Trump critic Jeff Flake stands by Mitch McConnell after president attacks him

“.@SenateMajLdr does a tough job well,” Flake tweeted. “He has my support.”

Flake, R-Ariz., and Trump have been engaged in a long-running feud.

Flake released a book late last month in which he said conservatives helped create the conditions for the rise of Trump and are emboldening “instability” in the White House by not speaking out more against the president.

“We created him, and now we’re rationalizing him. When will it stop?” Flake wrote in his book, Conscience of a Conservative.

Politico reported Thursday that Robert Mercer, a hedge-fund billionaire who was one of Trump’s top donors, is donating $300,000 to a super PAC backing former state Sen. Kelli Ward, who is challenging Flake in next year’s Republican primary in Arizona.

The president has been in a public feud with McConnell that began earlier this week when the Senate majority leader blamed Trump for setting “excessive expectations” for healthcare legislation.

On Thursday, the president hinted that he may push for McConnell to resign if he can’t advance Trump’s legislative agenda.

“Well, I’ll tell you what. If he doesn’t get repeal and replace done, if he doesn’t get taxes done, meaning cuts and reform, and if he doesn’t get a very easy one to get done – infrastructure – if he doesn’t get that done, then you should ask me that question,” Trump told reporters at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., when asked if McConnell should step down, according to a pool report.

Flake is not the only Senate Republican to come to McConnell’s defense.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, tweeted support for McConnell on Thursday.

“@SenateMajLdr has been the best leader we’ve had in my time in the Senate, through very tough challenges. I fully support him,” Hatch said.