Former U.S. Republican Sen. Bob Corker this granted an exclusive interview to The Atlantic, and he used the occasion to voice his differences with the Tea Party. This, while the writer of the article, Emma Green, touted Corker as someone who called out the “racism” and “moral failings of the Republican Party.
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Former U.S. Republican Sen. Bob Corker this week downplayed talk that he might run for United States president. Corker also opined on whether and how his brand of Republican Party differs from what it is currently under former U.S. President Donald Trump.
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Former U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican who once represented Tennessee, has no plans to challenge current Gov. Bill Lee in 2022. This, according to Corker’s spokeswoman Micah Johnson on Thursday.
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One Memphis media outlet has sparked speculation that former U.S. Sen. Bob Corker may run for governor of Tennessee. This, the same month that Corker, a Republican, granted an interview to PBS and seemed to make patronizing remarks about former President Donald Trump’s supporters. Corker referred to those individuals as ‘the base.’
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A former Republican Senator from Tennessee who had a tumultuous relationship with President Donald J. Trump has resurfaced to bash the forty-fifth President in his final days in office, along with, by extension, those who support him.
“Look, there’s no one that feels more strongly about the fact that Republicans ought to celebrate some of the policy gains that have occurred, but never ever, ever allow someone like President Trump to serve again, certainly to become the Republican nominee or be president of the United States,” former Sen. Bob Corker (T-TN) told Knox News last week.
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Former U.S. Republican Sen. Bob Corker reportedly said the Republican or Democratic parties have changed too much by his standards.
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A group of former staffers for former Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Corker has reportedly launched a lobbying firm that has already signed clients who advocate for big government and more taxpayer money. This, according to an article in The Nashville Post. Corker’s former chief of staff Todd Womack and Corker’s former communications director Micah Johnson reportedly started the firm, known as Bridge Public Affairs. Former Corker aides Brent Wiles and John Goetz are also reportedly on board. “The young firm — with offices in Nashville, Chattanooga and Washington, D.C. — has already signed on a number of high-profile clients,” The Nashville Post reported. “Womack is registered to represent the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga, Chattanooga’s River City Company and Memphis’ Riverfront Development Corp. in Nashville, plus EPB, Volkswagen and others in Washington.” As The Tennessee Star reported, Tennessee officials have given Volkswagen hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate welfare. Meanwhile, the public utility EPB — also known as Chattanooga’s Electric Power Board — took $100 million in federal taxpayer money several years ago to offer ultra-high speed Internet — to compete against companies already in the private market. In 2012, the Nashville-based Beacon Center of Tennessee, a right-of-center…
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Former Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker reportedly said America will benefit if another Republican runs for president against Donald Trump next year. This, according to Breitbart.com this week. Corker reportedly said this at the Time 100 Summit in New York. “You could look at it and say that it would be a good thing for our country should that occur. If you had a real primary, where you had someone that was really being listened to, and of substance, things that we were talking about — and I could go through a list of them — they would actually be debated in a real way,” Corker reportedly said; adding that a less-challenging Republican opponent would get little media attention. Corker reportedly also said Trump divides the nation, him for the recent federal government shutdown. “Typically, to unite people, you have to wish to do so, and I think that currently, the president has not found that to his benefit or to his liking,” Breitbart quoted Corker as saying. As The Tennessee Star reported earlier this year, Corker, an avowed NeverTrump-er, “has long gone cuckoo over Trump and used his previous platform as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to criticize…
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Storied former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville has come up with a new game plan – running for the U.S. Senate in Alabama to keep America great. Tuberville will run as a Republican against incumbent Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL), CBS Sports said. Jones won Jeff Sessions’ old seat by half a percentage point in a bitterly contested special election in 2017 after Sessions became U.S. attorney general. The Republican primary is March 3, 2020. The general election is Nov. 3, 2020. Auburn’s coach had once thought of running for Alabama governor in 2017, CBS Sports said. Sean Spicer, a former press secretary for President Donald Trump, is with Tuberville’s campaign. Tuberville tweeted on Saturday, “After more than a year of listening to Alabama’s citizens, I have heard your concerns and hopes for a better tomorrow. I am humbled to announce the next step — I will be a @GOP candidate for US Senate. I invite you to join my team. http://www.tommyforsenate.com #TeamTommy #ALSen #MAGA”. After more than a year of listening to Alabama’s citizens, I have heard your concerns and hopes for a better tomorrow. I am humbled to announce the next step — I will be a @GOP…
