On Sunday, Senator Jeff Flake told CNN’s Jake Tapper that if the election were held today he would not vote for Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump.
Sen. Jeff Flake: “I simply can’t” support Donald Trump https://t.co/6OZtrfIwim #CNNSOTU https://t.co/QT41fqQ3YH— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 4, 2016
Flake also said he wasn’t impressed with Trump’s immigration speech.
“Well, it was a pretty remarkable speech, in that it just really doubled down on a lot of the rhetoric that he has used before, and it really didn’t explain with any clarity where he’s going to move ahead in the future. It simply went back to some of the positions he has taken.”
Tapper cited polls, noting that for the first time in a long time, Arizona could go for a Democrat in a presidential election this year. While Flake believes “Arizona should still be a red state,” he argued that it’s possible Trump’s rhetoric leads to a Clinton win this year. “Donald Trump, with the rhetoric that he has used and the characterizations of, you know, many of the state’s population, have put the state in play.”
Flake also reiterated his call for Republicans to distance themselves from Trump. “We cannot, for the future of the party, be associated with this kind of message, and with this kind of tone and tenor. It’s just—it’s not good for the party.”
Watch the full exchange here:
