It remains to be seen how Sen. Jeff Flake’s political self-immolation Tuesday plays out on Capitol Hill, but it has been good for his career as an author.
Mr. Flake’s book “Conscience of a Conservative,” issued earlier this year, had been lagging in sales on Amazon until his very public announcement that he would not seek re-election and his evisceration of the world of politics in the era of Trump.
On Monday, the book stood at the 9,239th best-selling book on the online retailer, and the 19th best-selling “political philosophy” tome. By Wednesday morning, it was up to 114th overall, and had taken the top spot in political philosophy — with the Kindle and audio versions sitting at the third and fourth spots as well, just a couple of spots ahead of the paperback version of Karl Marx’s “Communist Manifesto.”
“Wish Senator Flake would speak out as he wrote it,” said one reviewer on Monday — a day before Mr. Flake took to the Senate floor to announce he would not seek re-election next year, saying he didn’t see a path to victory for someone with his stances in the modern Arizona GOP.
He said he’d rather go out speaking his mind than curtailing his political beliefs, which have made him a champion of budget-cutting, and a leading voice for granting illegal immigrants quick legal status.
“Politics can make us silent when we should speak, and silence can equal complicity,” Mr. Flake said in his speech Tuesday. “I have children and grandchildren to answer to, and so Mr. President I will not be silent.”
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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