What, then, must be done?

Flake in January looking very concerned about the treatment of refugees in that #MuslimBan, photo by David Kadlubowski/The Republic in AZCentral. It strikes me that there were enough Senators, between him and Sasse and the Democrats, to make an effective noise against that depredation, except that the Majority Leader wasn't one of them and would never allow it, and if Flake wanted to actually accomplish something instead of displaying what a noble guy he is he should have been working on McConnell, not the uncomprehending Fox News viewer in the White House. 

What, then (NPR wanted to know), must be done, Senator Flake?

Asked by Steve whether he thinks "something needs to be done" about President Trump, the Arizona senator replies: "If you are asking if I think the president has committed high crimes or misdemeanors, I don't think so."

"And I don't think there is any Article 25 remedy," he says, referring to a clause in the U.S. Constitution that provides for removing a president who "is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office."

"I just think we just ought to stand up and require something better in terms of behavior and treatment of members of Congress and others, Gold Star families, you name it," Flake says. "But that doesn't have to involve any remedy like the 25th Amendment or impeachment proceedings."

Nothing that bad, for goodness sake. Just a little "casual undermining of our democratic norms and ideals" (Flake's words, yesterday) and "reckless, outrageous, and undignified behavior" and "threats against principles, freedoms, and institutions, the flagrant disregard for truth or decency." Congress should "require something better."

Require how?

I just want everybody to understand, before they fall into a swoon over the courage of this empty suit, what an abject surrender he has just made (he emphasized in the interview that he's still excited about the work he wants to accomplish in his remaining time in the Senate, including "getting the deficit under control", when he just voted five days ago for a budget plan that raises the deficit a trillion and a half dollars, for fuck's sake, after eight years during which the Obama lowered the annual deficit by two thirds against Flake's, and all congressional Republicans', relentless and unbending opposition) and what a sanctimonious poser he really is. Is he going to sponsor a Sense of the Senate resolution? That'll show that Trump! ANY FURTHER DEPLORABLE CONDUCT WILL BE OFFICIALLY DEPLORED AND WE REALLY MEAN IT!

Steve M suggests Flake was going to have a near-impossible time getting reelected anyway, for reasons that go back before Trump (every step he could take to placate the insane Republican primary voters was going to make him less sustainable among the general Arizona public, where his approval rating was at 27% as of March 2014). We're going to be hearing more and more of this using Trump as a convenient excuse for Republican collapse, when Trump is actually a consequence of that.