With infamous disgraced Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio back in the news after announcing his plans to run for Senate next year, Arizona lawmaker Jeff Flake is channeling his inner-Michael Scott and repeatedly saying “No!”
When was asked by Jake Tapper if he plans on supporting the ex-sheriff’s endeavors to replace him — as Flake will leave the Senate after his term ends in 2018 — the conservative laughed and said, “No, no, no, no — not at all. That’s not our best forward as Republicans.”
There are countless reasons why Flake would react to Arpaio’s run with laughter, but it’s most likely because the sheriff has a long history of announcing his intentions to run for office, receive free media attention, and then back out — kind of like what Donald Trump would do before he actually ran.
“Well, you better write about and talk about it fast, because it won’t last long,” said Flake while on CNN. “There’s hardly been an election cycle from the early ’90s that Sheriff Joe hasn’t talked about running statewide, and he floats it out there for awhile — then pulls back.
“So, I don’t expect that it will go very far,” he added.
Arpaio has a history of bizarre and controversial incidents, including investigating Barack Obama’s birth certificate — as he pushed the racist conspiracy theory that the former president was born in Kenya — and giving former Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin a pair of pink underwear that he used to humiliate his prisoners with.
He was also convicted of criminal contempt of court in 2017, but was pardoned of the crime by Trump just weeks later.
Watch above, via CNN.
[image via screengrab]
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