Although he is leaving Congress after his current term, Senator Bob Corker has proved to be a powerful motivator when it comes to getting attitudes adjusted in Congress — whether it’s bringing a little laughter to a room, or getting downright fiery in his debate and discussion.
The Tennessee Republican has turned out to be much more than that in the era of Trump, however: He has publicly denounced many of Trump’s actions and statements, despite apparent continuing support from many of his colleagues in the GOP.
Now it seems Senator Corker has had enough.
After a strenuous relationship with Trump, in which the two men have traded barbs in both the print media and on social media, Corker has a litany of grievances against the President. Now they’ve all added up, and after the contentious fight over tariffs — which Trump appears to have won — it left a sour taste in Corker’s mouth. Now with Trump’s bumbling, borderline-treasonous press conference next to Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Corker is speaking up once again:
The dam is finally breaking. Thankfully.
As the president taxes Americans with tariffs, he pushes away our allies and further strengthens Putin.
It is time for Congress to step up and take back our authorities.
We have legislation to do that. Let’s vote.
— Senator Bob Corker (@SenBobCorker) July 17, 2018
The legislation that Corker is referring to is an effort to rein in Trump’s tariffs — the logic, of course, being that since the Senate didn’t have enough votes to pass binding legislation that would require a vote from Congress to impose tariffs before, perhaps they do now that Trump has proven he is simply in the pocket of foreign influences. After all, many of the actions that Trump has taken, even on tariffs and other economic measures, have stemmed from suggestions provided by the Russian president he seems so beholden to.
Republicans haven’t wanted a showdown with the President thus far. But now that Trump is facing criticism from his own base, and even from Fox News, it may be time to try again.
Featured image via screen capture
