Former GOP Senator Says Kamala Harris ‘More Conservative’ Than Trump When It Comes to ‘Free Trade’ And ‘Rule of Law’
Former Republican Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) spoke to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Monday night about his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris and argued that Harris is actually more conservative than Donald Trump on a variety of issues.
“If you have a Republican that is going to take Republicans down the wrong path. And if you have a Republican, like I said, who loses an election, a free and fair election and then tries to use the powers of the presidency to hold on to power, then that’s the threshold issue. And I think that we Republicans ought to say, let’s turn the page. Let’s move on, even if we have a Democrat in the meantime. And that’s where I am,” Flake began, explaining his endorsement.
“Well, it’s so interesting to hear you say that, because a lot of people who are watching this show and have watched it are familiar with Republicans who come on who say Donald Trump is not fit for office. But I like his policies better than I like Harris’s. I mean, I think the first, maybe most prominent is the former attorney general, Bill Barr, who has certainly argued that. I wonder, what do you say to those Republicans who argue that because they like his policies better than hers, it’s worth voting for him even if they think he’s not fit for office?” Collins followed up.
“Well, you know, all of us face that as Republicans. We say, well, I’m not going to vote for the former president. We have a lot of people saying that. But I just can’t bring myself to vote for a Democrat. And in 2016, I voted for a third-party candidate. 2020, I voted for Joe Biden. And I’ve thought since 2016, you you need to not just, you know, lodge a protest vote, you have to vote for the alternative. And so that’s that’s what I’ve done. And I think that I’m not telling my fellow Republicans what to do. But that’s what I think should be done,” replied Flake, who served as an ambassador during Biden’s presidency.
“But in your view, if you’re not voting for Donald Trump but also not voting for Harris, you view it as a wasted vote?” Collins pressed.
“It can be seen that way. And like I say, I know Kamala Harris, I know Tim Walz. And and I, I think that they would represent, frankly, conservative values better than the former president. Certainly respect for the rule of law, free trade, and understanding who our allies are abroad. I’ve spent the past three years abroad representing the United States, and I want to support a presidential candidate who knows that we have very real enemies abroad, but that we also have indispensable allies. They need to be supported. I want to know I want to vote for a president who knows the difference and Kamala Harris knows the difference there,” Flake responded.
“Yeah, I mean, interesting to hear you say that you think they embody conservative values even more than Donald Trump does. You know, just it’s a race overall. This weekend, we heard Donald Trump calling Vice President Harris mentally disabled. That is a quote, which obviously is offensive to people who do have disabilities. But he says that on the campaign trail today, he’s saying that the Biden camp can’t get in touch with Biden about the hurricane response. Kemp says that’s not true. We talked to him last night. I mean, when you look at what’s happened even just the last 72 hours, what do you think the next 30 days of this campaign are going to look like?” Collins asked.
“Well, I think we don’t just look to have to look at the last 72 hours. You can look far beyond that. This is, you know, calling people losers and clowns and deriding the country, saying that a country is run by stupid people. That’s just unbecoming of of what a conservative ought to be. Remember, conservatives, you know, we kind of trace our lineage back to Edmund Burke, and that’s so you’re not just a conservative on, you know, on trade or on fiscal conservatism. You ought to be a conservative in comportment as well. And how you treat your fellow human beings. You know, it used to be we have a grand tradition of of the other party just being the loyal opposition. But instead, they’ve been derided as clowns or losers and in this case, mentally disabled. That doesn’t that doesn’t comport well for conservatism, in my view,” Flake concluded.
Watch the clip above via CNN.
