During a recent interview with Business Insider, Flake said anybody who uttered the protectionist rhetoric on trade that Trump has “is not what I’d call a Republican”.
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His question, he said, was whether Trump can run a general election campaign that can win over diverse voters without “further offending them” along the way.
“Yes, I’m the other senator from Arizona – the one who didn’t get captured – and I want to talk to you about statements like that”, Flake responded, according to two Republican officials.
Tennessee Republicans in Congress gave Donald Trump high marks for his meetings with GOP lawmakers Thursday and said they’re committed to seeing he’s elected president.
Thursday was the first time Trump has been invited to address the full House Republican caucus. “Very interesting day! These are people who love our country!”
He also went after Sen.
– Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of IL says Donald Trump is an “Eastern, privileged, wealthy bully”.
“I told him I was impressed with him and was going to support him, ” Inhofe said. “And people on the fence are still on the fence”.
Trump met separately with House and Senate Republicans two weeks before the NY businessman is scheduled to accept the presidential nomination at the Republican convention in Cleveland. It would be wonderful to have a member of the Trump family announce that. He also took aim at another anti-Trump senator, Ben Sasse of Nebraska.
U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, who hadn’t spent time with Trump previously, said he was glad to see the candidate reaching out to lawmakers. “I think you’re seeing the process of unification start”, Scott said.
“Republicans “acknowledged Trump as their political and philosophical leader” by welcoming him to the Hill today”, said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
But some Republicans left the meeting still feeling unsure about Trump. After than Flake informed Trump that he was not on the ballot this year, the Republican source told the Washington Post. “I’ll let you know how I feel about it after it happens”, he said.
Other Republicans rejected the presumption that the meeting with Trump had been anything other than cordial.
While Trump was greeted enthusiastically by a handful of lawmakers, many others have expressed skepticism, criticism or outright opposition to a presidential candidate who has flouted conservative principles and divided the Republican Party. “I’m not planning on attending the convention”, Dent told reporters.
Bringing Cruz on board, even without a formal endorsement, would seem to inoculate Trump from attempts by some delegates – many of whom are aligned with Cruz – to block his nomination.
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Among the possibilities: Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Alabama Sen.
