Jeff Flake to Harvard Law School graduates: 'We may have hit bottom'

Ronald J. Hansen | The Republic | azcentral.com

Sen. Jeff Flake abandoned subtlety in his latest rhetorical broadside at President Donald Trump on Wednesday, telling Harvard Law School's newest graduates the nation's leader "seemingly has a bottomless appetite for destruction and division."

"Our presidency has been debased. By a figure who seemingly has a bottomless appetite for destruction and division. And only a passing familiarity with how the Constitution works," Flake said at the event ahead of graduation in Cambridge, Mass.

He later continued, "We need each other, and it is a scoundrel who would prosper politically by turning us against each other."

Flake, an Arizona Republican who is retiring at the end of his first Senate term, joked about his current political estrangement from many in GOP circles and added a sly appreciation for ailing Sen. John McCain as well. But the overall tone of the 26-minute speech painted the picture of a nation in dark times and in need of fresh minds willing to think critically and stand strong for longstanding political norms.

Flake vs. Trump

As always, Flake did not mention Trump by name, but left little doubt about the target of his criticism.

"There are times when circumstances may call on you to risk your career in favor of your principles," Flake said. "But you, and your country, will be better for it. You can go elsewhere for a job, but you cannot go elsewhere for a soul."

VALDEZ: Flake's Harvard lament only matters if he runs for president

Flake said his dire assessment of the nation's political institutions comes with a possible upside.

"We may have hit bottom," he said, drawing a smattering of laughs. "This is it. If you have been wondering what the bottom looks like, this is what it looks like when you stress-test all of the institutions that undergird our constitutional democracy at the same time.

"You could say that we are witnesses to history. And if it were possible to divorce ourselves from the obvious tragedy of this debacle, I suppose that might even be interesting, the way some rare diseases are interesting to medical researchers."

Flake's attacks on Trump seem to have escalated since Flake announced in October that he would not seek a second term in the Senate.

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At that time, Flake denounced the president's "reckless, outrageous, and undignified behavior."

In New Hampshire in March, he said, "We must turn away from this brand of poisonous politics, the kind of poison that has the president slinging insults like a bad comic at a cheap roast."

In the Wednesday speech, he ripped what he called "the base, cruel transactional brand of politics that at this moment some people mistakenly think is what it means to make America great.

"To be clear, we did not become great — and will never be great — by indulging and encouraging our very worst impulses. It doesn’t matter how many red caps you sell."

The line, like some of the other unmistakable denunciations of Trump, drew applause from those in attendance.

'I like people whose minds weren't captured'

Flake mentioned McCain, who is battling brain cancer, in another dig at Trump. Flake turned upside down the 2015 taunt from Trump that McCain is "a war hero because he was captured" during the Vietnam War and that he liked "people that weren’t captured."

"To revise and extend a remark the president himself may recognize: You might say that I like people whose minds weren’t captured," Flake said. "That one was for you, Sen. McCain. We’re all pulling for you."

Flake said that his dismay at what is routinely tolerated in Washington these days "has sent some of us wandering into the political wilderness." As someone who has vacationed alone on deserted islands, that is fine with him, he said.

While Flake's speech may have found common ground with many in the Harvard audience, not everyone welcomed him there.

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After Flake's appearance was announced last month, Pete Davis, a Harvard Law School student, faulted Harvard for its "desperate effort to genuflect to right-wing bullies."

In an opinion piece for the Harvard Law Record, he castigated Flake as "a Uranium mine lobbyist; a staunch opponent of disaster relief funding; a yes-vote on the calamitous Iraq War; a passionate opponent of efforts to provide health and economic security for working families; a supporter of the procedural chicanery that blocked Merrick Garland’s ascendance to the Supreme Court; a gay marriage opponent; a budget hypocrite who both advocates for deadly austerity and supports enormous tax cuts for the rich; and a yes-vote on closing down the Legal Services Corporation, the last relic of 'equal justice under law' for poor Americans in the civil justice system."

Flake's speech reinforces his image as the rare Republican willing to condemn Trump's presidency and will offer more fuel to speculation that he may be considering a presidential run in 2020.

"Running for president is not in my plans but I have not ruled anything out," Flake said in March, echoing remarks he has made since last year. Flake added that the GOP belongs to Trump at the moment, but predicted that would eventually pass.

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