Former Republican Sen. Jeff Flake on Monday, when he received Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, dismissed President Trump as an “embarrassment,” while dismissing his claims that Democrats are trying to run in the 2020 presidential election.
Flake’s remarks come after he and more than a dozen former Republican members of Congress threw their support behind a “Republicans for Biden” effort launched Monday by Biden’s campaign to attract potential GOP supporters this November.
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Flake, who told reporters Monday that he had never voted for a Democratic presidential candidate, slammed the president and criticized him and his administration for “certainly not conservative.”
“Now, as President of the United States, he has said, and I quote, the only way we will lose this election is if the elections are rigged,” Flake said Monday. “What kind of president is talking like that?” What kind of American leader endorses the confidence in the elections in his own country? ”
He added: “It is part of his strategy to retain power. This is extremely dangerous for a free society, and it continues to harm our democracy.”
Flake called Trump an “embarrassment to the office” of the presidency, and questioned whether anyone wanted American children to “emulate” his behavior. ‘
“The president’s behavior is not and will not change,” Flake said. “And whatever else you call the behavior I just described, it’s not conservative.”
Flake went on to say that Trump has a ‘misconception’ about the separation of powers, saying “governing by tweet is not conservative.”
“It’s not even governing,” he said.
Flake said Republicans could not claim that the party “remained true to conservative principles” during the Trump administration.
“There’s less of a conservative case for re-electing the president,” Flake said.
Flake showed Biden as the “kind of Democrat” he is “trust will approach the constitutional role with the respect and dignity it deserves.”
“I know he’s going to get over it all, because that’s what he’s done his whole career,” Flake said, calling Biden a ‘good and decent man.’
“I do not always agree with him, and there will be many policies that we will not agree with in the future,” Flake said. “And that’s okay.”
He added: “The stability of leadership and the health and survival of our democracy, these things replace far too many policy issues where we can agree or disagree.”
Flake said it was “because of his conservatism” and his “belief in the constitution and in the separation of powers”, as well as his concerns about the “behavior and behavior of our current president” that I proudly and wholeheartedly support here today. to support Joe Biden as the next President of the United States of America. “
Biden’s list of Republican supporters, first shared with Fox News, includes a number of well-known Trump critics, most notably Flake.
Last fall, he penned an up-and-coming lawmaker to leave the president and save her ‘souls’ because he received support for dismissal. He has since said he will not vote for Trump, but he has held a formal approval of Biden to this day.
Some others on the list had already supported the former vice president, including former Republican Sens. Gordon Humphrey of New Hampshire (who is now an independent) and John Warner of Virginia. Together they have a number of former members of the Republican House:
Earlier reps. Steve Bartlett of Texas, Bill Clinger of Pennsylvania, Tom Coleman of Missouri, Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, Charles Djou of Hawaii, Mickey Edwards of Oklahoma, Wayne Gilchrest of Maryland, Jim Greenwood of Pennsylvania, Bob Inglis of South Carolina, Jim Kolbe of Arizona, Steve Kuykendall of California, Ray LaHood of Illinois (who served as Secretary of Transportation in the Obama administration), Jim Leach of Iowa, Connie Morella of Maryland, Mike Parker of Mississippi, Jack Quinn of New York, Claudine Schneider of Rhode Island, Chris Shays of Connecticut, Peter Smith of Vermont, Alan Steelman of Texas, Bill Whitehurst of Virginia, Dick Zimmer of New Jersey, and Jim Walsh of New York.
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A Biden campaign official told Fox News that the encouragement is a “strong dismissal” of Trump and his administration.
The “Republicans for Bidding” program is part of the nationwide campaign to defeat Republicans who plan to vote for the Democratic nominee in November.
The Biden campaign calls on Republicans who plan to support Biden in the general election to encourage other Republicans to organize in their communities by using their “Vote Joe” app and other tools. An official from the Biden campaign said the app creates existing relationships among followers and they can identify and keep new supporters and potential persuasive supporters engaged.
The campaign also sends mass text messages from the app to encourage volunteers and provide updates on events.
Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh dismissed the latest announcement in a statement to Fox News: “Joe Biden has been a failure in the Washington Swamp for half a century, so no one should be surprised when Collect mushroom creatures to protect one of them.
“President Trump has rallied support – more than 95 percent – among true Republican voters,” the statement continued, “and also makes strong interventions in Biden’s core Democratic constituencies, such as Black Americans, Latinos, and union members. President Trump’s record of success for all Americans will bring him to victory in November. “
RNC spokesman Steve Guest said Flake “has abandoned every set of principles he once knew to embrace Joe Biden, a far-left Democrat who is the banner man for $ 93 trillion $ 93 trillion Green New deal to raise taxes on the middle class and force the government of health care on the American people. ‘
Fox News’ Madeline Rivera contributed to this report.
