Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Trump jabs Flake amid 2020 speculation: He 'doesn’t have a clue'

President Donald Trump on Thursday questioned how Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) could "think about running for office" given his "record low polling numbers," taking aim at one of his most outspoken Republican critics in Congress who has declined to rule out running against the president in 2020.

"How could Jeff Flake, who is setting record low polling numbers in Arizona and was therefore humiliatingly forced out of his own Senate seat without even a fight (and who doesn’t have a clue), think about running for office, even a lower one, again?" the president tweeted. "Let’s face it, he’s a Flake!"


It was not immediately clear what "lower" office Trump felt Flake may be weighing. Flake said in a brief interview Thursday that he had "no idea what" the president was referring to in the tweet.

But Flake, who is retiring from the Senate this year, again stoked speculation he may challenge Trump in the Republican presidential primary in 2020, telling NBC last month he has not ruled out the possibility.

“It's not in my plans. But I have not ruled anything out," Flake told "Meet the Press." The Arizona lawmaker, who has at times delivered stinging rebukes of the president, added that he hopes "somebody runs on the Republican side other than the president, if nothing else, simply to remind Republicans what conservatism is."

Flake has repeatedly spoken out against Trump's rhetoric and actions in office, criticizing his “destructive behavior" during a stinging speech on the Senate floor last year. Trump has returned fire, labeling the lawmaker "Jeff Flake(y)" on Twitter and hitting his "anemic" poll numbers, which the president said made the legislator "unelectable".

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Trump's latest remarks came shortly before Flake was expected to address the Senate floor Thursday morning to slam the president's trade tariffs on foreign allies. According to a preview of the address tweeted by Flake on Wednesday, the lawmaker looked to speak out about "the administration's protectionist policies and the importance of America's leadership in the world."

"Make no mistake, we are not – as some administration officials have suggested – in the leisurely early innings of a baseball game, we are in the nascent stages of a full-scale trade war," Flake told lawmakers Thursday. "And despite the president's statement that this war will be 'easily won,' any student of history knows that, unlike a baseball game where the winner is guaranteed, a trade war only guarantees that there will be losers."

The remarks by the outgoing legislator drew a rebuke from GOP Arizona Senate candidate Kelli Ward, who is running to fill the seat he will vacate in the upcoming midterm elections.

“Flake’s latest personal attack of the President on the Senate Floor today demonstrates he’s lost all interest in advancing an America First agenda, instead focusing on grandstanding before he leaves office," Ward said in a statement. "Flake shows little interest in working constructively with the President, hurling personal insults questioning the President’s character and approach rather than addressing underlying policy differences. Arizonans are sick and tired of it.”

Elana Schor contributed to this report.