But unlike other hardened Trump antagonists such as Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Flake is searching for any clue that the wealthy real estate mogul may be moderating his tone and policy stances. One encouraging sign for him was when Trump dismissed the crowd’s “Lock her up!” chants during his RNC speech. Instead, Trump shot back “Let’s defeat her in November” — something Flake tweeted was a “good response.”
He also maintains that Trump has given signals that he would walk back his proposed ban on all Muslims entering the United States, although the presidential nominee flatly denied on NBC’s “Meet the Press” last Sunday that he was rolling back his controversial plan. And Trump’s selection of Mike Pence was a major morale boost for Flake, who has been close friends with the Indiana governor since their days in the House — and he’s traded multiple text messages with him since Pence was added to the GOP ticket.
For Flake, Trump has to stop using language that demonizes Latinos and mocks prisoners of war such as Flake’s senior senator, John McCain of Arizona. Trump has to disavow his Muslim ban, while indicating a willingness to enter into some multilateral trade agreements, Flake said. And the businessman has to formulate a “serious” immigration policy that is more than erecting a wall along the southern border and forcing Mexico to pay for it, Flake argued.
In other words, Flake wants Trump to stop being so Trumpian.
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