Readers React: Sen. Jeff Flake finally has his moment of true courage in the Trump era

To the editor: As U.S. citizens, taxpayers and voters who respect the civilizing rule of law, we should all thank Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) for his abiding honor, decency and courage against enormous pressure few will ever know or imagine, to call for an FBI investigation into the allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

Flake should know that many Americans both within and without Arizona respect and thank him for his action. Whatever tension and slights he weathers from his fellow Republicans now and in the days to come will fade as history long recalls and heralds his act as a genuine profile in courage.

Mike Scott, Lafayette, Calif.

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To the editor: On an elevator in the Capitol building on Friday, Flake cast his eyes downward and sank into himself as Ana Maria Archila and Maria Gallagher demanded to know why he would be voting to send Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination from the Judiciary Committee to the full Senate.

While Flake may be a portrait of traditional American fortitude, Archila and Gallagher, two sexual assault survivors and involved political activists, are representative of the courage that is currently moving our country forward. For Gallagher to demand the senator to look her in the eye and acknowledge his role in the perpetuation of the epidemic of sexual violence against women, even with a trembling voice, displays a level of bravery unparalleled by any elected official.

Archila’s and Gallagher’s raw statements to a man whose vote will affect every person in the United States show that there is valor in vulnerability.

Margaret Weir, Long Beach

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To the editor: I’d like to think that Thursday’s testimony and Friday’s vote were like the first half of a cathartic experience — a shared purging of divisiveness within the nation.

Most Americans heard the testimony of Kavanaugh and his sexual assault accuser Christine Blasey Ford, but the voice that for me stands out is the one that begins the cleansing process: Sen. Flake’s.

Debra Gala, Huntington Beach

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