A little over a month ago, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) stood on the floor of the U.S. Senate and very publicly rebuked President Donald Trump, imploring his party members to stop being “complicit” in “the daily sundering of our country.”
On Tuesday, Flake put a (small) amount of money where his mouth is via a highly symbolic $100 donation to Doug Jones, the Alabama Democrat running against Republican Senate hopeful and accused child molester Roy Moore.
Flake tweeted a photo of the check as evidence, along with the caption “Country over Party”:
Federal Election Commission rules don’t require candidates to publicly disclose donors whose campaign contributions are less than $200, so without Flake’s tweet, we’d have no idea he donated. Put another way: Pics or it didn’t happen.
“Thanks Jeff,” Jones responded on Twitter. “I hope others will donate too!” And in a nod to his opponent’s sexual predation of teenage girls, Jones included the hashtag #RightSideOfHistory.
Flake, who is retiring from the Senate, made the donation hours after an awkward appearance at the White House seemingly designed to put him ill at ease. While seated in a reserved chair next to the president, Trump reaffirmed his support for Moore and predicted that “he’s going to do very well.”
The arm-twisting seemed to have little effect, however, as Flake told reporters afterward he thought the president was “wrong” and worried GOP support for Moore “will have negative impacts for the party in the long term.”
At a campaign appearance Tuesday, Jones framed the race not as Democrat versus Republican but as right versus wrong.
“I damn sure believe and have done my part to ensure that men who hurt little girls should go to jail ― not to the U.S. Senate,” said Jones, a former prosecutor.
“This is about decency, not a political party, and anyone who thinks otherwise should be ashamed. It is the people of Alabama, the parents of Alabama, who will hold Roy Moore accountable. This is about Alabama’s honor and doing what is right. Nothing more. And certainly nothing less.”