Sen. Bob Corker, the retiring Republican chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, has engaged in a heated back-and-forth with Trump for days now, including in an interview with The New York Times where he said that he feared Trump was steering the nation "on the path to World War III." 
 
 The President, a politician whose mantra has long been to hit back harder than someone hits him, is now treating Corker like he did his primary opponents: By giving him a nickname. 
 
 "The Failing @nytimes set Liddle' Bob Corker up by recording his conversation," Trump tweeted on Tuesday. "Was made to sound a fool, and that's what I am dealing with!" 
 
 "So have at it," Corker told the reporter. "I understand we're on the record. I don't like normally talking to you on the record -- I'm kidding you -- but I will." 
 
 Asked about Corker's comments, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters, "Sen. Corker is certainly entitled to his own opinion, but he's not entitled to his own facts." 
 
 "The facts certainly don't lie, the President has certainly been very successful," she continued. 
 
 Asked if Corker should resign, Sanders said that decision is not for the White House to make. "I think that's a decision for Sen. Corker and the people of Tennessee," Sanders said. 
 
 Trump continued his feud with Corker during a Tuesday meeting with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, pushing back on the senator's statement that Trump is putting the United States on a path toward World War III. 
 
 "We were on the wrong path before. All you have to do is take a look," he said when asked if Corker was right. "Now we're on the right path." 
 
 Trump labeling Corker "liddle" is a throwback to the 2016 campaign, when he gave Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, then a presidential candidate himself, the same moniker. 
 
 "I'm the writer," Trump told New York magazine in 2016. "Let me start with Little Marco. He just looked like Little Marco to me. And it's not Little. It's Liddle. L-I-D-D-L-E. And it's not L-Y-I-N-G Ted Cruz. It's L-Y-I-N apostrophe. Ted's a liar, so that was easy." 
 
 The feud between Corker and Trump had escalated this weekend when the President tweeted that the outgoing senator "begged" for his endorsement before declining to run for re-election. 
 
 "He also wanted to be Secretary of State, I said 'NO THANKS.' He is also largely responsible for the horrendous Iran Deal," Trump tweeted. "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!" 
 
 Todd Womack, Corker's chief of staff, denied the claim later in the day. 
 
 "The President called Senator Corker on Monday afternoon and asked him to reconsider his decision not to seek re-election and reaffirmed that he would have endorsed him, as he has said many times," Womack said in a statement. 
 
 Corker, in the New York Times interview, said that Trump is acting "like he's doing 'The Apprentice' or something," and added that he could set the nation "on the path to World War III." 
 
 The comment comes a week after Corker jabbed Trump, stating that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary James Mattis and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly "help separate our country from chaos." 
 
 The clash between Corker and Trump highlights fraying relations between the President and the men and women in Congress who the White House needs to deliver on the agenda Trump ran on. Trump has yet to score a signature legislative victory, a black mark on his record given his party controls both the Senate and House. 
 
 Trump said Tuesday that he didn't think his feud with Corker would imperil his tax cut plan. 
 
 "I don't think so. I don't think so at all," he said. "I think we are well on our way." 
 
 Corker's comments have already infuriated Trump's base. Steve Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist who was let go from the White House earlier this year, called on the senator to resign in response. ||||| Republicans woke up Columbus Day morning to the sights and sounds of the wheels coming off their midterm-election bus and their legislative jalopy. First came a widely publicized war of words between President Trump and the prominent Republican senator, Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker. Then came a Bloomberg News story by Jennifer Jacobs and Bill Allison laying out Steve Bannon’s intention to back challengers to most of the GOP senators seeking re-election next year. 
 
 The Trump-Corker contretemps began last week when the Tennessee lawmaker, who had been a top contender to be Trump’s running mate as well as secretary of State, took an obvious shot at the president when he told reporters that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, and White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly “are those people that help separate our country from chaos.” Corker amplified his criticism on Fox News Sunday, charging that Trump was treating his office like “a reality show,” with reckless threats toward other countries that could set the nation “on the path to World War III.” 
 
