I have to begin with an apology for that headline... but in the era of Donald Trump, it was impossible to resist. Senator Jeff Flake made the news today by announcing he will not be seeking re-election next year. He did so in a rather spectacular fashion, with a Senate floor speech that came close to denouncing Trump and all he stands for. As time goes by, more and more Republicans are taking the opportunity to do the same thing, but so far this hasn't much impact on the political world beyond the realm of rhetoric. So while I appreciate Flake's statement for the entertainment value alone, I also have serious doubts as to whether it means much in the grand scheme of things.

Jeff Flake has been positioning himself as the moral savior of the Republican Party's soul for some time now. Earlier this year he released a book titled Conscience Of A Conservative (reprising the title another senator from Arizona used a half-century earlier), in which Flake denounced the coarseness introduced by the Trump takeover of the GOP. His floor speech today is merely a continuation of this theme.

However amusing this all is for liberals, though, Flake's announcement today wasn't entirely unexpected -- because he stood a good chance of losing to a primary challenger next year. Leaving the Senate now is at least somewhat self-serving, because it's always easier to exit on your own rather than have your base voters hand you the pink slip. What this means outside of Arizona, though, is that we'll likely see a Flake replacement who is even more conservative and closer to Donald Trump. Barring an upset victory by a Democrat, this is now almost assured.

Flake's floor speech was notable for its timing, when you consider what else has been going on in GOP circles of late. After all, George W. Bush just re-entered politics (something he staunchly refused to do while President Obama was in office) with a speech denouncing Trumpism in fiery terms. Both John McCain and Bob Corker have been engaged in a running battle of words (and tweets, of course) with Trump, for weeks now. In fact, before the Flake news broke, the big story was Corker and Trump sniping at each other this morning, before Trump headed down to Congress to have lunch with the GOP senators. Corker, like Flake, has announced he won't be running for re-election next year, which has freed him up to say precisely what he thinks of Trump. John McCain finally got revenge for Trump dismissing his heroism during the campaign this week, as he snidely referred to Vietnam War deferments obtained by rich people (for "bone spurs" -- a direct dig at Trump).

But, like I said, while all of this is surely heartening for progressives to hear, I have to wonder what has really changed. Jeff Flake may enjoy very publicly taking the high moral road, but then again he voted for every flavor of "repeal and replace Obamacare" that came before the Senate this year. So while he is tsk-tsking at other Republicans (as the party's "conscience"), he also apparently approves of kicking 20 million or more people off their health insurance for the cause of conservatism. Of all the "profiles in courage" votes (to bring up another senator's book title) that saved Obamacare, Flake was nowhere to be seen. If this is any indication, then he's not exactly going to be voting against party dogma for the rest of his term. In other words, talk is cheap, Jeff.

It seems that every couple of weeks or so, the inside-the-Beltway crowd starts chattering about impeachment or the use of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. No doubt Flake's speech and announcement will spur at least some to bring the subject up again. But this is kind of ridiculous, at least as things stand. For either of these constitutional remedies to actually take place, Democrats would need 19 Republican senators to vote to depose Trump. That's a lot of GOP senators, to put it mildly. Adding up all the senators who have either denounced Trump or voted against his agenda doesn't even put you close to 19. Jeff Flake plus John McCain plus Bob Corker plus Susan Collins plus Lisa Murkowski only equals five, by my count. Perhaps I've forgotten one or two (Lindsey Graham, maybe?), but that still falls far short of the 19 that would be necessary. In other words, when the number of GOP senators denouncing Trump rises above a dozen, I might start paying closer attention, but surely not before that comes to pass.

So while Jeff Flake was brave to stand up and say what he thinks of his party's president on the Senate floor, his announcement that he'll be retiring wasn't really all that brave, since it only means he'll avoid the disappointment of losing next year's primary. Flake isn't really serious about injecting much conscience into his party, since he still votes the party line even on bills that are (as even Trump admitted) "mean."

It's always entertaining for the opposition party to see open warfare between the other team's members, and that certainly is proving to be the case for Democrats over the past few weeks. Watching McCain attack Trump for his deferment or Bob Corker attack Trump on any number of issues is indeed amusing from across the aisle. Seeing George W. Bush come out of the political wilderness to denounce everything his party's president says, does, and stands for was also rather satisfying to watch. But until these Republicans start actively working with Democrats to defeat Trump's entire agenda, it's no more than Kabuki theater, really. "My party is being run by a dangerous demagogue, but I'll vote for everything he wants," isn't exactly a profile of political courage.

Flake's news today hasn't really changed much, sad to say. He'll avoid losing a primary, but that probably won't change the ultimate outcome of the race. Which means he'll likely be replaced by a more pro-Trump Republican. Until he leaves, Flake shows no inclination of bucking the Trump agenda, so while it's amusing to hear him denounce Trump, in the end this makes no difference to the final vote count.

About the only positive thing to hope for is fairly abstract, in fact. If McCain and Corker and Flake continue to provoke Trump, he will likely go overboard on Twitter against them (even more than he already has). The more Trump does this, the more it might convince other GOP senators to step up and join the chorus. That's kind of a longshot, but it could be possible (especially if Trump goes over the line in some spectacular fashion or another). If more and more Republicans stood up to Trump, then a critical mass might be achieved which could stop a lot of the damage Trump is doing to the federal government. Again, the odds are long against this, but it could conceivably happen.

My advice is to get all the entertainment value you can out of speeches like the one Jeff Flake delivered today. When Trump is distracted, less gets done -- and that's a good thing in and of itself. But until this rift in the Republican Party grows a lot wider, it really doesn't change the political dynamic in Washington all that much.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant