Former GOP senator buries his party for 'total capitulation to Trump' in scathing interview

Former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) this week told the Washington Post that he has been shocked at seeing so many of his one-time colleagues completely sell out their former principles to curry favor with President Donald Trump.

In the interview, Flake said that many Republicans have made a cynical calculation that they will tolerate anything Trump does so long as he delivers on tax cuts and right-wing judges.

"It was painful to watch the rally in Arizona: the president onstage with virtually all of my Republican colleagues from Arizona -- the governor on down, some of whom had been reluctant previously to be on a campaign stage with the president," he said. "But who have just completely and utterly thrown in. Total capitulation of the party to Trumpism."

Flake says that Republicans continue kissing up to Trump even though they believe he's doing long-term damage to the party's prospects.

"I don’t know anyone who thinks that this is the future of the party," he said. "This is a demographic cul-de-sac we’re in, if nothing else. Anger and resentment only go so far; you have to have a governing philosophy. I don’t know of any of my colleagues who really believe this is it."