SENATOR CORKER IS HONORED FOR HIS STANDS AGAINST TRUMP

…The Tennessee Senator speaking out against President Trump

 

“I don’t know why the president tweets out things that are not true, you know he does it, everyone knows he does it…”

 

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to have a psychopathic, narcissistic yahoo as a US President, well you have no need to wonder any further.

 

We all know that at any given time that Donald J. Trump opens his mouth, there’s a better than 50% chance that it will be to tell a lie.  This week the president really out-did himself, and that takes some serious effort for this president.

 

As usual, it all started with his Twitter feed and three Tweets attacking Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), the Republican chairman of the very important Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 

 

So, here is what the president Tweeted:

 

“Senator Bob Corker ‘begged’ me to endorse him for re-election in Tennessee. I said ‘NO’ and he dropped out (said he could not win without my endorsement),” Trump tweeted. “He also wanted to be Secretary of State, I said ‘NO THANKS.’ He is also largely responsible for the horrendous Iran Deal! Hence, I would fully expect Corker to be a negative voice and stand in the way of our great agenda. Didn't have the guts to run!”

 

Senator Corker, who has felt highly liberated since announcing his upcoming retirement, probably had some fun Tweeting back to the president’s remarks.  His office quickly went on record insisting that as usual, most of what the president Tweeted was totally false.  Trump in fact had promised to endorse Corker, he urged the senator not to retire and just last week, he asked him to reconsider his decision to not run again. The 65-year-old senator then just had to tweet:  “It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone, [a care-giver] obviously missed their shift this morning.”

 

Donald Trump’s escalating feud with the lame-duck senator Corker captures in miniature why Trump’s been so ineffective during his first nine months as president.

 

To someone like myself that constantly follows what’s going on in D.C., we all know that Bob Corker is very conservative and he has always spoken his mind.

 

The point is that based on their track record for honesty, which of the two individuals would you believe?   “I don’t know why the president tweets out things that are not true,” Corker told the reporters. “You know he does it, everyone knows he does it, but he does.”

 

It’s not even worth an argument as to whom most are going to believe.

 

So, let’s look at what caused our orange skinned leader to respond to the senator so adamantly?

First, we know that the president doesn’t sleep much and he always watches his favorite TV news show, Fox & Friends.  . The explanation is probably that he reacted and grabbed his phone regarding a segment on “Fox News Sunday.” The show offered a sound bite of Corker telling reporters last week that Rex Tillerson is one of three people in the administration who “separate our country from chaos.” That came in response to an NBC report that the Secretary of State had called the president a “moron.”

 

The fully uncorked Corker later called a New York Times reporter to say that Trump’s reckless threats toward other countries could set the nation “on the path to World War III.” “He concerns me. He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation,” the senator said during a 25-minute interview with NYT's Jonathan Martin. “I know for a fact that every single day at the White House, it’s a situation of trying to contain him.”  

 

 

Now we know that with Trump’s normal impulse, he feels he must counterpunch whenever he’s attacked.  But this once again caused him to lose the news cycle by overshadowing the immigration proposal that the White House had planned to talk about.

 

But those weren’t the only issues.  Here are some good examples:

 

·       These juvenile actions by a novice US President have shown that Trump is not serious about passing any real legislation.

 

·       Senator Corker will obviously now make it harder for Trump to get his way on both tax cuts and the Iran nuclear deal.

 

·       In this situation, Trump has already alienated many of the Senate Republicans that he needs more than they need him. Trump as president has criticized the GOP’s: Mitch McConnell, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Jeff Flake, Lisa Murkowski, Dean Heller, Rand Paul….all by name.  And that doesn’t include several other Republicans he went after as a presidential candidate.  That includes Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Ben Sasse.

 

·       Senator Corker has said that his concerns about Trump’s ability to govern are shared by nearly every Republican in the Senate. “Look, except for a few people, the vast majority of our caucus understands what we’re dealing with here,” he told the Times. “…..they understand the [presidential] volatility that we’re dealing with here, and the tremendous amount of work that it takes…..to keep him in the middle of the road.”

 

·        As an example, Trump doesn’t seem to understand that by going after the GOP’s first health care bill and calling it “mean”, (which it was), that makes it less likely that other Republican lawmakers will go out on a limb for him.  (The one time Trump tells the truth....it hurts him.)

 

·       As usual, Trump as a TV character cares more about showmanship than statesmanship.  Trump this week praised his Vice President for walking out of an Indianapolis Colts game against the SF 49ers as a protest against the players that kneeled during the national anthem. But the episode was a phony, preplanned, publicity stunt designed to fan the flames of outrage among Trump’s dedicated base.  Also,  it was to keep alive Trump's culture war that had been waning in the news.  However this stunt cost the American tax payer dearly for the cost of the Air Force Two plane and the VP’s security force.  The point is that they knew the 49ers were going to kneel, as they always do.  The VP even told his security personnel to stay put in their van, as he would probably be leaving soon.  Corker later called Trump “a reality show president”, telling the Times that he acts, “like he’s doing ‘The Apprentice’ or something.”

 

·       Let’s face it, the president’s credibility in Washington is in the toilet.

 

As things progress, Senator Corker seems that he is actually being honored for his foresight, his toughness, and total courage in taking his stands. As the Chairman of one of the most important senate committees, Senator Corker will have the power, authority and the tools at his disposal that are exactly what he needs through the 15 months left in his term.  That chairmanship in many ways has more power and influence than that of a less-than-credible novice president.

 

It will be interesting to see how this seasoned senator from Tennessee handles himself with this novice US President over the next weeks and months.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2017