--- title: Jeff Flake Blasts Donald Trump 'Treason' Comments description: One of President Donald Trump's loudest critics denounced his calling Democrats "treasonous" at an event in Ohio the prior evening. canonical: https://time.com/5136217/donald-trump-jeff-flake-treason/ author: Nash Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-06T20:14:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:10:31.276Z article:section: Politics og:title: 'Treason Is Not a Punchline.' Republican Sen. Jeff Flake Blasts Donald Trump's Comments og:description: "The now-weary argument that the president’s comments were meant as a joke" og:url: https://time.com/5136217/donald-trump-jeff-flake-treason/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98abec81a0380e94/6988fad0fb4eacc1f7895959/gettyimages-912828084.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: House And Senate Republicans Attend Retreat In West Virginia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Treason Is Not a Punchline.' Republican Sen. Jeff Flake Blasts Donald Trump's Comments twitter:description: "The now-weary argument that the president’s comments were meant as a joke" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98abec81a0380e94/6988fad0fb4eacc1f7895959/gettyimages-912828084.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Treason Is Not a Punchline.' Republican Sen. Jeff Flake Blasts Donald Trump's Comments > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Feb 6, 2018 8:14 PM UTC  U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) leaves with other GOP lawmakers after a news briefing to discuss their train accident while they were on their way to the 2018 House & Senate Republican Member Conference January 31, 2018 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) leaves with other GOP lawmakers after a news briefing to discuss their train accident while they were on their way to the 2018 House & Senate Republican Member Conference January 31, 2018 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Alex Wong—Getty Images by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Feb 6, 2018 8:14 PM UTC One of President Donald Trump’s [loudest critics from within his own party](http://time.com/5042705/donald-trump-jeff-flake-not-going-quietly/) took to the Senate floor on Tuesday afternoon to denounce his calling Democrats [“treasonous”](http://time.com/5134150/donald-trump-state-union-democrats-treasonous/) at an event in Ohio the prior evening. In a scathing address, Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona described Trump’s comments as “vile,” lamenting what he described as the “daily sundering of our country” at the hands of a bombastic and often incendiary commander-in-chief. The night before, Trump harshly criticized Democrats during a speech on Cincinnati for not standing to applaud during his State of the Union address less than a week earlier. “They were like death — and un-American,” Trump [said](http://time.com/5134150/donald-trump-state-union-democrats-treasonous/). “Un-American. Somebody said treasonous. I mean, yeah, I guess, why not. Can we call that treason? Why not? I mean they certainly din’t seem to love our country very much.” Many Democrats objected to the remarks, while a White House spokesman said the remarks were [“tongue in cheek.”](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/06/trump-treason-remarks-were-tongue-in-cheek-white-house.html) “I have seen the president’s most ardent defenders use the now-weary argument that the president’s comments were meant as a joke, just sarcasm, only tongue in cheek,” Flake said in his speech. “But treason is not a punchline, Mr. President.” For months, Flake has been at the frontline of the Republican faction that continues to stand against Trump and his presidency. In October, the conservative Arizona lawmaker gave a speech on the Senate floor in which he announced he would not run for reelection and [denounced](http://time.com/5106069/jeff-flake-donald-trump-press-attacks/) what he called Trump’s assault on American democracy. “We will get through this period and when we do, we will look back on the destruction of our discourse and the attacks on our democratic values as nothing but a tragedy,” Flake said on Tuesday. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5136217/donald-trump-jeff-flake-treason/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5136217/donald-trump-jeff-flake-treason/"},"headline":"'Treason Is Not a Punchline.' Republican Sen. 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