Trump critic Jeff Flake claims 'a lot more' Republicans are set to speak out over behaviour of President

It may be little more than wishful thinking

Senator Jeff Flake, who announced he would not seek re-election because of the toxic transformation he believes Donald Trump has had on politics, has claimed “a lot more” Republicans are set to speak out against the President.

Mr Flake took to the floor of the Senate earlier this week to say he would not run again for his Arizona seat, as a form of protest against the President’s “reckless, outrageous and undignified” behaviour.

“We must never regard as “normal” the regular and casual undermining of our democratic norms and ideals,” he said. “We must never meekly accept the daily sundering of our country.”

The attack from Mr Flake was probably the most outspoken yet from a Republican. Mr Trump has also been criticised by Senator John McCain, who is suffering from cancer, and Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, who has also said he is not seeking re-election. Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine has also continued to speak out.

On Wednesday, Mr Flake was asked why, if Republicans on Capitol Hill were so outraged by the President’s actions and style, more had not spoken out against him. “A lot of my colleagues have spoken out and I think a lot more will,” he told ABC News. “What I tried to say in my speech, was the longer we wait, the longer we normalise this sort of behaviour and this sort of politics, and we can’t.”

Yet while Mr Flake may find he receives plenty of support in private, it may be that Republicans decide not to speak out against Mr Trump in public, having calculated they do not want want to upset the President’s supporters as they head into the midterm elections.

Jennifer Duffy, an expert with the Cook Political Report, told The Independent that Republicans were going into the midterms having to protect just nine senate seats, while Democrats were having to hold on to 25, 10 of which were in states Mr Trump won. All 435 House seats are being contested.

A key problem for Republicans is that Mr Trump’s former chef strategist, Steve Bannon, has vowed to support insurgent candidates to force Republican primaries in every Senate seat except for that of Ted Cruz.

Ms Duffy said Mr Bannon’s actions could have the impact of opening the path to the Democrats, still desperate for a win after Mr Trump’s surprise victory almost a year ago, to take control of the Senate.

Moreover, Mr Bannon’s strategy, which received a boost when his candidate former judge Roy Moore recently won a Republican primary in Alabama, will mean that more and more Republican candidates challenging in 2018, or competing to challenge, will be from the Tea Party wing of the party. In short, those seeking reelection, cannot afford to anger Mr Trump or the approximately one third of voters who remain solidly loyal to him.

Mike Allen, the executive editor of Axios.com, said that lost in much of the flurry of reporting about the criticism of Mr Flake, Mr Corker and Mr McCain, was that Mr Trump enjoyed public support from most of the 49 other Senate Republicans and 239 House Republicans, including every person in elected leadership.

“Republicans in private cringe at the thought of President Trump. But it’s meaningless if they publicly bow to him, routinely vote for him and never condemn him,” he wrote. “This – not the criticism by the few – is the story of the moment and the first nine months. With few accomplishments, countless petty GOP fights and slights, Trump is strong as ever.”

Mr Trump later dismissed Mr Flake’s comments, saying he did not “blame him” for standing down as he doubted he could be re-elected. He said there was “great unity” among Republicans despite the assertions of Mr Flake. “The first time I saw him on TV I asked if he was a Democrat,” he said. “His poll numbers are terrible, he would never have won. He is saying that because he has nothing else to say. I wish him well, and I’m sure he will do the right thing by voting for our tax cut.”

Earlier this year, Mr Flake wrote and published Conscience of a Conservative: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle, a book in which he criticised what he said was a “Faustian bargain” the Republican Party had made by supporting Mr Trump.

As it was, Mr Flake was facing a tough primary challenge in Arizona from former state senator Kelli Ward, who previously failed in her effort to take out Mr McCain. This year her campaign has gained traction and Mr Bannon recently attended a fundraiser for her.

Whether Ms Ward, who is very conservative, can beat Krysten Sinema, a moderate Democrat, is unclear. The politics website FiveThirtyEight said while polls showed Ms Ward some way ahead of Mr Flake, a poll in August gave Ms Sinema a 32-31 lead over Ms Ward, with 38 per cent undecided.