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Volkswagen hired Bob Corker’s former chief of staff, Todd Womack, to do lobbying on trade matters, proving that working as a public servant can pay off. Womack made the announcement Friday on Twitter: “Excited to be working with @VW.” He is president and CEO of Bridge Public Affairs, a lobbying firm created by former Corker staffers including Womack, who has worked with Corker since he was mayor of Chattanooga. Excited to be working with @VW pic.twitter.com/jrSA0FFP6T — Todd Womack (@TWchatt) March 30, 2019 Terms of Womack’s’ deal are not known, but Volkswagen spent $1 million last year on lobbying, Politico said. Corker was a U.S. senator (R-TN) when Volkswagen selected Chattanooga in 2008 for its assembly plant, the Chattanoogan said. The plant received “attractive” state subsidies, the Chattanoogan said: Volkswagen of America received an attractive, comprehensive package of incentives for the new facility from Gov. Bredesen’s office and the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, it was stated. The statutory incentives are tied to job creation and capital investment. Additional support includes assistance for public infrastructure and job training, each designed to ensure the local economy best leverages Volkswagen’s investment to benefit the local work force and ensure the…
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Multiple sources have confirmed to The Tennessee Star that former Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) instigated a confrontation with a prominent Tennessee Republican donor in the first class section of a commercial flight from Washington, D.C. to Atlanta, Georgia on January 3, just hours after his term as a United States Senator representing Tennessee had expired. Corker reportedly raised his voice during the boarding process in a conversation he initiated with Tennessee Republican donor Tim Pagliara, who contributed $3,900 to the former senator’s 2012 campaign, and in recent years has been a frequent critic of the outgoing senator’s personal financial dealings while in office. Both men were on the plane after attending the swearing in ceremony of Corker’s successor, Marsha Blackburn, to the United States Senate in Washington, D.C. on January 3. Pagliara, a prominent money manager based in Franklin, Tennessee who founded and operates CapWealth Group, has been a leading contributor to many Tennessee Republican causes, including most recently the 2018 campaign of Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). One person from the flight who spoke anonymously to The Star said, “Senator Corker walked onto the plane, where multiple people greeted him and shook his hand. He chatted briefly with Mr. Pagliara as…
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Former U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) cannot get off the Never-Trump bandwagon, this time blaming the Commander-in-Chief for the government shutdown. Corker has long gone cuckoo over President Donald Trump and used his platform as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to criticize Trump. Twice last year he compared the president to a banana republic for removing former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance and other former officials’ clearances. Now, the retired senator conducted a phone interview with Sergio Martínez-Beltrán OF WPLN (Nashville Public Radio) and blamed the president for the shutdown. A story and the audio clip are available here. Corker said of the shutdown, “This is one where at the last minute the president changed his mind and so now we are sitting here shut down because – just because. This whole thing, as I’ve mentioned before, is pretty juvenile, and at some point government will open back up.” WPLN asked Corker about his potential designs on running for president in 2020 against Trump in the Republican primary. Corker said he would be good as president but it is “not necessarily even on the front burner; it’s a possibility.” As The Tennessee Star reported in the past, Corker…
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Dear Tennessee Star, I want to publicly thank our Senators, Lamar Alexander, Bob Corker, and my Congressman, Jim Cooper as well as the other members of Tennessee’s congressional delegation (Rep. Roe, Rep. Duncan, Rep. Fleischmann, Rep. DesJarlais, Rep. Kustoff and Rep. Cohen) for supporting and passing the Bold Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act, a bi-partisan legislation that, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, “will combat the Alzheimer’s crisis and create a public health infrastructure to address the disease.” In 2013 my 63-year-old father, Col.Tom Bowden, was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s Disease. A retired Army colonel who commanded over 900 soldiers, who was responsible for 36 Pershing II missile launchers with assigned nuclear capable missiles, completed two assignments at the Pentagon, and had a ten-year successful post-military career; no longer knew who he was, where he was, or how to communicate his basic needs. My mother, Barbara Bowden was his care-partner. When he was first diagnosed with AD, his primary care provider said, “it is going to get really bad.” As a result, we immediately enrolled him in clinical studies, researched at-home care, and scoured the internet for the best books to read, wheelchairs, hospital beds and eating utensils to buy. However,…
