by David Shephard, ©2026
(Aug. 6, 2026) — I woke up today, and, as I usually do at the beginning of my day, checked my news feed, and I came across an article from the USA Today, “Another conservative endorses Jon Ossoff in crucial GA Senate race.”
“Wow,” was my first reaction. Who? What solid, principled, rock-ribbed “conservative” would support far left-wing Senator Jon Ossoff? Who could the USA Today have found: Joe Scarborough, Michael Steele, Liz Cheney, Cindy McCain, Jenna Bush Hager, Ron Reagan Jr, Patti Davis. No, not even close. Someone even more amazingly conservative. Ready for this? Jeff Flake, a former Republican Representative and Senator from Arizona. Flake also served in the Biden administration, which the article does admit, and Flake endorsed Kamala Harris for President in 2024, a fact that the article omits. In no universe is Jeff Flake a conservative, and in no decade in the 20th century or in the 21st century was Jeff Flake a conservative. The fact that Jeff Flake endorsed a Democrat is no more newsworthy than a story about a dog biting a man. This fact alone demonstrates that the USA Today is unserious.
I first encountered Jeff Flake 20 years ago or so when he was a congressman. As I recall, I first heard his name because he was pushing a plan, along with Congressional Democrats, to lift sanctions on the Castro regime in Cuba. Democrats wanted to lift sanctions on Cuba because they liked Castro, but Flake denied he supported socialism or Castro; rather, his argument was that by lifting the embargo on Cuba, some prosperity would come to Cuba which somehow would make the people want to overthrow the socialist dictator. Maybe Flake had a point, but I do think he liked working with Democrats, and Cuba presented him with a golden opportunity. He thoroughly relished bucking the Republican Party leadership every chance he could get. For conservatives, Jeff Flake had the perfect name. He was a flake. When conservatives needed him, he’d flake out. For those people who may have forgotten what Jeff Flake was like in Congress, I’d describe him as yesterday’s version of Tom Massie, a self-loving grandstander, but unlike Massie, Flake appears to own a comb.
Fortunately, Flake has been out of Congress and out of the Republican Party for years, but why is Jeff Flake endorsing Jon Ossoff? Clearly, it is because he wants Democrats to take over the Senate. Why would a conservative want the Democrats to take the Senate? They wouldn’t, any more than a conservative would want Kamala Harris to be President. Would a conservative take a job in the Biden administration? No, of course not. Flake is a tool, and he is willing to be used by the likes of the USA Today to help advance a false narrative that conservatives might back Jon Ossoff.
This has been a standard play for the mainstream media throughout the Trump years. They find a disgruntled Republican who will say bad things about Trump, and they put them on the air.
The motley crew of Never-Trumpers are people who could never get on the air if they supported the Republican Party. But they discovered that if they were willing to say bad things about Republicans, they could create a niche market for themselves. They could get bookings.
There are a couple other people who remind me of Jeff Flake. One example is Michael Steele, a former RNC Chair, who had a show on MSNBC for years. There is no way he could get a show as a standard Republican, but as a Never-Trumper, a network had a use for him.
Another Flake-like example is a very unattractive guy named Rick Wilson, a former Republican campaigner and Never-Trumper. The pinnacle of his political career was working for John McCain. Now, if you ever have the misfortune of walking past Wilson on the street, and even worse, the unlucky break of catching a glimpse of him and of that sad, droopy gray face with the beady eyes and wearing those Jeffrey Dahmer line of glasses, you will think to yourself that this man will never be allowed on TV. And in normal times in a normal America, you would be correct. But guess what? He got a lot of time on CNN and MSNBC during Trump’s first term because he trashed Trump. And the media justified putting him on TV because they could claim, although even then it was a stretch, that he was a Republican and that he spoke for other Republicans. He spoke for no one but himself. He had no following. Wilson is a tool, just as Flake is a tool. And the media is very willing to use them, and they are willing to be used.
In addition to Jeff Flake, the USA Today story claims that there is another Georgia conservative backing Ossoff. They identify this person as Shelley Winters, a talk show host. I, for one, have never heard of her.
Well, I say shame on the USA Today for conning their readers and pushing such a ridiculous and obvious political ploy. Of course, Jeff Flake is backing a Democrat, and if that counts as legitimate news then I have another news flash for you: so is Bruce Springsteen.
David Shephard is a native and very proud Virginian. Raised in Fairfax County, David graduated from George Mason University and majored in Government and Politics. He spent decades in politics, campaign consulting, raising money and lobbying. He is also a longtime conservative blogger writing for numerous blogs. He is also the host of “The Virginia Gentleman Podcast.”
David is the author of Elections Have Consequences, A Cautionary Tale, and his latest book, Norton’s Choice: An Inside Politics Exposé.