The Slatest

Republican Senator Says History Will Remember Trump for “the Debasement of Our Nation”

Donald Trump has been getting it from Bob Corker for some time now. The Tennessee senator—who is not running for re-election—was critical of the president’s response to the Charlottesville white-supremacist rally, has indicated he won’t support any Trump tax cut plan that jacks up the deficit, and has more or less said that on matters of policy Trump is a bonehead who should let his Cabinet tell him what to do. Corker reiterated a number of these points during multiple Tuesday morning morning show appearances, which triggered the expected response from our Old Man Shouting at the Television-in-Chief:

You can read up on the Iran thing here and the endorsement thing here; the short version is that Trump is definitely being misleading about Iran and appears to be lying about the endorsement as well.

Corker responded by unloading on Trump in the CNN interview you can watch above. Highlights:

  • “I would hope the staff over there would figure out ways of controlling him when they know that everything he said today was absolutely untrue. … Four times he encouraged me to run and told me he would endorse me.”
  • “Unfortunately I think world leaders are aware that much of what he says is untrue. Certainly people here are because these things are provably untrue. They’re just factually incorrect.”
  • “He’s obviously not going to rise to the occasion as president.”
  • “At the end of the day, when his term is over, I think the debasing of our nation—the constant non-truth telling, the name-calling—I think the debasement of our nation is what he’ll be remembered most for.”

Corker says he would not support Trump’s re-election: “No way. No way.”

Meanwhile, the president is scheduled to have lunch with Senate Republicans today. Should be fun!