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President Donald Trump’s most prominent GOP critics on Capitol Hill are days away from completing their Senate careers, raising the question of who will take their place as willing to publicly criticize a president who remains popular with nearly 9 in 10 Republican voters. Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Bob Corker of Tennessee engaged in a war of words with the president on myriad issues over the past 18 months, generating headlines and fiery tweets from a president who generally insists on getting the last word. Those battles put them on the outs with many in their own party, and they paid a price. Both decided to retire rather than take on a difficult re-election campaign. Flake was far and away Trump’s most consistent critic among Senate Republicans. Corker weighed in less often, but his description of the White House as an “adult day care center” rankled the president, who dubbed him “Liddle’ Bob Corker.” The feud continued as Corker headed for the exits, with Trump asserting that Corker’s promise to serve only two terms was not the real reason he retired. Rather, Corker “wanted to run but poll numbers TANKED when I wouldn’t endorse him,” Trump tweeted. Corker…
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Do you listen to Rush Limbaugh on the radio or read Ann Coulter’s columns? According to outgoing Tennessee U.S. Republican Sen. Bob Corker, you’re following a couple of tyrants. This according to CNN and The Memphis Commercial Appeal, which portrayed Corker as upset over Limbaugh’s and Coulter’s criticism of the lack of a deal to fund the border wall. According to the paper, Coulter recently called U.S. Republican President Donald Trump “gutless” and said he oversees “a joke presidency that scammed the American people.” Coulter also said she and most of Trump’s supporters won’t vote for him in 2020 if there is no border wall. Limbaugh, meanwhile, complained last week that Democrats were outmaneuvering Trump on the border wall issue. Limbaugh later said Trump told him he would fund the border wall or he’d shut the federal government down. “CNN reporter Manu Raju reported on Friday that Corker criticized the radio hosts and how Trump has responded,” according to The Commercial Appeal. “Do we succumb to tyranny of radio talk show hosts?” Raju quotes Corker as saying. “We have two talk radio hosts who influenced the president – that’s tyranny isn’t it?” This is not the first time Corker has reportedly said something…
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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…
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Like a dog that can’t leave a chewed-up bone alone, or a monkey with bananas, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) can’t leave President Donald Trump be as he prepares to step down from Congress. Corker has referred to the Trump administration as a “banana republic” more than once. Now, he has taken his grievances with the Commander-in-Chief onto “CBS This Morning.” Host John Dickerson sat down with Corker in Chattanooga for an interview that aired Wednesday. Dickerson said, “Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee has had a series of clashes with President Trump, most recently on the administration’s muted response to Saudi Arabia’s killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is now preparing to step down.” Dickerson added he wanted to talk with Corker “about how Washington works – or doesn’t – and what worries him about the issues no one seems interested in addressing.” Corker said that things are happening in communities like Chattanooga. With a smirk on his face, Corker said, “I don’t think he (Trump) … I don’t think he knows that there are people all across this country, um, that live in communities like this one just wanting…
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Dr. Manish “Manny” Sethi, a Republican, is considering running for Lamar Alexander’s U.S. Senate seat, the Nashville Post reported Wednesday. An orthopedic surgeon at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Sethi also serves as director of the Vanderbilt Orthopaedic Institute Center for Health Policy. The Post reported: Sethi founded and is the president of Healthy Tennessee, an organization that puts on health fairs around the state and encourages preventative care. He also co-edited a book on health policy with Frist. The Republican doctor was mentioned as a possible candidate to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Bob Corker. Two Republican sources with knowledge of Sethi’s deliberations confirmed he was considering a run. Earlier this week, an anonymous user registered multiple URLs related to a possible Sethi run for Senate, including drmannyforsenate.com. Chip Saltsman, a former Tennessee Republican Party chair who said he is friends with Sethi, said the two have discussed a possible Senate run, but Saltsman added that he encouraged Sethi to run only if Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander decides not to seek re-election in 2020, when the incumbent would be 80 years old. Last month, Sen. Alexander appeared as a guest on The Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy,…