 The tweet wars then began in earnest. Trump fired back that Corker “didn’t have the guts” to run for re-election, and Corker reponded by saying, “It’s a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.” After adding that the former reality television star was “like he’s doing ‘The Apprentice’ or something,” Corker concluded that “he concerns me,” and it should “concern anyone who cares about our nation.” 
 
 In a New York Times interview later Sunday, this in a phone call with Jonathan Martin and Mark Landler, Corker said that “I know for a fact that every single day at the White House, it’s a situation of trying to contain him.” Trump fired up his twitter gatling gun and wrote that “Bob Corker gave us the Iran Deal, & that’s about it. We need HealthCare, we need Tax Cuts/Reform, we need people that can get the job done!” 
 
 While Trump has been highly critical of the Republican-led Congress in general, and the Senate Republican leadership in particular, for their failure to repeal and replace Obamacare, his exchange with Corker went to a darker place. Corker did what a lot of Republican leaders have been tempted to do — question the president’s maturity and stability, and speculate how that might affect his performance as commander-in-chief. 
 
 Over the last year Trump has singled out for criticism two endangered GOP incumbents up for re-election this year, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Dean Heller of Nevada. He also has engaged in an on-going feud with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. If Trump is to get anything done legislatively without having to depend on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, he must have the support of Corker, McConnell, Flake, and Heller. The opportunities to align with Schumer and Pelosi are likely to be few and far between. 
 
 Citing three sources “familiar with his plans,” the Bloomberg News article reported that Bannon “plans to support as many as 15 Republican Senate candidates in 2018, including several challengers to incumbents. He’ll support only candidates who agree to two conditions: They will vote against McConnell as majority leader, and they will vote to end senators’ ability to block legislation by filibustering. Bloomberg went on to say that only Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is safe because he’s considered sufficiently conservative and seen to be moving toward the more populist approach Bannon favors. 
 
 Bannon has already scored a victory in Alabama by successfully backing former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore against a Luther Strange, a senator appointed by the GOP establishment. The Bloomberg piece reported that Bannon was targeting incumbents Flake, Heller, Nebraska’s Deb Fischer, Wyoming’s John Barrasso, and Utah’s Orrin Hatch, and the New York Times reported on Sunday that another Bannon favorite, Erik Prince, founder of the controversial security firm Blackwater, was considering a challenge to Barrasso. In the event that Sen. John McCain leaves office early — he is undergoing treatment for a virulent form of brain cancer — Bannon has indicated a preference for Paul Gosar, a state representative and tea party activist. In the race to replace Corker, Bannon intends to support Rep. Marsha Blackburn. 
 
 Almost any conversation with congressional Republicans starts and ends with the need to cut taxes, now that tax reform no longer seems possible. Having failed to pass any legislation of real significance this year, and with a president who carries little weight on Capitol Hill, Republicans desperately need to put some points on the board. They are banking on passing a tax cut that’s meaningful, that voters can see, feel, and touch. If they pass something insufficiently large, the political payoff will be commensurately small. 
 
 With 25 Democratic Senate seats up next year, ten in states Trump carried, five in states the former real estate developer won by 19 points or more, this should be a year for the GOP to expand its current narrow 52-48 majority. Under different circumstances, the GOP could hope to boost their Senate numbers by four to seven seats, perhaps even reaching the magic 60-seat Senate super-majority level that could break filibusters on party line votes. But given their current disarray, Republicans will need to fight hard to gain any new seats, and losing one or two of their own seats would put their majority in jeopardy. 
 
 The stakes are even higher in the House where their majority status is in real danger. The party needs to sublimate its divisions, get mainstream Republicans to the polls, and persuade the Trump base to cast ballot for non-Trump Republicans. That’s a tall order. And it’s why last week’s news reduced the odds of the GOP retaining its majority from a good bet to even money. 
 
 Correction: An earlier version of this story erroneously characterized Erik Prince’s political plans. He is considering a run against John Barrasso of Wyoming. ||||| President Donald Trump’s claim that Sen. Bob Corker opted to leave the Senate only after the president refused to endorse him has been repeatedly disputed by the Tennessee Republican’s office. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images Trump and Corker hurl insults as GOP strives for unity The Tennessee Republican offers a prediction: 'I think the debasement of our nation will be what he'll be remembered most for.' 
 
