Jeff Flake floats primary run against Trump in 2020 - Polidicks

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/09/flake-2020-trump-980914 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 on Friday. Flake said both outgoing Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Nebraska GOP Sen. Ben Sasse could give Trump a credible challenge. “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.” 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. 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. "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."

It would be unprecedented (but hilarious) if the Republicans don't nominate their own president for a second term.

There is precedent for a president getting an unexpectedly strong primary challenger before losing reelection, both of the last two times an incumbent didn't get reelected were like this. Ronald Reagan primaried Gerald Ford in 1976, and Pat Buchanan primaried George HW Bush in 1992.

Well they clearly need to choose someone else to run then since your dumb ass lived up to your name and flaked out on being anything short of repugnant.

They cannot go against the Party. Look at Lisa Murkowski, she voted present, not yes or no on Kavanaugh, and the Alaska GOP's considering disciplinary action and Sarah Palin will primary her when she's up for reelection.

Then the GOP needs to be dismantled. Party before country is by far one of the most idiotic and harmful stances to have and only make someone a useless spineless fuckwit.

Watch this spineless twat flake out at the first sign of Trump looking at him. Through twitter.

Any GOP primary challenge to Trump is doomed to fail. Republican voters love him more than they love the party or any of its other politicians

We should look at the history that exists in the party. In 1976, Ronald Reagan ran against Ford in the primary (albeit lost) but it cost Ford attention and made it a bit more difficult to convince a post-Nixon Republican Party that Ford was certainly the candidate they wanted. Ford lost 1976 to Carter and Reagan would go on to take a 1980 because, similarly, Ted Kennedy was grabbing the more reliably blue states that Carter was eyeing. Maybe you could get Biden (or Hillary her final ticket, if you really think she hasn't hit her political expiration date) in the office with a bit more ease by having a candidate that isn't a complete idiot sway the portion of the Republican voterbase that doesn't get on their knees for Trump the very moment he says "Make Trump Happy Again". If the Republican Party won't kick Trump to the curb in 2020 before the General, then they certainly can say goodbye to my vote for the foreseeable future. I'd still prefer Kasich to run as a more sanitary option as his more appropriate views to some issues such as LGBTQ rights are the "less gubment" views I truly want the Republican Party to move in. "Deregulate all the things" is just not a viable way to run a country. All of this is assuming Trump hasn't faced impeachment or "voluntary retirement". I'm not voting for Pence. Nope.

Mr. "I have a concence for 5 minutes" Flake. He spent this entire 2 years bitching about trump but never actually doing a goddamned thing. He had absolutely nothing to loose but he still towed the party line anyways. no fuck you flake you're not gonna do shit and you know it because to you the left is incomprehensibly bad even compared to trump.

I'm not sure that's necessarily true. At least a chunk of the essential Evangelical voting block held their noses while voting for him. If they were presented with an alternative that wasn't as personally repugnant, they might turn on him like a dime. Also, the main reason Trump got the nomination in 2016 was because he was the last man standing. The ten bazillion other candidates cannibalized each others' support, while Trump had the corner on the reddest, most racist republicans. If 2020 was to offer only one primary challenger, and one that was less personally repugnant, Trump is not going to have nearly as easy a time cruising to the nomination, because he will actually have to fight for the win instead of just letting the other candidates tear each other apart on their own.

That would be fucking glorious. I'd have to go with smurfy on this one. The rhetoric online is so unbelievably pro-Trump, with people generally putting Trump before party. Trump has completely re-written the rules. What we need is a good Democratic candidate like Sanders, O'Rourke or Warren, to have a reasonably chance of winning in 2020.

I will be upset if Trump's twitter nickname for him is not "Flaking Flake".