Arizona Representative Kelly Townsend is calling out Sen. Jeff Flake for his plans to attack President Donald Trump on Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor. Flake announced his plans on Sunday on CNN and has since back peddled from his implication that Trump could be compared to vicious Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
“It cannot be said that President Trump is attacking the true free press,” said Rep. Townsend in a press release. “A free press should be reporting facts as they happen and would leave opinion and political posturing to the minds of the listener.”
“Many clearly remember when cable networks changed the delivery of news. No longer did we see basic reporting of facts. Some might say that what we are dealing with now is often flat-out lies and fake news. Ratings and advertising took over and what once was basic reporting became entertainment and propaganda,” continued Townsend. “The editorial page has now become the front page news. It is also important to point out that many younger adults do not remember what true unbiased news reporting looks like from a free press. It is understandable then that they believe that it is under attack. What is under attack is ratings driven entertainment disguised as news. I applaud the president for pointing it out and taking this critical issue on.”
“As uncomfortable and crass as it may be, the effort by Donald Trump to restore a true free press is long overdue. We have tried politeness and professionalism and that has gotten us nowhere. It is time to shake things up and demand that the cable networks relabel what it is they deliver to us because they cannot truly call it news.”
Flake’s decision to defend the press and point fingers at Trump stands in stark contrast to his own notorious efforts to silence the press.
In 2013, after a bizarre appearance on the James T. Harris show out of Tucson, Arizona, Flake’s staff vowed to “push back” in response to a report on the interview in the Arizona Daily Independent (ADI).
The ADI reported that Flake had admitted in the interview with Harris that the United States Air Force was planning to mothball the A-10 Warthog. The news making interview exposed Flake’s failure to not only protect the aircraft, but also his desire to keep the information from the public.
As part of his effort to “squish the report like a bug” Flake’s staff claimed he was ignorant of mothballing timetable nor did “he have information on any such timetable. He said that the Air Force wants to eventually phase out the A-10, which is no secret.”
Not only was it a secret to the residents of southern Arizona, whose economy relies in large part on jobs created by the A-10’s home, Davis Monthan Air Force base, Flake was forced to pull back his statement. Instead he claimed that he did not want the community to learn of the Air Force’s plan “at this time.” His staff argued at the time that it would have been better for the community to not know about the plans for the A-10 so that they could ignorantly rally in support of the Davis Monthan Air Force Base.
Eventually Rep. Martha McSally, who has just entered the race to fill the seat soon to be vacated by Flake, successfully took on the cause of the A-10. Flake opted to vacate his seat in 2018 when it became apparent that he lacked the support to be re-elected.