 President Donald Trump and Sen. Bob Corker dramatically escalated their feud on Tuesday, with the president accusing Corker of blocking tax reform efforts and the Tennessee Republican warning Trump that his legacy will be the debasement of America. 
 
 The nasty exchanges came ahead of a Capitol Hill lunch between Trump and GOP senators to project unity on an ambitious legislative agenda. While the two men generally avoided each other at the meeting, the rebukes still hung in the air. 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 Corker set off the latest tiff, appearing on all three major broadcast morning news shows to needle the president and to call on him to “step aside” on tax reform. 
 
 Trump punched back on Twitter. 
 
 “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,” Trump wrote. “Corker dropped out of the race in Tennesse [sic] when I refused to endorse him, and now is only negative on anything Trump. Look at his record!” 
 
 Corker quickly responded, lamenting on Twitter the "same untruths from an utterly untruthful president. #AlertTheDaycareStaff." Trump’s claim that Corker opted to leave the Senate only after the president refused to endorse him has been disputed repeatedly by the Tennessee Republican’s office. In fact, it was Trump, Corker’s office has said, who asked the senator to reconsider his retirement. 
 
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 The spat escalated from there, and captured the civil war that is plaguing the Republican Party despite the GOP’s control of both the White House and Congress. Trump has sparred at times with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.), among others. 
 
 Flake grabbed his own share of the spotlight on Tuesday, announcing that he would not seek reelection in 2018, and delivering a searing speech on the Senate floor in which he railed against Trump. 
 
 "Reckless, outrageous, and undignified behavior has become excused and countenanced as 'telling it like it is,' when it is actually just reckless, outrageous, and undignified," Flake said. "And when such behavior emanates from the top of our government, it is something else: It is dangerous to a democracy." 
 
 "Mr. President, I rise today to say: Enough," Flake added. 
 
 It's yet to be seen, though, if Flake will join Corker, who is also not seeking reelection in 2018, in taking up the mantle of the senator who consistently punches back against the president. 
 
 On NBC’s “Today" on Tuesday morning, Corker said, "The best way for us to have a success" on tax reform is for the legislation to be driven by Congress, not the president, a recommendation he said was "based on recent history and just, interactions." 
 
 The Tennessee Republican also called Trump’s scheduled lunch with Republican senators on Tuesday little more than a “photo op." 
 
 Speaking more broadly about the president in an interview on "CBS This Morning," Corker told anchor Charlie Rose that "it appears to be the governing model of this White House to purposefully divide." 
 
 Corker then notched up his rhetoric even further during an interview on CNN, saying Trump will most be remembered for "the debasement of our nation." 
 
 "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, the things — I think the debasement of our nation will be what he'll be remembered most for, and that's regretful," Corker said. 
 
 Asked whether he regrets supporting Trump during last year's election, Corker said, "Let's just put it this way: I would not do that again." 
 
 Trump continued the back-and-forth, asking his Twitter followers, "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!" 
 
 In another two-post missive, Trump lobbed more criticism, resurrecting a nickname he pinned to the Tennessee Republican weeks earlier: "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 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!" 
 
 While the war of words built expectations for a face-to-face clash at Tuesday's lunch, Corker called the meeting "uneventful” and that references to the feud did not come up. 
 
 He said on MSNBC that his earlier back-and-forth with the president was "to express concerns about, you know, the conduct and just what it means to America and Americans and what it means to the world. But I don't really have any agenda other than responding again to shots across the bow." 
 
 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, too, downplayed the conflict between Corker and Trump, telling reporters Tuesday afternoon that "I don't have any observation about that.” He predicted that Republicans' top priority, tax reform, would be unifying enough to bridge any fractures within the GOP. 
 
 The anticlimactic lunch meeting belied a morning of rhetoric from the president's Twitter account that was particularly biting. Corker willingly engaged the president, responding in kind with scathing criticism online and in a flurry of TV news interviews. 
 
 While some have feared that Trump's feud with a powerful committee chairman could imperil GOP priorities, including tax reform, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Tuesday that the spat between the two men would not alter Republican policy efforts. 
 