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Retiring U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) is taking yet another dig at President Donald Trump while he still holds a public platform, this time by trying to undermine his choice to lead Voice of America and attacking his Yemen policy. The Washington Free Beacon reported the story Friday. Corker, the outgoing Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, this week supported a bill to force the United States to withdraw from Yemen. He also slipped through a quiet committee vote to limit the power of Michael Pack, the incoming new head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, (USAGM), which oversees the Voice of America. Corker has lobbed plenty of criticism at Trump over the past two-years plus. This summer, he had bananas on the brain as he twice likened Trump’s White House to a banana republic in reaction to the president’s removal of former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance. Following the 2018 midterm elections in November, in which Trump ally Marsha Blackburn won his seat, the Never-Trumper cracked open the door to challenging the president in the 2020 Republican primary. When asked by reporters if he plans to run for president in 2020, Corker said, “I have not ruled it…
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Surprise, surprise. Retiring U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) used some of his final moments in office to criticize President Donald Trump. The former Chattanooga mayor, who is leaving the U.S. Senate in January, delivered his latest missive against the president in the Chattanooga Times Free Press. The story is available here. Corker, who served as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, told the newspaper that the president’s governing model “is based upon division, anger and resentment, and in some cases, even hate.” “He is able to keep his base together by his approach and instead of appealing to our better angels and trying to unite us like most people would try to do, the president tries to divide us,” Corker said. “There’s just no reason for it, and it doesn’t take us to a better place to squander the well-earned good will that we have around the world at a time when our leadership is more important than ever.” The Tennessee Star has reported on Corker’s past attacks against Trump, including criticism in August over the president’s removal of former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance as “kind of a banana republic kind of thing.” In July, Corker criticized Trump’s…
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Retiring U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) said that he has not ruled out running against President Donald Trump for the Republican presidential primary in 2020. Breitbart reported the story on Wednesday. When asked by reporters Tuesday if he plans to run for president in 2020, Corker said, “I have not ruled it out.” Reporters said that their colleagues often ask Corker this question, to which he usually gives a vague answer. 2020 WATCH: Will Sen. Bob Corker run for President??? “I haven’t ruled it out.” — Natalie Andrews (@natalieandrews) November 13, 2018 https://twitter.com/byrdinator/status/1062478823785185281 This is not the first time people have speculated on Corker running against Trump. In October 2017, News Channel 9 in his hometown of Chattanooga asked voters for their thoughts. Chattanooga Tea Party leader Mark West said at the time he wouldn’t be surprised if Corker runs but hopes he doesn’t. Corker announced his retirement in September 2017 amidst increasing unpopularity in Tennessee, which arose from his frequent criticism of the president and his America First agenda. He received criticism for praising Democrat and former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen during the U.S. Senate election to replace him, in which he admitted that he has closer ties to Bredesen…
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About 20 people representing far-left activist groups assembled in Nashville Tuesday to spout off clichéd talking points about the horrors U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh might supposedly inflict upon America. The comments came 17 years to the day after Islamist terrorists flew airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, killing more than 3,000 Americans in the process. They assembled on the front steps of the district offices of Tennessee’s two U.S. Republican senators, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, in Nashville’s West End. Someone from Indivisible Tennessee spoke. Someone from the American Muslim Advisory Council had something to say, as did someone from the Tennessee Activist Coalition. Some speakers also represented the Vanderbilt Divinity School Racial Justice Collaborative. The motley crew of Trump-detesting rabble-rousers said they would backdrop themselves with “a mountain of paper reams representing the 100,000 documents still unavailable to the public” about Kavanaugh. But in person all they had were empty cardboard boxes. Of all the speakers, Justin Jones, a Vanderbilt student, was perhaps the most dramatic when speaking of the Kavanaugh nomination and what he said were the ultimate insidious goals of Washington, D.C. Republicans. “In 10 years America will…
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Andy Ogles took office as Maury County’s new mayor Friday. He took the oath in front of a packed courtroom on the second floor of the county courthouse. Ogles takes over as the county grows dramatically. New growth brings new businesses. That brings new jobs. That brings more new residents. As the population surges the county will need new schools. Ogles told The Tennessee Star Friday he plans to attend to those priorities early on. “We’ve got a lot of growth coming our way, no doubt about it. Currently we have $181 million in debt,” Ogles said. “If you look at the schools, we will be required to build. The infrastructure we will have to put in place because of it could very easily hit $400 million over the next eight years. That minimizes the amount of dollars that we borrow. We will have to take a close look at the budget so we don’t have to raise taxes.” All the growth is an extension of what’s happening in Nashville, 46 miles to the north, putting Maury County in a great strategic position. The county also has a lower cost of living than Nashville, and that doesn’t hurt, Ogles said.…
