Posted on 10/09/2017 7:13:31 PM PDT by markomalley
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is offering support to Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) amid a war of words between the latter and President Trump.
"Sen. Corker is a valuable member of the Senate Republican caucus and he’s also on the Budget committee and a particularly important player as we move to the floor on the budget next week and he’s an important part of our team,” McConnell said Monday in Kentucky, according to the Associated Press.
Asked about whether he agreed with Corker's criticism of Trump, McConnell sidestepped, adding: "[Corker is] an important part of our team and he's a particularly important part of the budget debate which will be on the floor next week."
Corker and Trump traded rhetorical fire on Sunday after the president lashed out at the Tennessee senator during an early morning tweetstorm.
But Corker's staff pushed back on the president's tweet, saying Trump asked Corker to reconsider his decision to retire after 2018 and offered his endorsement if he ran for reelection.
Corker also fired back publicly at Trump, comparing the White House to an "adult day care center."
Corker stepped up his criticism later on Sunday, telling The New York Times that Trump's threats to other countries put the U.S. "on the path to World War III.”
“He concerns me,” Corker said during the interview. “He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation.”
Corker also told the Times that he didn't get pushback for his "day care" comments when he talked to McConnell on Sunday.
Corker — once considered as a potential vice president or secretary of State under Trump — says he talks with the president frequently, but his increasingly sharp criticism appears to have rankled the president and his allies.
McConnell's comments on Monday come as Senate GOP leadership will try to pass its fiscal 2018 budget next week. The bill includes instructions that will allow Republicans to pass tax reform by a simple majority, avoiding a Democratic filibuster.
But Republicans have a narrow path for passing either the budget or, ultimately, tax reform. With a 52-seat majority they need the support of at least 50 senators, which would allow Vice President Mike Pence to break a tie.
Corker has emerged as one of the loudest Republican critics in the Senate of leadership's tax blueprint, saying he won't support even a "penny's worth of deficits."
“I want tax reform to reduce the deficit,” he said last week. “I want it to be pro-growth, and I want it to be permanent.”
But he added that his skepticism about the current tax framework wouldn't impact his support for the budget.
This whole article is dishonest:
The timeline given suggests Trump’s tweet started it, when in fact Corker called Trump unstable, incompetent and worse in an interview prior to August 17.
CNN ran a story about it on August 17 which I easily found on YouTube by searching Bob Corker. I would have posted a link to it if I knew how.
he’s an important part of our team,” McConnell said Monday in Kentucky
wtf team is that mitch. The democrats who infiltrated the republican party team?
The Democrats and Republicans are all afraid of Trump and what he might do to expose their lack of accomplishments now and over the years. Many politicians are afraid they will not be re-elected. Government employees are afraid they will lose jobs for lack of productivity. The media is afraid they will continue to be expose for not reporting fairly. Actors and movie makers are afraid of making less money for stupid movies. Sports figures are afraid people will be less interested in adults playing children’s games.
The conservative faction was the first to migrate to Republican ranks, epitomized by Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond, who joined the GOP in the Nixon era. When the national Democrat Party migrated to the left under McGovern and Carter, the pro-business faction also migrated, more slowly than did the conservatives. However, by 2000, the pro-business faction had left the Democrats. This faction, which was more Hamiltonian, was comfortable with the establishment wing of the GOP, and vice versa. In most of the Southern states, they became the dominant faction in the local Republican machinery. Thus, you have such characters as McConnell, Corker, Rubio, Cochran, and Cornyn being the preeminent figures in Southern politics on the national stage.
Three cheers for the conservative rebellion that took down Luther Strange in Alabama and sped Corker's retirement decision.
Just in case anyone wonders why McConnell's popularity is where it is. Or Corker's for that matter.
What is it? "Hey, I'm GOPe. Contribute to my campaign and I won't do very much. Look at my record."
Masterful moves by Trump & Bannon to flush out the Never Trumpers in Congress. GOP e is starting to come apart.
Like a good hound dog, the quarry doesn’t even see them coming & they respond with knee=jerk reactions & expose themselves to the voters for who they REALLY are.
Kudos to Bannon & Trump.
2018 elections will be very entertaining.
The question is, if there are a large number of pro-Trump individuals contesting the 34 Senate seats up next year (whether as Republicans or otherwise), will Ryan and McConnell pull the trigger and remove Trump before the damage to the swamp is irreversible?
Ryan (Romney) only needs 25 Republican votes to send Articles to the Senate. Why do you suppose Mueller keeps begging to be fired?
It's a very, very high-stakes poker game. If Ryan moves too soon and without a proper fig leaf to cover his 25 traitors, he won't have the votes. If he waits until November 2018 is on people's radar, he also won't have the votes.
Ryan (Romney) and McConnell (Bush) know Trump is impulsive and that he does not have the very thick skin typical of a politician. They keep poking and poking, hoping for a blowup that will get those 25 Republicans in the House to sign on to removal (I'm sure there are 80 votes in the Senate to convict right now).
Interesting that McConnell supports a tax cheat who sits on the budget committee..
I think committee assignments should be vetted better than this.
Let us focus on WHO will replace them.
I am not convinced Ryan has been moving things along.
He’s talked like he has, but I haven’t seen much popping up on the Senate radar.
You stated the Senate had been worse, and that may be true. It still should be more apparent that Congress has submitted things to the Senate, and the Senate had refused to act on them.
I will say there have been a couple of instances of it, but not the broad evidence of it I would expect, if Ryan were doing his job. First of all, he’d be giving Mitch a hard time if he’d been operating on the up and up.
Yet, for a guy without “thick skin” Trump has deftly managed all these idiots.
Always underestimated.
Ru Paul’s window closed two months ago. There is no impeachment. The Rs all see they are almost ALL doomed to be kicked out if they don’t play ball, and quick.
I agree with you. I wrote this to someone else, but it applies.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3593650/posts?page=9#9
These recalcitrant obstructionist GOP establishment types will face primaries, and they deserve to lose.
cool
I’d say both.
I do recognize that doing so would be the spark that lights the final stick of dynamite that blows up his relationship with Congress, but that relationship has proven to be a façade and he's gotten no benefit from having McConnell's wife on his team.
-PJ
Trump needs a juicy scandal that brings down BOTH Chao and Turtle Head. Hope there's a good one out there.
Turtle Neck Mitch is worth less than a dog’s f*rt.
He is every bit as big a traitor as Pelosi
Did you forget the sarcasm tag? Or are you serious? The VA gubernatorial race is a uniparty lovefest.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.