 "At the end of the day, I know Bob well. Bob is going to vote for Tennessee, he's going to vote for America, he's going to vote for tax reform," Ryan continued at a news conference with House Republican leaders. "So put this Twitter dispute aside," he said. 
 
 The relationship between the two men, which had already been on rocky footing, soured further this month as Corker and Trump have lobbed increasingly barbed criticisms at one another through the media. Amid a separate reported spat between Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in early October, Corker came to the defense of the secretary, telling reporters that Tillerson and other top advisers "help separate the country from chaos." 
 
 Trump replied with a Twitter barrage, launching his claim that the senator had opted to retire only once a presidential endorsement had been taken off the table. Trump also said he had rejected Corker as a possible secretary of state and said the senator was "largely responsible for the horrendous Iran Deal!” Corker was quick with a sarcastic retort, writing that "it's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning." 
 
 The senator also delivered a scathing review of Trump in an interview with The New York Times, telling the newspaper that the president has behaved “like he’s doing ‘The Apprentice’ or something" and that he could put the U.S. "on the path to World War III." 
 
 Corker said on Tuesday morning that he tried being a helpful force to Trump — with little to show for it. 
 
 "Many of us, me included, have, you know, tried to, you know — I've intervened, I have had private dinner, you know, been with him on multiple occasions to try to create some kind of aspirational approach, if you will, to the way that he conducts himself, but I don't think that that's possible," Corker said. "He's obviously not going to rise to the occasion as president." 
 
 Nolan D. McCaskill and Seung Min Kim contributed to this report. ||||| ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 Man of the hour! Bob Corker, retiring Republican senator from Tennessee and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, has been earning Twitter plaudits for his sorties against President Trump. He has called the president a toddler on Twitter (134,000 retweets and counting!) and told The New York Times that the president's instability might well put America "on the path to World War III." 
 
 In the scripted kabuki theater of American politics, the respected Republican statesman who calls out the president of his own party as reckless or extreme is a stock character, who must always receive loud calls of adulation from the chorus of the press. Bravo! 
 
 But why is it, exactly, that anyone should respect Bob Corker's opinion about the president? Should it be more, or less, respected than his endorsement of that same irresponsible toddler for the presidency? His campaign-era praise for the foreign policy thinking of the man who he now warns risks World War III? His jockeying for a spot on the ticket with the toddler? His dismissal of those who, within the Republican Party, were saying exactly the same things, you know, back when something could have been done about it? 
 
 There has been a very strong correlation between Bob Corker's public comments on Donald Trump and Bob Corker's perceived short-term interests, and his new about-face is no exception. He only started "uncorking" (get it?) about Trump once he decided not to run for re-election in a state that Trump carried by 25 points. He has calibrated his retirement announcement to encourage speculation about a 2020 bid, for which his recent comments are clearly useful in positioning him as an establishment primary challenge to Trump. What is it, exactly, that anyone should respect here? 
 
 For the record, I am not engaging in "whataboutism." I absolutely agree with Corker that the president of the United States behaves like a toddler and in other ways that are grave and alarming. The difference is that I haven't spent the past year obfuscating about that for political gain. 
 
 It's worth expressing some moral outrage about that. Corker was an instrumental part of a Republican establishment that foreswore every opportunity to stop Trump during the campaign for the sake of short-term political gain: refusing to unite behind an anti-Trump candidate, quashing dissent in the run-up to the convention, sucking away the oxygen that might have enabled a non-quixotic third-party conservative bid, comforting themselves with notions that the GOP could "run the country from Congress" and so it was okay to put a "toddler" in charge of America's nuclear arsenal. Edmund Burke was right: All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. The Bob Corkers of the world bear more responsibility for Donald Trump's election than the Stephen Bannons and Sean Hannitys. Corker's "toddler" comment is damning — but less so for Trump (it's not exactly a scoop) than for Corker himself. If Trump is such a toddler, why did Corker enable his rise in the first place? 
 
