Sen. Jeff Flake called out President Donald Trump's Twitter's tirades, saying lawmakers have the "responsibility" to "stand up" and call the White House "to task" when "they're not doing what they should."
In an interview on CBS News' "Face The Nation," the Arizona Republican said the easy route — to ignore the tweets — is the wrong response.
"It's tough not to just say, 'I'm not going to respond' and 'we can't respond to everything,'" he said.
"But there are times when you have to stand up and say, 'I'm sorry, this is wrong.' There are truths that are self evident. And you've got to stand up and call — whether it's the White House or other elected officials — to task when they're not doing what they should. I do think that we bear the responsibility if we're elected officials to do that."
But Flake said the lack of civility is a problem Congress has to address.
"I think it has to start with demeanor," he said. "We have to moderate behavior… our kids are watching.
"When our chief military officials, General [James] Mattis, also Bob Gates when he was still [defense secretary], were asked what the biggest problems were, they didn't talk about North Korea or Iran or the Middle East. They said, 'the lack of civility and the lack of people getting along here in Congress."
"We are the biggest problem here," he declared.
He also decried that some have "taken up a banner… of intense nationalism, nativism and sometimes xenophobia."
"With around the clock media coverage and social media now, it all kind of drives us apart… modern media culture values those who yell the loudest," he said.
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