Mr. Flake Gets Out of Washington: The Jeremiadic Martyrdom of Jeff Flake

Abstract

Donald Trump’s election in 2016 triggered an identity crisis for many Republican Party leaders. One such Republican – Sen. Jeff Flake – framed this crisis as a test of conservative principles and challenged Trumpism in the American jeremiadic tradition. Flake employed the rhetoric of martyrdom to explain his opposition to his party’s president and justify his retirement from public office. We analyze Flake’s construction of rhetorical martyrdom within the American jeremiad. Flake’s rhetoric is carefully constructed political communication that purposely serves as a reformative guidepost for current and future political actors navigating intraparty conflict and political pressures.

Keywords:

• Intraparty Conflict
• Jeff Flake
• Jeremiad
• Martyrdom
• Republican Party

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Wm. Bryan Paul

Wm. Bryan Paul (Ph.D., University of Missouri, 2022) is the Director of Alumni Advocacy at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, Washington, DC.

Joel Lansing Reed

Joel Lansing Reed (Ph.D., University of Missouri, 2019) is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communication at Illinois State University, Normal, IL.

Josh C. Bramlett

Josh C. Bramlett (Ph.D., University of Missouri, 2019) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL.