NEW YORK, 23 Dec. - (ANA) - The United States Senate is at a precarious moment. From tariffs to agency funding to foreign affairs, the Senate’s check on the executive branch is arguably weaker than ever, with some critics, and some senators, warning that the body is abandoning its constitutionally prescribed role. (Congress is also incredibly unpopular: A recent Gallup poll showed its approval rating at a dreadful 15 percent), according to the New York Times.

 

With that in mind, I wanted to have a different sort of conversation than we usually do on The Interview: a round table about the state of the Senate, and how we got here, with three lawmakers who decided to leave the body at different points in the Trump era.

 

Jeff Flake is a Republican who represented Arizona for 18 years, initially in the House and then in the Senate, before announcing that he would not seek re-election in 2018 because of President Trump’s influence on the Republican Party.

 

Joe Manchin represented West Virginia, first as a Democrat — one who drove other Democrats crazy by frequently voting with Republicans — and later as a registered independent. He decided not to run for re-election and left the Senate at the start of the year.

 

And Tina Smith is a Democrat who represents Minnesota and announced this year that she won’t be seeking re-election in 2026.

 

They were gathered by the New York Times in Washington to get their read on the state of the Senate and of our politics and democracy more broadly. I told them that I hoped, because they are out of or nearly out of office, that they would feel free to be candid, to which Manchin replied, “That’s why we left!”   - (ANA) -

 

 

AB/ANA/23 December 2025 - - -