Sen. Jeff Flake warned of the dangers of populism Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“Populism is a sugar high,” Flake, R-Ariz., said. “Once you come off [that high] it’s particularly troublesome for the party.”
The Arizona senator made the statement in criticizing the White House and President Trump’s approach to politics and running the country, pointing out in particular the behavior on display at the president’s public events.
“At the rallies, with the chants ‘lock her up,’ we shouldn’t be the party for jailing your political opponents,” he said. “Anybody at our rallies should say that’s inappropriate, we shouldn’t do that,” he said. The chants were leveled at Hillary Clinton over her use of an unauthorized private server during her time as secretary of state.
Flake, who is up for re-election in 2018, has a new book out which focuses on the current political environment, Conscience of a Conservative.
“To be a conservative is’t just to follow conservative principles … it’s on behavior,” Flake told host Chuck Todd.
