6 Damning Revelations About the Trump Presidency, Straight From a GOP Senator

Updated on Oct 27, 2017 at 5:30 AM

President Donald Trump has once again started a war on Twitter — and this time, his opponent isn't about to take the flak lying down.

On Oct. 8, Trump took to his favorite social media platform to tear into a fellow Republican in Congress. "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... my endorsement). He also wanted to be Secretary of State, I said 'NO THANKS.' He is also largely responsible for the horrendous Iran Deal!" Trump tweeted, adding, "...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!" It was just one among several attacks on the Tennessee senator, who currently heads up the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and is serving out his so-called lame duck term after deciding not to run for reelection. Corker, for his part, quickly became one of the few individuals in the president's party to actually fight back against him.

"Mr. Corker flatly disputed that account, saying Mr. Trump had urged him to run again, and promised to endorse him if he did," reads an astounding exposé published by The New York Times only hours after the tweetstorm. "But the exchange laid bare a deeper rift: The senator views Mr. Trump as given to irresponsible outbursts — a political novice who has failed to make the transition from show business."

That's right: a member of the GOP collaborated with one of Trump's most-hated "fake news" sources to come clean about how he — and much of the Republican party — feels about the 45th president of the United States. Corker, himself a former real estate developer-turned-politician, was previously seen as the closest thing Trump had to an ally in Washington. But that didn't stop him from, according to The Times, finding "cathartic satisfaction by portraying Mr. Trump in terms that most senior Republicans use only in private." Oh, and did we mention that Corker took to Twitter after Trump's tirade to suggest that the White House has effectively become an adult daycare center?

Below, we've pulled some of the most jaw-dropping revelations from The New York Times's exclusive story — and you can bet we'll be following the ongoing drama in what now is very clearly becoming a war between the sitting president and his party.

On Trump not taking the presidency seriously: Corker said that Trump was treating the presidency like "a reality show" and could put us "on the path to World War III." He also said Trump acts "like he's doing The Apprentice or something." The really damning part though? "I don't think he appreciates that when the president of the United States speaks and says the things that he does, the impact that it has around the world, especially in the region that he's addressing."
On Trump's stability: "He concerns me. He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation." And it's not just Corker, either: it's the majority of those in his party. "Look, except for a few people, the vast majority of our caucus understands what we're dealing with here. Of course they understand the volatility that we're dealing with and the tremendous amount of work that it takes by people around him to keep him in the middle of the road."
On Trump's White House being an "adult day care center": "I know for a fact that every single day at the White House, it's a situation of trying to contain him." He has faith in those around Trump, though, as he said, "As long as there are people like that around him who are able to talk him down when he gets spun up, you know, calm him down and continue to work with him before a decision gets made, I think we'll be fine."
On Trump's Twitter habit and its affect on diplomacy: "A lot of people think that there is some kind of 'good cop, bad cop' act underway, but that's just not true," Corker said, later adding, "I know he has hurt, in several instances, he's hurt us as it relates to negotiations that were underway by tweeting things out."
On Trump being the actual source of fake news and false facts: "I don't know why the president tweets out things that are not true. You know he does it, everyone knows he does it, but he does."
On Trump's Oct. 8 accusations and the truth of the matter: "When I told him that that just wasn't in the cards, he said, 'You know, if you run, I'll endorse you.' I said, 'Mr. President, it's just not in the cards; I've already made a decision.' So then we began talking about other candidates that were running."