Sen. Bob Corker said Tuesday he believes President Trump will be remembered most for the “debasement of our nation,” a comment that capped off a feud between the president and the Republican senator that has been building for weeks but reignited Tuesday morning.
“I think at the end of the day when his term is over, I think the debasing of our nation, the constant non-truth telling, just the name calling … I think the debasement of our nation will be what he will be remembered most for, and that’s regretful,” Corker, R-Tenn., told CNN.
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“It affects young people. I mean, we have young people who for the first time are watching a president, stating, you know, absolute non-truths nonstop, personalizing things in the way that he does. It’s very sad for our nation.”
Corker’s comments about Trump came after the president accused him on Twitter of deciding not to run for re-election in 2018 because Trump “refused to endorse him” and said Corker is against Republican-led tax cuts.
The president also called Corker “that lightweight senator,” who “couldn’t get re-elected” in Tennessee, and said the Republican senator “helped President O give us the bad Iran Deal.”
Corker, who announced he’ll retire at the end of his term next year, said Trump is spreading “untruths,” but stopped short of calling the president a liar.
“We grew up in our family not using the ‘L’ world, OK, but they’re provable untruths. Provable,” he told CNN. “On the Iran deal, everybody knows the role I played there.”
Corker went on to say Trump has “great difficulty with the truth on many issues.”
Over the last few weeks, Corker’s relationship with Trump has soured.
The Tennessee Republican supported Trump during the election, and Corker was rumored to be on Trump’s short-list for vice president. Corker told CNN last year he was “in the mix” for secretary of state.
But Corker and Trump’s relationship has since become more complicated.
The Tennessee senator said the White House was serving as an “adult day care” for Trump, and the president accused Corker of begging for his endorsement, which the senator said is a lie.
On Tuesday, Corker said he wouldn’t support Trump again, and said the president is “unable to rise to the occasion” of serving as the commander in chief.
“I don’t know why he lowers himself to such a low, low standard, and debases our country in a way that he does, but he does,” Corker said. “Look, I don’t like responding. You can let him go unanswered, and it’s just not me to — we don’t do tweets like that. We have responded twice to, again, untruths. But, again, it’s unfortunate that our nation finds itself in this place.”
