Republicans in Congress should reject President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the Electoral College, former GOP Sen. Jeff Flake wrote in an opinion piece in The New York Times.
"Unfortunately, President Trump refuses to accept the reality of his substantial loss, and so becomes determined to create an alternate reality in which he won," the former Arizona senator wrote. "As he crosses that rubicon, Mr. Trump has taken many in my party with him, all of whom seem to have learned the wrong lessons from this anomalous presidency."
Flake was uncompromising in his criticism of those who backed Trump and supported his allegations.
"It is hard to comprehend how so many of my fellow Republicans were able — and are still able — to engage in the fantasy that they had not abruptly abandoned the principles they claimed to believe in," Flake wrote. "It is also difficult to understand how this betrayal could be driven by deference to the unprincipled, incoherent and blatantly self-interested politics of Donald Trump, defined as it is by its chaos and boundless dishonesty. The conclusion that I have come to is that they did it for the basest of reasons — sheer survival and rank opportunism."
Flake said that if Republicans certify President-elect Joe Biden as the winner and perform their legislative duty as part of a peaceful transition of power, then they can break free of Trump's presidency.
"My fellow Republicans, as Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of Georgia has shown us this week, there is power in standing up to the rank corruptions of a demagogue. Mr. Trump can't hurt you," he wrote. "But he is destroying us."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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