This is an early version of the Friday Political Notebook column.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump sat down with the U.S. Senators from the GOP today in an effort to unify the party.
Then our own senator, Jeff Flake, stood up and introduced himself, and the meeting went off the rails.
The Washington Post first reported, and I've been able to confirm, that Flake introduced himself as the senator from Arizona "who wasn't captured."
The background: Last July, Trump said Sen. John McCain "is a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured."
Trump responded in his usual "counterpunching" way.
"You’ve been very critical of me,” Trump told the Arizona senator.
Flake went on to criticize Trump's comments about Mexicans and immigration but said he would like to be able to support him. Trump did not share that emotion. Here's how the Post reported the exchange that happened next:
"Trump predicted that Flake would lose his reelection, at which point Flake informed Trump that he was not on the ballot this year."
Ouch!
Trump went on to criticize another senator who has withdrawn his support for Trump -- Mark Kirk of Illinois, who was not in the room. He also took aim at another anti-Trump senator, Ben Sasse of Nebraska.
All in all, not a good showing for Trump, who perhaps doesn't fully appreciate the sympathy senators have for each other and how attacking one (or two or three) would feel like an attack on all.
But it was a good showing for Flake, who is emerging as the true Arizona maverick in the U.S. Senate.