 But there is also an important, even fundamental, political point, here. As Talleyrand, that French geopolitical master whom foreign policy hands should be able to quote, would say, "C'est pire qu'un crime, c'est une faute." ("It was worse than a crime; it was a blunder.") It is well-understood that the United States, and the West in general, is in the grips of a populist insurgency that often has noxious ideas and even more often lacks the competence to turn even its good ideas into policy. It is less well-understood that a main driver of this insurgency's strength is the intellectual and even, arguably, moral bankruptcy of too many in our governing elites, who often speak the language of the common good but seem to believe in little more than that the common good always intersects with their own class interest and that they have a natural right to rule. Bob Corker's sudden rediscovery of principle right at the moment when it stops being risky politically is a darkly comical symbol of this contemptible attitude. 
 
 Donald Trump became president at least in part because large swathes of Republican voters feel screwed by their party, and they feel this way because they are, well, correct. During his Senate tenure, Bob Corker's notable stances on economic policy include voting for Wall Street bailouts, support for a flat tax, and attacks on Social Security and Medicare. 
 
 Fixing a problem requires first understanding it. Trump's personal behavior is contemptible and alarming, but the reason why someone like Trump could get into the White House in the first place, and the way to prevent a new Trump once this one is out one way or another, is to understand how and why the establishment that enabled his rise and the rise of his movement failed. There has been no hint that Bob Corker or those of his establishment ilk understand any of this, or plan to do anything about it other than continue to behave like the stereotype of the kind of establishment Republican that drove a once-proud party (and thence, the world) into the hands of a fool. 
 
 Trump's obvious psychological unfitness for his office, important though it is, is also a convenient way to distract from the fundamental failures of the Republican establishment that made him possible. But on this subject Bob Corker has been utterly silent. I would rather hand the nuclear button to Bob Corker than Donald Trump, but if the difference between a toddler and a man is that the latter is capable to self-reflect and then take responsibility for his own actions, then the difference between these two becomes blurred. 
 
 Bob Corker isn't an opponent of Donald Trump. He is his enabler. ||||| Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump and outgoing Sen. Bob Corker launched into a Twitter spat Sunday morning in a major public falling out, making the Tennessean the latest senior Republican lawmaker to openly criticize Trump over his statements online and off. 
 
 Trump tweeted Sunday morning in a series of posts attacking Corker that he denied the senator's request for an endorsement -- a claim denied by Corker's chief of staff, Todd Womack, later in the day. 
 
 "The president called Senator Corker on Monday afternoon and asked him to reconsider his decision not to seek reelection and reaffirmed that he would have endorsed him, as he has said many times," Womack said in a statement. 
 
 Trump told Corker he was going to endorse him the day the Tennessee Republican announced his intention to retire, two sources familiar with the discussions said. 
 
 Corker, whose term expires at the end of next year, made the announcement that he would retire late last month. 
 
 Trump's slams on Corker come days after the senator made public comments criticizing him. The senator responded to Trump's tweets with an insult later in the morning, calling the White House "an adult day care center" in a Twitter post. 
 
 And he wasn't done there. 
 
 In remarks to The New York Times published on Sunday night, Corker said Trump was treating the presidency like "a reality show," making reckless threats against other countries that put the United States "on the path to World War III." 
 
 Corker also said Trump acts "like he's doing 'The Apprentice' or something," and that alarmed the senator, according to the Times. 
 
 "He concerns me," Corker told the newspaper. "He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation." 
 
 And the risks Trump's behavior presents also concern some of his top officials, who endeavor daily to protect the President from his own instincts, the Times reported. 
 
 "I know for a fact that every single day at the White House, it's a situation of trying to contain him," Corker told the newspaper. 
 
 The flare-up between the two leaders highlights the long-simmering differences between GOP leaders and the President, who has not shied away from attacking the leadership over their inability to move health care legislation. It also comes as Trump prepares to press Congress to advance his proposed tax overhaul and tensions reportedly grow between Trump and members of his own Cabinet -- especially Secretary of State Rex Tillerson -- on issues such as the way to handle North Korea's nuclear weapons program. 
 
 Corker's vote will be critical on tax reform, and he remains an influential voice on Trump's foreign policy challenges, including over how to handle the Iran nuclear deal. 
 
 It's not the first time Trump and the White House have privately sent one signal to Corker while publicly saying something else. Following Corker's pointed attack on Trump for his handling of the deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August, Vice President Mike Pence quietly sought to repair ties with Corker after the President knocked the Tennessee Republican on Twitter, sources said. 
 