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U.S. Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee seems to want a wait and see approach on renaming a building in Washington, D.C. after the late Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona. Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill said the debate is a way for U.S. Dem. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. to score political points against Republicans. Schumer’s endgame — he wants to portray the GOP as racist, Gill said. As Time reported this week, a proposal to rename the Russell Senate Office Building after McCain is floating around the U.S. Senate. The name Russell refers to the late Georgia U.S. Sen. Richard Russell Jr., whom the website described as “a Southern segregationist Democrat.” U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly wants a bipartisan committee to find a less grandiose way honor McCain. Members of the U.S. Senate can best do that, McConnell said, by naming a conference room in McCain’s honor or hanging a portrait of him up on a wall. But Schumer’s seemingly single-minded focus is to rename the Russell Building. Gill said Schumer is not doing this to honor McCain. “He’s doing this because he wants to stir up political trouble,” Gill said. “Chuck Schumer and the…
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U.S. Sen. Bob Corker must have bananas on his mind a lot, as he continues to use them as an analogy while criticizing the president who handily carried his state in the 2016 elections. While speaking to reporters on Thursday, Corker (R-TN) criticized President Donald Trump’s removal of former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance as “kind of a banana republic kind of thing,” Breitbart reported. And part of a “tearing down of institutions” instead of building them up. Trump won 60.7 percent of the presidential vote in Tennessee against Hillary Clinton in 2016, Ballotpedia says. Corker, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, said, “Look, I thought it was kind of a banana republic kind of thing. There’s been a continual sort of tearing down of institutions, causing Americans to lose faith in institutions, instead of building them up. I mean, that’s what’s made our country function in the way that it is.” “Yet again Senator Corker has shown he is willing to embrace any individual or wacky position that is critical of President Trump regardless of its legitimacy. He’s done everything except put on a black facemask and march with Antifa – but there is always next week,” Tennessee…
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Tennessee Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen is apparently resorting to less than honorable tactics to win Sen. Bob Corker’s (R-TN) U.S. Senate Seat. Bredesen will face off against Republican Marsha Blackburn on Nov. 6. Corker is retiring from the U.S. Senate. In an emailed statement to The Tennessee Star, Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Scott Golden said Bredesen is masquerading as a moderate. “Phony Phil Bredesen can pretend to be Republican-lite all he wants, but he can’t escape his liberal record. Phil donated $33,400 to Hillary Clinton’s campaign,” Golden wrote. “Phil admitted he’s Chuck Schumer’s handpicked candidate. Phil’s campaign called Trump voters ‘idiots.’ And now he’s relying on Bernie Sanders supporters to raise him money. Tennesseans aren’t fooled by Phil’s attempts to manipulate Republicans’ words to serve his own political purposes.” In a new Chattanooga Times Free Press column, Clint Cooper called out Bredesen for using what he described as “deceptive advertising” in a new commercial. “On Monday, the campaign, which had previously employed well-done ads in which the former Tennessee governor talked moderately and said earnestly he was ‘applying for the job,’ released a commercial in which some Republicans who don’t support him are shown saying kind things about him,” Cooper wrote. Among them — Corker, U.S.…
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Phil Bredesen wants the voters to know he’s one of them, a working-class guy just working to earn a living — but that’s far from the truth. The former governor who hopes to flip Bob Corker’s seat from Republican to Democrat shares one thing besides friendship with the former Chattanooga mayor: they’re both extremely rich. Bredesen has reported assets between $88.9 million and $358 million, The Washington Free Beacon said. CBS News reported that Corker is one of the wealthiest senators, with an average net worth of $50.7 million. In replacing Corker, Bredesen would also become one of the richest members of Congress. Public records show he is the owner of five homes—two homes in Nashville, two lakefront properties in upstate New York, and a five-bedroom home in Jackson, Wyoming. Like finding a place to hang his hat at night, traveling is no issue for Bredesen: He is one of the registered owners of an Embraer Phenom 300 private jet, according to Federal Aviation Association records. The Embraer Phenom 300 sells for $10 million, according to CNBC. And yet Bredesen says the Democratic Party is “too elitist and too distant from the concerns of the very down to Earth people that…
