Jeff Flake Praises Jeb’s ‘Act of Love’ Remarks About Illegals

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) is again defending former Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s infamous “act of love” comments about illegal immigrants.

In his new book in which he also attacks President Donald Trump’s supporters for being “xenophobic” and “nativists” while arguing that Trump’s America-first nationalist and populist agenda does not represent the GOP’s future, Flake reportedly says Bush’s “act of love” comment was merely “a sin of candor.”

“Of course, Jeb Bush was savaged for saying what he said, just mocked mercilessly,” Flake reportedly writes in his book, according to the Arizona Republic. “But then, unlike his critics, he knew what he was talking about and dared to speak truthfully, which is both a rarity and a liability these days.”

Flake, the Gang of Eight member who unsuccessfully tried to get comprehensive amnesty legislation passed after the 2012 election, reportedly claims in the book that illegal immigrant laborers should not be demonized because they usually work harder than Americans like him.

Though Republicans agreed with Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and argued that Republicans could not win the White House without passing amnesty legislation, Trump did better among Latinos and Hispanics than Mitt Romney in 2016 even though he stood firmly against illegal immigration and promised to build a border wall.

In the book, Flake, who also defended Bush’s remarks when he first made them in 2014, also proudly embraces the globalist label.

“I’ll take the globalist moniker, thank you,” he also writes.