 On Sunday morning, Trump again launched an attack on Corker. 
 
 "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..." Trump tweeted . "..my endorsement). He also wanted to be Secretary of State, I said "NO THANKS." He is also largely responsible for the horrendous Iran Deal!" 
 
 "...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!" Trump added. 
 
 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 
 
 ..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 
 
 The President continued to slam Corker in a tweet in the late afternoon. 
 
 "Bob Corker gave us the Iran Deal, & that's about it. We need HealthCare, we need Tax Cuts/Reform, we need people that can get the job done!" he wrote. 
 
 Bob Corker gave us the Iran Deal, & that's about it. We need HealthCare, we need Tax Cuts/Reform, we need people that can get the job done! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2017 
 
 Corker responded on Twitter after Trump's initial tweets: "It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning." 
 
 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 
 
 Former US Attorney Preet Bharara, now a senior legal analyst at CNN, retweeted Corker's response, remarking, "An adult day care center whose chief resident can't count to 51." 
 
 An adult day care center whose chief resident can't count to 51... https://t.co/QnXl8tDJm3 — Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) October 8, 2017 
 
 Bharara was fired by Trump a few months into his presidency. 
 
 Later Sunday, California Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu expanded on Trump's relationships with members of Congress, saying Corker's response highlighted why Republicans have not been able to pass major legislation this year. 
 
 "Donald Trump is a weak President with low approval ratings who does not command respect on Capitol Hill," Lieu told anchor Ana Cabrera on "CNN Newsroom." "As a result, Trump can't deliver the votes when he needs it. And to make matters worse, Donald Trump is not trying to build relationships. He lashes out and insults members of Congress. And keep in mind, Trump's deficit-exploding tax plan can only lose three Republican Senate votes before it dies." 
 
 "I wish I could replay what people tell me on the floor from my colleagues across the aisle," Lieu continued. "I can't do that, but they are similar to Senator Corker. I could just say this, the President is not respected by many members of Congress. You're seeing that play out in terms of failed legislation, and you see that played out when the President goes after and singles out individual members of Congress and attacks them. That's not how you build relationships." 
 
 Corker, who chairs the Senate foreign relations committee, defended his record on the Iran deal in an op-ed in The Washington Times last year, saying he led Senate opposition to the Obama-era pact and was joined by almost the entire Senate and House in passing legislation in 2015 to establish a process for congressional review. 
 
 "Without it, there would have been no requirement that Congress receive full details of the deal; no review period for Congress to examine and weigh in on the agreement; no requirement that the president regularly certify that Iran is complying; and no way for Congress to rapidly reimpose sanctions should Iran cheat," Corker wrote. 
 
 The senator has also made some critical comments about Trump's demeanor and temperament in recent weeks. 
 
 Corker said in August that Trump had not yet demonstrated "the stability nor some of the competence" he needed to be successful. 
 
 Defense Secretary James Mattis and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly "help separate our country from chaos." He said Wednesday that Tillerson,Defense Secretary James Mattis and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly "help separate our country from chaos." 
 
 Corker also said Tillerson has not received the support he needs from Trump. 
 
 "I mean, look, I see what's happening here," Corker said. "I deal with people throughout the administration and (Tillerson), from my perspective, is in an incredibly frustrating place, where, as I watch, OK, and I can watch very closely on many occasions, I mean you know, he ends up being not being supported in the way I would hope a secretary of state would be supported, that's just from my vantage point." 
 
 Tillerson, who has reportedly been displeased with Trump and his own role in the administration, made a public statement last week reaffirming his support for the President after news reports spoke of acrimony between the two men -- principally, that Tillerson had questioned Trump's intelligence, calling him a "moron," in front of other top officials. 
 
 Tillerson's statement of support for Trump prompted the President to say his secretary of state had refuted the story about the insult. Trump later told reporters inside a Las Vegas hospital, where he was visiting the victims of last Sunday's mass shooting, that he has "total confidence" in Tillerson and said reports that the secretary of state called him a moron were "fake news" and "totally made up." ||||| Washington (CNN) Hours before Donald Trump was set to huddle with Senate Republicans to rally support for his tax cut measure, Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker delivered an absolute bludgeoning of the President . And even that may be an understatement. 
 
