Sen. Jeff Flake Blasts Trump, Abandons 2018 Bid and Ignites Twitter: ‘GOD BLESS YOU JEFF FLAKE’

“Flake and Pence were very good friends — I wonder what the status of that friendship is now,” one person tweets

Republican Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake’s dramatic announcement that he will not seek re-election in 2018 — a Senate-floor speech filled with shots at President Trump — has set off rampant speculation about what his decision means for his party.

“I’m announcing today that my service in the Senate will conclude at the end of my term in early January 2019,” said Flake, one of President Trump’s most vocal Republican critics. “It is clear at this moment that a traditional conservative, who believes in limited government and free markets, devoted to free trade, pro-immigration, has a narrower and narrower path to nomination in the Republican party.”

Flake has been saddled with low poll numbers and faced a nasty primary challenger in the form of osteopathic physician Kelli Ward.

Flake’s announcement included pointed criticisms of Trump.

“We must never regard as ‘normal’ the regular and casual undermining of our democratic norms and ideals,” said Flake. “We must never meekly accept the daily sundering of our country — the personal attacks, the threats against principles, freedoms, and institutions; the flagrant disregard for truth or decency, the reckless provocations, most often for the pettiest and most personal reasons, reasons having nothing whatsoever to do with the fortunes of the people that we have all been elected to serve.”

Some on Twitter, especially, those who lean left, rejoiced, and said other politicians of conscience should follow his lead. But Trump supporters hoped he would hurry on his way out. Here are some tweets:

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