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In the audio below, conservative political commentator and Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill of The Gill Report, broadcast live on WETR 92.3 FM in Knoxville, called out “Never-Trumper” Bill Haslam for his attempts to block a Trump endorsement for Tennessee’s Diane Black in the Tennessee Governor’s race and whether or not this will entice President Trump to do so. Gill reflected, “We were talking earlier in the show about the possibility of a Trump endorsement of Diane Black. Well now the Knoxville News Sentinel is reporting along with the Nashville Tennessean and Memphis Commercial Appeal that Governor Bill Haslam has said Trump should stay out of the republican primary for Tennessee Governor.” He continued: Now there’s been a few stories that have been done by the New York Times and the Tennessee Star pointing out that Bill Haslam was hoping to block a Trump endorsement of Diane Black. And we exposed that he was actually working behind the scenes to try and block that endorsement. Well now apparently, it’s been confirmed as the Governor has been outed that he is in fact telling people I don’t think it would be helpful for the White House to be in primaries.…
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Outgoing Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) went off the rails over President Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland today, saying, “I just felt like the President’s comments made us look as a nation more like a pushover. I was disappointed in that. When he had the opportunity to defend our intelligence agencies, who work for him, I was very disappointed and saddened with the equivalency he gave between them and what Putin was saying.” And his criticism, which the Left loves, didn’t stop there: “Sometimes the President cares more about how a leader treats him personally than forcefully getting out there and pushing against things that we know have harmed our nation,” Corker said. “I thought that’s what we all experienced today.” He continued to say that Putin gained a “tremendous amount” from Trump’s clear approval, and that it would help Russia rebound from being “ostracized.” He added that Putin is probably “having caviar right now.” Video of Corker’s remarks are making the rounds on Twitter. pic.twitter.com/xRsz5bGdfR — TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) July 16, 2018 A frequent critic of President Trump, Sen. Corker is currently one of the most unpopular Republicans in the the history of Tennessee Politics. In…
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If you ever wondered how low Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) might go in trying to disrupt President Trump’s agenda on negotiating better trade deals, yesterday may have provided the answer. Fox News‘ Chad Pergram took to Twitter to cover the outgoing Senator Corker’s effort to create additional problems for President Trump on the tariff issue with legislation and even pointed out the complete lack of decorum on Corker’s part by pushing it while the president is traveling abroad. Corker on if it was inappropriate to have the tariff vote with the President overseas: Votes kind of happen when they happen. — Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 11, 2018 It is often said that foreign policy stops at the water’s edge. It's taboo for lawmakers to criticize the President when he is overseas. But the Senate fired a salvo at Trump, voting 88-11, to assert Congressional authority on imposing tariffs on national security grounds — Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 11, 2018 To be clear, this was very much Corker’s effort despite previously being blocked from doing anything with real “teeth” by the Senate. It was his motion after all. Text of Corker motion today on tariffs: Mr. Corker moves that the mgrs…
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Recent polling by The Tennessee Star showed that Senator Bob Corker has a disapproval rating in the 62% range and 6th District GOP Congressional candidate Bob Corlew wants to make sure voters in his primary don’t hold that against HIM just because of a similar last name. The tongue-in-cheek ad also tries to cut through the late campaign season noise and increase Corlew’s name recognition with GOP Primary voters. It is similar to an ad that Tennessee Republican Congressman Scott Desjarlais once used to increase his own name recognition with a somewhat difficult last name. Desjarlais’ ad depicted a man confused between Desjarlais and Dijon mustard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1Ta8owxoMc Transcript of Bob Corlew ad “BOB WHO?”: Bob Corlew: “Hey, I’m Bob Corlew and I’m running for Congress.” Man: “Corker?” Second Man: “Corker?” Bob Corlew: “No, Corlew. Bob Corlew.” Woman: “Bob Corker?” Second woman: “No, Corlew; Bob Corlew. Army veteran. Judge. Conservative Republican.” Young man: “And a supporter of President Trump. Bob’s spent a lifetime serving others.” Bob Corlew: “That’s right. I want to help stop illegal immigration. Help the President build the Wall. And that’s why I approved this message.” The commercial is airing on both broadcast and cable television. …
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Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07), the GOP candidate to replace retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) in the November general election, led Tennessee Republicans on Monday evening in praising President Donald Trump and his nominee for justice to the U.S. Supreme Court, federal appeals court judge Brett Kavanaugh. “Judge Brett Kavanaugh will make a fine Supreme Court Justice, and I thank President Trump for nominating a strong constitutionalist with a proven track record of upholding the rule of law,” Blackburn said in a statement included in this tweet sent out at 9:27 pm eastern, just 20 minutes after Trump announced his pick: Tennesseans will be well served by Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and I encourage the Senate to consider his nomination expeditiously and to continue to confirm strict constitutionalist judges to our federal courts. pic.twitter.com/CD3NclJiop — Marsha Blackburn (@VoteMarsha) July 10, 2018 In contrast, former Gov. Phil Bredesen, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, offered no comments on the president’s pick of Kavanaugh. Instead, Bredesen’s campaign released this statement during the day on Monday “in advance of President Trump’s nomination of a new justice to the U.S. Supreme Court,” which largely restated the words Bredesen used in a campaign commercial last month: “An important…
