--- title: Jeff Flake: Read His Speech Condemning Donald Trump description: Sen. Jeff Flake just announced he won't run for re-election and blasted his own party and President Donald Trump. Read his speech here canonical: https://time.com/4995730/jeff-flake-senate-speech-donald-trump-republican-transcript/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-24T20:28:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:59:05.445Z article:section: Politics og:title: 'Our Children Are Watching.' Read Jeff Flake's Speech Condemning Trump og:description: Flake just announced he won't run for re-election og:url: https://time.com/4995730/jeff-flake-senate-speech-donald-trump-republican-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25b2f136486185b4/6988e34497cdff172d6b2fdf/jeff-flake.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Jeff Flake, Cheryl Flake og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Our Children Are Watching.' Read Jeff Flake's Speech Condemning Trump twitter:description: Flake just announced he won't run for re-election twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25b2f136486185b4/6988e34497cdff172d6b2fdf/jeff-flake.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Our Children Are Watching.' Read Jeff Flake's Blistering Speech Condemning President Trump by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Oct 24, 2017 8:28 PM UTC  Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., accompanied by his wife Cheryl, leaves the Capitol in Washington on Oct. 24, 2017, after announcing he won't seek re-election in 2018. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., accompanied by his wife Cheryl, leaves the Capitol in Washington on Oct. 24, 2017, after announcing he won't seek re-election in 2018.Andrew Harnik—AP by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Oct 24, 2017 8:28 PM UTC Senator Jeff Flake from Arizona [announced Tuesday that he would not run for re-election](http://time.com/4995650/arizona-jeff-flake-retire-donald-trump-republican-party/) and condemned the direction of his own Republican Party, saying he “will not be complicit or silent.” In his speech announcing the news on the Senate floor, Flake delivered a pointed message regarding President Donald Trump and his administration, saying “it seems that our democracy is more defined by our discord and our dysfunction than it is by our values and our principles.” Flake also addressed changes in the political climate, which he referred to as [“the new normal.”](http://time.com/4959983/donald-trump-republican-party-2018/) “We must never regard as normal the regular and casual undermining of our democratic norms and ideals. We must never meekly accept the daily sundering of our country,” Flake said. _Read the full transcript of his remarks below:_ --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4995730/jeff-flake-senate-speech-donald-trump-republican-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4995730/jeff-flake-senate-speech-donald-trump-republican-transcript/"},"headline":"'Our Children Are Watching.' 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