'Couldn't Get Elected as Dog Catcher': GOP Infighting Overshadows Unity on Tax Reform
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It is no secret President Trump has enemies, even people within his own party. That all came to the forefront Tuesday as the president spoke to Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill trying to unite the party around tax reform.
But talks of unity were off to a rocky start when Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., made these comments ahead of his visit:
"I expressed concerns a few weeks ago about his leadership, and just his stability, the lack of desire to be competent on issues and understand, and just ya know, nothing has changed," Corker told reporters Tuesday.
President Trump fired back on Twitter, calling Corker "incompetent" and adding he "couldn't get elected as dog catcher in Tennessee".
Bob Corker, who helped President O give us the bad Iran Deal & couldn't get elected dog catcher in Tennessee, is now fighting Tax Cuts....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 24, 2017
...Corker dropped out of the race in Tennesse when I refused to endorse him, and now is only negative on anything Trump. Look at his record!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 24, 2017
Isn't it sad that lightweight Senator Bob Corker, who couldn't get re-elected in the Great State of Tennessee, will now fight Tax Cuts plus!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 24, 2017
Sen. Corker is the incompetent head of the Foreign Relations Committee, & look how poorly the U.S. has done. He doesn't have a clue as.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 24, 2017
...the entire World WAS laughing and taking advantage of us. People like liddle' Bob Corker have set the U.S. way back. Now we move forward!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 24, 2017
But the biggest news came when Arizona GOP Sen. Jeff Flake announced he will not seek re-election in 2018, criticizing today's political state and saying America has lost its moorings.
"It is clear at this moment, that a traditional conservative who believes in limited government and free markets, who is devoted to free-trade, who is pro-immigration has a narrower and narrower path to nomination in the Republican party, the party that has so long defined itself by its belief in those things," said Flake. "It is also clear to me, for the moment, that we have given in or given up on the core principles in favor of a more viscerally satisfying anger and resentment."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell steered clear of the drama, saying he wants to concentrate on their agenda and not any other distractions.
"What I have an obligation to do is to try to achieve the greatest cohesion that I can among 52 Republicans, to try to achieve for the American people the agenda that we set out to achieve, and tax reform is what we are about," McConnell told reporters. "If there's anything that unifies Republicans, it's tax reform."
The tax plan seems to be on schedule, with House Republicans saying they're even willing to pass a Senate budget resolution many don't agree with in order to expedite tax reform.
"I think the Senate budget is awful, and I will vote for it because the outcome of tax reform is so important," Rep. Kevin Cramer , R-ND, told CBN News.
Congressman Robert Pittenger, R-NC, echoed that same sentiment.
"We whipped it yesterday and I whipped for it," Pittenger told CBN News. "It's not everything that we want, but I'm like Ronald Reagan, you take 70 percent of what you can now and come back for the rest of it later."
"We want to have our bill passed by Thanksgiving, that's our goal, to be out of the House and into the hands of the Senate."
Congressional Leaders are trying to have a tax plan in place by the beginning of next year, knowing that if they don't, they could pay the price in the 2018 elections.
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