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One thing seems certain when it comes to retiring junior Senator Bob Corker, he intends to make himself as much of a pest for President Donald Trump as he can during his remaining time in the U.S. Senate. Now, he’s lecturing him on Crimea: Corker warns Trump against recognizing Crimea annexation “Recognizing Crimea as part of Russia would undermine the rules-based international order that was created with U.S. leadership and has caused democracy to thrive around the world and made America a safer home for our citizens,” Corker said in a tweet on Monday, without directly mentioning Trump. Corker added that in the “upcoming Helsinki summit, the U.S. must stand firmly with our NATO allies and affirm our transatlantic partnership. Doing otherwise strengthens Putin and undermines democratic values.” Additionally, Corker’s criticism comes as he’s abroad. He’s currently traveling in Northern Europe. As we look forward to the upcoming Helsinki summit, the U.S. must stand firmly with our NATO allies and affirm our transatlantic partnership. Doing otherwise strengthens Putin and undermines democratic values. — Senator Bob Corker (@SenBobCorker) July 2, 2018 Trump is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland. Meanwhile, Putin has said there’s no expectation the issue…
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Per Vox, Big Business and the GOP establishment are teaming up to undermine President Trump’s America First agenda. Unsurprisingly, the effort is being led by The US Chamber of Commerce and is supported by many Senate Republicans. The largest business lobbying group in America is declaring war on President Donald Trump’s trade agenda. The US Chamber of Commerce, an advocacy group that represents more than t3 million American businesses, launched a new campaign on Monday designed to persuade policymakers and the public that the Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive trade policies represent a huge threat to the American economy. The Chamber released an interactive graphic that maps out how Trump’s trade conflicts with China, Europe, Canada, and Mexico could affect each state in the country in the coming months. It details how many of each state’s exports to foreign countries are vulnerable to retaliatory tariffs against Trump’s tariffs — and warns that they could cause millions of job losses. “Tariffs are beginning to take a toll on American businesses, workers, farmers, and consumers as overseas markets close to American-made products and prices increase here at home,” US Chamber President Thomas Donohue said in a statement. “The administration is threatening to undermine the…
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In a new The Times Free Press item entitled, Bredesen goes all out in Senate race with Blackburn, what perhaps stands out most of all is Phil Bredesen’s close ties to the increasingly unpopular outgoing Republican Senator Bob Corker and the distance between Bredesen and President Trump. They make it very clear that Bredesen wouldn’t even be running if he had to face off with Corker. That in itself makes him something of a mini-Corker, only worse. It’s a race the 74-year-old never envisioned making until last year when his longtime friend, Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Corker of Chattanooga, announced he wouldn’t seek re-election. Bredesen, known as a moderate, and Corker go back to the mid-1990s, when Bredesen was Nashville’s mayor and Corker the then-state finance commissioner for Republican Gov. Don Sundquist. In various roles over decades, they worked together on projects, including the successful recruitment of the NFL’s then-Houston Oilers to Nashville and, while governor, working with Corker and local officials in 2008 to bring Volkswagen to Chattanooga. “I had no intention of doing anything else when I left the governor’s office,” said Bredesen, who later succeeded Sundquist as governor and served from 2003-2011. “When Corker said he wasn’t going to run…
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According to a report by The Hill, outgoing Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) is pressing the Trump administration for details on the implementation of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Corker seems intent on making President Trump’s negotiating strategy as difficult as possible, undermining him at every turn. Also per The Hill, Corker sent a letter on Wednesday to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross “asking for details on how the Commerce Department is deciding which countries will be exempted from the steep financial penalties”, which Corker insists are having a “damaging” impact on U.S. businesses. As The Hill also reported: On the hot seat, Ross defended the tariffs as necessary to protect American businesses. “Actions taken by the president are necessary to revive America’s essential steel and aluminum industries,” Ross told lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee. “Allowing imports to continue unchecked threatens to impair our national security.” The heated hearing comes as lawmakers in both parties have raised alarm over Trump’s moves in recent weeks to implement a series of tariffs on China as well as U.S. allies, including Canada, Mexico and the European Union. Those tariffs have rattled markets and sparked anger…
