Two Republican senators blast Trump as party feud deepens

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Tensions among Republicans about President Donald Trump boiled over on Tuesday as two senators accused Trump of debasing US politics and the country’s standing abroad, a rebellion that could portend trouble for his legislative agenda.

The extraordinary public criticism of the president from Jeff Flake and Bob Corker further strained what had already been a fraught relationship between Trump and fellow Republicans as they try to enact tax reform and other policy items.

Jeff Flake: 'I will not be complicit'

Jeff Flake, of Arizona, assailed Trump in a bombshell 17-minute speech on the Senate floor, hours after the president made what was meant to be a bridge-building trip to the Capitol to drum up support for his tax reform plans.

Flake, who has served in the Senate since 2013 and has been an outspoken critic of Trump-era politics, displayed visible emotion, his voice repeatedly breaking, as he announced he would not run for office again next year.

Arizona Republican Jeff Flake unleashed a fierce broadside at US President Donald Trump as he delivered a resignation speech on the Senate floor. / AFP Photo

“We must stop pretending that the degradation of politics and the conduct of some in our executive branch are normal. They are not normal,” Flake warned.

Flake blasted Trump for his unfettered tweeting, and attacked his Republican colleagues for keeping quiet as the president flouts one custom after another.

Bob Corker: Regrets for supporting Trump's presidential bid

Senator Bob Corker arrives for a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., October 24, 2017. /Reuters Photo

Bob Corker, who has also said he is not running for re-election in Tennessee, accused Trump of telling falsehoods that could be easily proven wrong and willfully damaging the country’s standing in the world, eviscerating the president with comments that stirred deepening divisions in the Republican Party.

“You would think he would aspire to be the president of the United States and act like a president of the United States, but that’s not going to be the case apparently,” Corker told reporters. “I’ve seen no evolution in an upward way. In fact, I would say, he’s almost devolved.”

According to Reuters, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders dismissed the comments from Flake and Corker and said Trump wanted senators who could make progress on his policy goals.

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Source(s): AFP ,Reuters ,Xinhua News Agency