On Sunday morning, President Trump’s usual tweetstorm did not make note of Saturday night’s Nazi gathering in Charlottesville. Nor did he fire any additional shots at North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, who received Trump’s attentions earlier this weekend due to the dictator’s rumored plans for Columbus Day. Today, Trump chose to focus his efforts on one man, GOP Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee. While trashing the lawmaker, Trump claimed that he “begged” for a reelection endorsement before dropping out.
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…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2017
Trump also asserted that Corker wanted very badly to be secretary of state, and he blames Corker for the “horrendous” Iran Nuclear Deal (that the president will probably “declassify” next week). Further, Trump framed Corker as a coward who “[d]idn’t have the guts to run!”
..my endorsement). He also wanted to be Secretary of State, I said "NO THANKS." He is also largely responsible for the horrendous Iran Deal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2017
…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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2017
A few hours later, Corker — who stumped for Trump on the campaign trail and who the Washington Post notes was not only in the running for secretary of state but also considered as a running mate — fired back. The lawmaker called the White House “an adult day care center,” and he shaded “someone” (Chief of Staff John Kelly?), who “obviously missed” their AM watch duty.
It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.
— Senator Bob Corker (@SenBobCorker) October 8, 2017
The New York Times reminds everyone that Trump and Corker had a falling out in August after the latter criticized the former, who Corker said “has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful.”
At the time, Trump reacted with incomplete sentences on Twitter. He described Corker’s remarks as “strange” and added, “Tennessee not happy!”
Strange statement by Bob Corker considering that he is constantly asking me whether or not he should run again in '18. Tennessee not happy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 25, 2017
Yet the saddest detail of this mess is that Corker’s Sunday tweet racked up over 19,000 retweets and 43,000 likes within an hour. That’s about double the amount of accolades that Trump’s insults received in twice the amount of time. Someone’s gonna be miffed about that for sure, and CNN’s subsequent report — which claims that Trump actually planned to endorse Corker and no begging was involved — won’t help matters.
(Via Washington Post, New York Times & CNN)