'He is destroying us': Republican begs his GOP colleagues to stand up to Trump

On Wednesday, writing for The New York Times, former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) called on his party to recognize how outgoing President Donald Trump has destroyed them — and get out now.

Flake, despite being a staunch conservative Republican who voted with Trump on most issues, fell out with the president over his institutional attacks on democracy, and ultimately became a consistent critic.

"I once had a career in public life — six terms in the House of Representatives and another six years in the Senate — and then the rise of a dangerous demagogue, and my party's embrace of him, ended that career," wrote Flake. "Or rather, I chose not to go along with my party's rejection of its core conservative principles in favor of that demagogue. In a speech on the Senate floor on Oct. 24, 2017, I announced that because of the turn my party had taken, I would not run for re-election: the career of a politician that is complicit in undermining his own values doesn't mean much."

"Today, the American people deserve to witness the majesty of a peaceful transfer of power, just as I saw, awe-struck, two decades ago. Instead, we find ourselves in this bizarre condition of our own making, two weeks from the inauguration of a new president, with madness unspooling from the White House, grievous damage to our body politic compounding daily," wrote Flake. "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. But he is destroying us."

Flake's op-ed comes out as Republicans in the House and Senate plan to protest the certification of President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College results — a measure certain to end in failure.

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