldn’t do that. So, in a sense, yeah. I’ll give him credit.”

In many ways, Flake leaves the Senate as a man without a constituency. Liberals and conservatives outside of Washington have little regard for him: The left says he talks a good game but doesn’t back it up, the right sees him as an enemy of the president.

But Flake is well-liked by most of his Senate colleagues and is teaming with Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) on the Mueller bill. Coons said in an interview that should he pursue another office, Flake “has a very compelling story to tell.”

“He’s earned credibility by making tough stands against a president who can be sharply critical of anyone who questions him,” Coons said. “He’s a really conservative guy … I don’t know what the next six months could bring.”

Flake said Kasich appears to be building an organization to challenge Trump and that Sasse “would be a strong candidate” should he run against the president. James Wegmann, a spokesman for Sasse, said the senators are friends “but this is D.C. gossip and let’s be honest: When senators talk about senators, the only people who really care are senators.”

Still, it’s hard to overstate how worried Flake says he is is about the state of his party and how much he hopes Trump gets primaried. He said repeatedly that the GOP “can’t be the party of Donald Trump," but he also acknowledged that the president could still win reelection even if he believes his party is eventually doomed for a series of electoral blowouts.

Whether Trump can win again “depends on if one, there’s no alternative on the Republican side. And two, if the Democrats nominate someone on the far left, it’s possible,” Flake said.

Flake said he doesn't expect many other prominent Republican elected officials to assume the mantle of Trump critics, after he and fellow skeptic Bob Corker of Tennessee leave office. As long as people want to win Republican primaries and Trump is president, they will continue to yoke themselves to Trump, he said, and it will only get worse with a Democratic House investigating and antagonizing the president.

"The natural inclination, because the president kind of demands loyalty, is to stand by your party, stand with your tribe," Flake said. "So you’re going to see that really play out a lot more than we’ve seen in the past. It’s not going to be a pretty picture."

He added, "In the end that turns off people we need to court — suburban women, college-educated voters — it’s just going to accelerate [their] departure from the party."