Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., are both well-known senators from red states in the West. Both have relationships with President Donald Trump that are altering their political careers. But that’s where the similarities end.
Hatch, on the other hand, is taking heat from his state’s biggest newspaper because he’s an avid supporter of Trump.
Really, it’s the same no-win scenario they’ve been struggling with since Trump won the GOP presidential nomination. A controversial, complicated president has somehow maneuvered the Republican Party’s base to a place unrecognizable to the establishment.
Flake and Hatch took two very different paths in this new Trumpian GOP, but they could ultimately lead to the same place: an end to their senatorial careers.