 In an interview with CNN's Manu Raju , Corker said the President consistently doesn't tell the truth, dodged on whether Trump should have the nuclear codes, said Trump wasn't a role model for children, said he would not ever support him again and repeatedly suggested that Trump "debases" the country. 
 
 It was something else. Below, I've picked the nine roughest Corker lines and ranked them from least to most devastating. 
 
 9. "The shame of it is, there are some some really good people around him, and if he would stay out of their way and let them perform, people like (Rex) Tillerson and (James) Mattis and others, we could really make progress on things that matter greatly to our country." 
 
 Think about this. Corker is saying that if only Trump would get out of the way, Republicans could actually get some things done. He views Trump as the main impediment to getting things done in Washington. And this is the least damning thing Corker said about Trump in his interview with Manu! 
 
 8. "I would hope the staff over there would figure out ways of controlling him when they know that everything he said today was absolutely untrue." 
 
 This echoes Corker's comments about the White House functioning as an "adult daycare center" in which the job of lots of smart and serious people is to keep the President from doing anything truly destructive to the country. Rather than doing the work of the country, Corker suggests, the main focus of the White House is managing the President's moods and tempers. 
 
 7. "Four times he encouraged me to run and told me he would endorse me. I don't know. it's amazing." 
 
 Corker, again, is noting that he believes Trump is lying about the nature of their conversation last month at the White House. Trump continues to insist Corker begged for his endorsement and said he couldn't win -- and would have to retire -- without it. Corker has consistently argued that Trump not only asked him to run again but offered to endorse him and campaign with him. Someone is lying. And, based on track record, I think we have a pretty good idea who it is. 
 
 6. "I think that he's proven himself unable to rise to the occasion ... I don't think that that's possible. He's obviously not going to rise to the occasion as president." 
 
 This quote comes in the context of Corker telling Manu about dinners and meetings that he and other Republican senators have had with Trump in which they urged him to moderate some of his natural bomb-throwing tendencies. He didn't. And, according to Corker, he won't. This is as good as it gets, Corker is saying. Which is pretty damning. 
 
 5. "The President has great difficulty with the truth. On many issues." 
 
 Corker wouldn't call Trump a "liar" in the interview with Manu. But he did everything but. The quote above suggests that Corker believes Trump's natural state is to not tell the truth. Related: Corker is talking about the President, aka the single most powerful person in the country. 
 
 4. "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." 
 
 That word "debase" is a powerful one. It means, quite literally: "To reduce in quality or value; adulterate." So what Corker is saying is that Trump is tarnishing the country by the way he acts and what he says. Wowza. 
 
 3. "We are going to be doing hearings on some of the things that he purposely is breaking down, relationships we have around the world that have been useful to our nation." 
 
 What exactly does this mean? Corker, as chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, is going to hold hearings seeking accountability for the decisions Trump has made as President? He is going to hold hearings aimed at restoring trust between the US and our traditional allies? Something else? No matter what, it's a big deal. 
 
 2. "I think world leaders are very aware that much of what he says is untrue." 
 
 Remember that this is the GOP head of a major Senate committee speaking. Corker isn't popping off. He actually talks to world leaders and, presumably, knows of what he speaks. Consider then what this means: World leaders -- our allies and our adversaries -- know that Trump is often lying. The chaos that can -- and will -- create in the world is hard to wrap your head around. And terrifying. 
 
 1. "When his term is over, I think the debasing of our nation, the constant non-truth telling, and the -- just the name calling, the things that I think, the debasement of our nation is what we will be remembered most important, and that's regretful." ||||| Corker, the Republican chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who announced in late-September that he wouldn’t be seeking reelection in 2018, never had a particularly strong relationship with Donald Trump. In May, he described the Trump administration as being in the midst of a “downward spiral.” Three months later he criticized Trump’s handling of Charlottesville, saying the president “has not demonstrated he understands the character of this nation.” But it wasn’t until Corker announced that he wasn’t seeking reelection, that the relationship between Trump and Corker was fully severed. On Sunday, after Corker had repeatedly criticized Trump’s handling of foreign policy, the president took to Twitter: 
 
 Bob Corker gave us the Iran Deal, & that's about it. We need HealthCare, we need Tax Cuts/Reform, we need people that can get the job done! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2017 
 
 Corker fired back: 
 
 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 
 
 Later that day, Corker told The New York Times’s Jonathan Martin and Mark Landler that the president’s “reality show” approach to governance was leading the country “into World War III. “He concerns me. He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation.” 
 
