President Trump’s latest feud with outgoing Senator Bob Corker is emblematic of the power struggle that’s going on in the Republican Party today. Corker represents the RINO wing—Republicans in Name Only—while Trump represents the drain-the-swamp wing.
It was people like Corker who kept Obamacare alive. He voted to shut down a filibuster by tea party Republicans when the Democrats controlled the Senate. It was a chance to starve the beast that has taken over our healthcare industry. Corker sided with the Democrats. Flash forward and America elects Donald Trump out of frustration that Washington is just not listening. Some in Washington still aren’t. Corker is near the top of that list.
Corker said, “Trump may be setting the U.S. on the path to World War III.” That quote, more than any other, encapsulates why Trump is president and Corker is not. What too many senators, congressmen and presidents have not understood is how to deal with brutal dictators. The last president we had who did was Ronald Reagan. He said we would relegate the Soviet Union to the ash bin of history. We did.
The prior three presidents adopted policies of appeasement toward North Korea. President Trump understands that appeasement policies only embolden dictators. His frank talk (and tweets) about North Korea have brought China to the table, something no predecessor was able to do. If we do go to war with North Korea it will be because too much damage has already been done by presidents Clinton, W. Bush, and Obama, not because of Trump.
As for the World War III crack, we seem to be as far from that as we’ve been since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Were the world to be at war, who would we be at war with? It would stand to reason that China would be our principal adversary. For the first time in a long time China respects the U.S. They respect us because they finally fear us. They fear us because of Donald Trump. Do you think our bombing Syria while the Chinese president was visiting Mar-a-Lago was by happenstance? Everything Trump does is calculated.
It took months before he was vindicated for his remarks about Obama wiretapping Trump Tower. Now we know it was absolutely true. It only took days before his comments on Charlottesville, comments that were derided by Corker and others, were proven true. The man has instincts like no other president in recent memory.
The problem with Corker is he’s cut from the same cloth as Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan: go along to get along. They fret over decorum. Trump simply doesn’t care who he offends. What the Washington establishment finds so repulsive is exactly what the rest of America finds so refreshing.
The media and people like Corker decry Trump’s use of Twitter, but his tweets will go down in history as the essence of his genius. What other president has ever given us such incredible access to his stream of consciousness? The prior administration promised us transparency and gave us obfuscation. President Trump has given us a window to his soul.
Politicians and media complain incredulously that Trump shouldn’t pick a fight with Corker when he needs his vote to pass tax reform. Stop and think how juvenile that actually is. Bob Corker and these same politicians often accuse Trump of being immature. Truth is I can’t think of anything more immature than voting against your own constituents’ and your own country’s best interests just because the president hurt your little feelings. These crybabies need to grow up.
