“The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the nation as a whole. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly as necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”

This quote by President Roosevelt was a part of the 17 minute retirement speech delivered to his colleagues yesterday by Republican Senator, Jeff Flake of Arizona. He basically said he was retiring because of the coarseness of the leadership of our nation, and that he could no longer be complicit in the undermining of the core values that has made our country great.

I salute the Senator for his courage and applaud his public denouncement of the crude, boorish, and destructive methodology of #BLOTUS.  More of our national leaders need to have the strength of character to be openly critical of the current President and his outrageous, infantile, and morally indefensible behavior. Silence in the face of the actions of this president is not only unpatriotic, but in the words of Roosevelt, “morally treasonable to the American public.”