 This is a significant development, given Corker’s influence as the chair of the Foreign Relations Committee. But it’s easy to overstate its significance. After all, we’ve been here before—Jeff Flake wrote an entire book criticizing Trump that just happened to be published the same week that Flake voted for a health care bill being pushed by the president that would have had disastrous consequences for millions of Americans. It does take some courage to criticize the president but, like Flake, Corker hasn’t yet done anything to meaningfully constrain Trump, either on foreign policy or anywhere else. Instead, his comments are best understood as an attempt to influence the president’s behavior—social media and press coverage, of course, are the two best ways to reach Trump and his inner circle. 
 
 In his interview with the Times, Corker made it clear that he thinks that most of his Republican colleagues in the Senate are just as concerned about Trump’s unstable behavior as he is. “Look, except for a few people, the vast majority of our caucus understands what we’re dealing with here,” Corker said. “If you write that, I’m sure there will be some that will come to you and say, ‘No, no, no. I don’t believe that.’ But 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.” 
 
 But that only makes Corker’s comments more inadequate. If he really is speaking for “the vast majority” of Senate Republicans than the fact that they have done nothing meaningful about Trump’s abuses of power and dangerous foreign policy all the more galling. Corker recognizes that we’re in the middle of a crisis. But crises require action—and Corker hasn’t done anything meaningful, at least not yet.
– President Trump's feud with Republican Sen. Bob Corker is apparently still on, based on the new nickname the president bestowed upon Corker Tuesday morning. "The Failing @nytimes set Liddle' Bob Corker up by recording his conversation," Trump tweeted. "Was made to sound a fool, and that's what I am dealing with!" Trump was referring to the interview Corker gave to the New York Times in which the senator likened the Trump White House to a "reality show" and suggested that reckless comments from the president could lead to World War III. Developments: Audio, transcript: The Times released excerpts from the interview, as well as audio here. It's not clear what Trump meant in saying that the newspaper set up Corker, but the transcript makes clear that Corker knew he was on the record, notes CNN. He also knew the call was being recorded, telling the reporter that his staff was recording it, "and I hope you are, too." GOP trouble: At the National Journal, political analyst Charlie Cook of the Cook Political Report writes that Trump went to a "darker place" in his Corker criticism, and he now thinks the GOP majority is in jeopardy not only in the Senate but in the House. "The party needs to sublimate its divisions, get mainstream Republicans to the polls, and persuade the Trump base to cast ballot for non-Trump Republicans," he writes. "That's a tall order. And it's why last week's news reduced the odds of the GOP retaining its majority from a good bet to even money." Ulterior motives? Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry of the Week calls Corker a hypocrite for his sudden public turn on the president and suggests that the retiring senator is positioning himself to be an "establishment" primary challenger to the president in the 2020 election. Now what? James Fallows at the Atlantic writes that if Corker truly believes Trump might blunder his way into World War III, he has an obligation to "do something about it" by providing a crucial check on Trump's actions through his position as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee. "Talk is better than nothing, but action is what counts." WSJ weighs in: The conservative editorial page of the Wall Street Journal thinks Corker spoke the truth about the president's "lack of discipline, short fuse, narcissism and habit of treating even foreign heads of state as if they are Rosie O'Donnell," and it hopes other top Republicans follow Corker's lead because it might actually help. Little reaction: NBC News rounds up reaction from top Republicans to Corker's statements about the president and finds "silence or a shrug." A typical sentiment, from Marco Rubio: "You'll have to ask Sen. Corker what led him to make that statement. I haven't made that statement." Trump's new criticism comes just a week before a Senate vote important to Trump's tax plan, notes the New York Times.