On His Way Out, Bob Corker Reportedly Won’t Say Whether He Prefers a Democrat Over Trump in 2020

Outgoing Tennessee Republican U.S. Senator Bob Corker was quoted this week expressing concern about the path of the Republican Party.

“We’ve got to remember what the Republican Party is,” Corker reportedly said on MSNBC.

Corker also reportedly won’t say whether he prefers voters elect a Democrat over Trump in 2020.

Writing for The Washington Post, Phillip Wegmann said Corker longs for “what the Republican Party used to be.”

“And it’s worth asking what it was before President Trump and before the Tea Party,” Wegmann wrote.

“Perhaps Corker yearns for the simpler time of his predecessors such as Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn. Before coming to Congress, Corker watched Frist wheel and deal in the halls of Congress. Corker later watched Frist lobby for Obamacare in retirement and make a fortune from his stock options in the Hospital Corporation of America in the process.”

Wegmann wrote Corker possibly misses the days of Majority Leader Eric Cantor and former Speaker John Boehner of Ohio. The Tea Party opposed Cantor. Under Boehner, Wegmann wrote, members of the House of Representatives operated like a tollbooth, and members had to deposit campaign contributions into the party’s coffers.

“Boehner and Cantor and Frist were all respectable members of the Republican country club. They were genteel. Each also used their influence to enrich themselves, arguably at the expense of the country,” Wegmann wrote.

“It is no surprise that politicians such as Corker want the good old days back. Who can blame them? Life was good before the Tea Party; life was easier before Trump. For anyone lucky enough to get elected at least.”

As for Corker’s feelings on Trump, according to National Review, he said he’ll wait a year before he comments on whether a Democrat should replace the current president in 2020.

“What is happening right now is not the standard Republicanism that we’ve had in our country for many, many years, and it’s very different,” Corker reportedly said.

“So is it important for someone to get out there and at least remind people in the Republican primary what Republicans generally speaking have been about for generations? Which I think is important to remind people that we’re going through an anomaly right now as it relates to much of the standard Republican focus that’s been around for a long time.”

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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Bob Corker” by MSNBC.