With 64 days to the election, the Republican nominee’s attack on the senator from the swing state of Arizona is a risky strategy

Donald Trump entered a bitter war of words with Senator Jeff Flake on Sunday as the Republican nominee reverted to his behavior in the primary where he constantly attacked elected GOP officials.

Trump used Twitter to attack Flake, a first-term senator from Arizona who has yet to commit to supporting Trump in November, as “very weak and ineffective” on the issue of immigration.



Trump also tweeted: “The Republican Party needs strong and committed leaders, not weak people such as @JeffFlake, if it is going to stop illegal immigration,” after Flake criticized Trump in an interview Sunday with CBS’s John Dickerson.

In the interview, Flake said Trump’s habit of changing his message on immigration was confusing for voters.

“It’s kind of a 360-degree pivot at times. That’s not clear at all. Some people said it was hardening, some said softening. I say it was just confusing.”

The result left Flake feeling that it was unlikely that he would be able to support the Republican nominee in the election. “It becomes increasingly difficult to see that he’s going to change, so I don’t expect that I’ll be able to support him in November,” said Flake.

Trump had spent the two weeks leading up to his major immigration speech on Wednesday hinting at support for a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants before reversing course. This culminated when Trump made a surprise visit to Mexico to meet with President Enrique Peña Nieto where he described illegal immigration as a “humanitarian crisis”. Only few hours later, while speaking to crowd of supporters in Phoenix, Trump announced “there will be no amnesty” and insisted “anyone who enters the United States illegally is subject to deportation, otherwise we don’t have a country.”

Trump has tangled with Flake before. In July, the Arizona senator confronted Trump in a closed door meeting with other Republican elected officials in Washington DC. Flake has since called on the RNC to shift resources away from Trump and towards downballot races.

Trump’s war of words with Flake comes 64 days before the election and with polls in Flake’s home state of Arizona looking increasing close. Hillary Clinton has recently begun advertising in the once deep red state and recent polls show Arizona to be a toss-up in November as the state’s growing Hispanic population has been alienated by Trump’s immigration rhetoric.

In addition, the attack on Flake, who is one of the most prominent Mormon politicians in the United States, risks further alienating that traditionally conservative demographic. Mormons have long viewed the Republican nominee unfavorably and their discontent has contributed to Trump’s weak poll numbers in states like Arizona as well as Utah.

Flake is not the only Republican senator who is not voting for the party’s nominee. At least half a dozen others are refusing to back Trump’s candidacy, ranging from arch-conservative Ben Sasse of Nebraska to moderate Susan Collins of Maine.