{"id":122379,"date":"2017-10-09T04:45:42","date_gmt":"2017-10-09T08:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=122379"},"modified":"2017-10-09T04:45:42","modified_gmt":"2017-10-09T08:45:42","slug":"trump-criticizes-gop-sen-corker-corker-fights-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/10\/09\/trump-criticizes-gop-sen-corker-corker-fights-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump criticizes GOP Sen. Corker; Corker fights back"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: President Donald Trump (Photo: The White House\/Flickr, Public Domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 An enraged President Donald Trump and a prominent Republican senator who fears the country could be edging toward \u201cchaos\u201d engaged in an intense and vitriolic back-and-forth bashing on social media Sunday, a remarkable airing of their party’s profound rifts.<\/p>\n

In political discourse that might once have seemed inconceivable, the GOP’s foreign policy expert in the Senate felt compelled to answer his president’s barbs by tweeting: \u201cIt’s a shame the White House has become an adult day care centre. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview Sunday with The New York Times, Corker said Trump could set the U.S. \u201con the path to World War III\u201d with threats toward other countries. Corker also said Trump acted as if he was on his old reality-TV show and that he concerned the senator, adding: \u201cHe would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Corker also said his concerns about Trump were shared by nearly every Senate Republican, the paper reported.<\/p>\n

In a series of stinging tweets earlier in the day, Trump contended Corker:<\/p>\n

\u2014Was \u201clargely responsible for the horrendous\u201d Iran nuclear deal, which the Democratic Obama administration negotiated and Corker considered badly flawed. The senator also tried to require that President Barack Obama submit the accord to Congress for approval.<\/p>\n

\u2014Intended to obstruct the White House agenda, though he offered no evidence for saying he expected Corker \u201cto be a negative voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014\u201dBegged\u201d for Trump’s endorsement in his 2018 re-election, then opted against seeking a third term when Trump declined, showing the senator \u201cdidn’t have the guts to run.\u201d The Associated Press reported that Trump, in a private meeting in September, had urged Corker to run. Corker’s chief of staff, Todd Womack, said Sunday that Trump called Corker last Monday to ask that he reconsider his decision to leave the Senate. Trump \u201creaffirmed that he would have endorsed him, as he has said many times,\u201d the aide said.<\/p>\n

\u2014Wanted to be secretary of state, and \u201cI said ‘NO THANKS,\u201d’ said Trump, who picked Exxon Mobil’s Rex Tillerson for that Cabinet post. Corker, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, was mentioned as a possible pick after the election.<\/p>\n

Trump added another tweet Sunday evening: \u201cBob Corker gave us the Iran Deal, & that’s about it. We need HealthCare, we need Tax Cuts\/Reform, we need people that can get the job done!\u201d<\/p>\n

Corker always had been one to speak his mind, and even before Sunday’s verbal volleys, his new free agent status promised to make Trump and the party nervous. Already, there was the prospect of even more elbow room to say what he wants and to vote how he pleases over the next 15 months as Trump and the party’s leaders on Capitol Hill struggle to get their agenda on track.<\/p>\n

Not long before Trump’s tweeting, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said on NBC’s \u201cMeet the Press\u201d that \u201cit’s going to be fun to work\u201d with Corker, \u201cespecially now that he’s not running for re-election, because I think it sort of unleashes him to do whatever \u2014 and say whatever \u2014 he wants to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his interview with the Times, Corker said: \u201cLook, except for a few people, the vast majority of our caucus understands what we’re dealing with here,\u201d adding that \u201cof course they understand the volatility that we’re dealing with and the tremendous amount of work that it takes by people around him to keep him in the middle of the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Corker delivered a rebuke of the Trump White House after the president’s tweets scoffing at Tillerson’s diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis with North Korea. Corker said Tillerson, along with Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and White House chief of staff John Kelly, are \u201cthose people that help separate our country from chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Corker will be at the centre of what may be a stormy debate over the future of the Iran agreement. Trump’s hostility toward the deal has stoked concerns he’s aiming to dismantle the international accord despite Europe’s objections. Corker is opposed to scrapping the agreement outright.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can only tear these things up one time,\u201d Corker said. \u201cIt might feel good for a second. But one of the things that’s important for us is to keep our allies with us, especially our Western allies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Corker is the latest Republican to face Trump’s wrath. The president in recent months has lit into Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., over the failure of the GOP to repeal and replace Obama’s health care law, and specifically targeted Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, for their opposition to GOP health legislation.<\/p>\n

Corker, 65, announced last month that his second, six-year term would be his last.<\/p>\n

Corker in August delivered a blistering assessment of Trump in the wake of the president’s contentious remarks about the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. Corker said Trump hasn’t \u201cdemonstrated that he understands the character of this nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump fired back, tweeting that Corker’s comments were strange \u201cconsidering that he is constantly asking me whether or not he should run again in ’18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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