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Even as outgoing Tennessee Senator Bob Corker is leaking details of a phone call from President Trump in which Trump sought to back him off from his tariff opposition efforts we reported on yesterday, Corker’s also had to admit that any opposition to Trump by him is most likely DOA. Corker told reporters Wednesday that some Republicans are “fearful” of crossing Trump by signing onto the bill, making it more and more unlikely that the legislation gets through the Senate at all. At the same time, Corker is saying he will continue to pursue what he himself now describes as a pointless gesture, save for the fact it may get his name in the news, perhaps. “He’s obviously not pleased with this effort,” Corker told reporters in Washington. Corker, a Tennessee Republican and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he and the president had a lengthy, “heart-felt” conversation about the legislation. “It’s a difference of opinion,” Corker said. “He feels that this takes away his negotiating ability. And this in no way takes away his negotiating ability. It’s not any different than him meeting with (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un and, if they reach a deal, him…
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Outgoing Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker is now pushing a measure to empower Congress to block President Trump’s tariffs, “opening a GOP rift over how and whether to push back on the White House’s trade policy,” according to a Politico report. Corker’s proposal would set up a fast-track process for Congress to sign off on tariffs linked to national security and is picking up steam as he attempts to attach it to the annual defense authorization bill that’s expected to come to the floor later this week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday ruled out a stand-alone vote on the legislation but suggested that it could get consideration during the defense debate. The tariff effort remains a long shot, with McConnell describing it as “contentious,” but it still represents a critical test of the GOP’s willingness to take on the president. “There’s a lot of interest in it, for what it’s worth,” Corker told reporters. “But, you know, doing anything around here is like pushing a major boulder uphill, so we’ll see.” As The Tennessee Star reported on June 3rd, this isn’t the first time Corker has signaled his desire to take Trump on on trade and tariffs, even going so far…
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Outgoing Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) took to Twitter on Saturday in an effort to reach out to Democrats in his ongoing efforts to stymie the Trump administration from achieving its goals when it comes to trade. I am working with like-minded Republican senators on ways to push back on the president using authorities in ways never intended and that are damaging to our country and our allies. Will Democrats join us? — Senator Bob Corker (@SenBobCorker) June 2, 2018 I am working with like-minded Republican senators on ways to push back on the president using authorities in ways never intended and that are damaging to our country and our allies. Will Democrats join us? — Senator Bob Corker (@SenBobCorker) June 2, 2018 Rather than support Trump in what many see as little more than a deal-making process to improve America’s position in trade agreements around the world, Corker appears to be hyperventilating like a Democrat determined to damage and undermine Trump at every turn. He was referencing a tweet to a Wall Street Journal story with his childish plea. These two stories feel like something I could have read in a local Caracas newspaper last week, not in America. Venezuela, here…
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A tweet from CNN’s Elizabeth Landers indicates that Bob Corker will accompany President Trump tonight as he visits Nashville to stump for GOP Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn, including attending a rally for her. A spokeswoman for @BobCorker confirms that he will greet @potus at the airport in Nashville tonight- and will attend the rally and fundraiser as well. — Elizabeth Landers (@ElizLanders) May 29, 2018 President Trump’s plane is scheduled to land in Nashville at 4:30 p.m. today. A rally will be held at the Municipal Auditorium at 7:00 pm tonight, with doors opening at 2:00 pm. President Trump held an earlier rally in Nashville attended by an estimated crowd of 10,000 back in March of 2017, also at the Municipal Auditorium. As reported by The Tennessee Star on April 10, Corker has expressed his support for Blackburn in the past, although he stopped short of a rousing endorsement. Though he did not use the formal term “endorsement,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) announced his support for Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s (R-TN-07) bid to replace him in the United States Senate on Monday. Corker sent this tweet out late Monday afternoon: Now that the Republican primary has essentially concluded, I am sending a contribution…
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UPDATE, Saturday 10:45 a.m. President Trump tweeted early Saturday morning that American Josh Holt has been released from a Venezuelan prison: Good news about the release of the American hostage from Venezuela. Should be landing in D.C. this evening and be in the White House, with his family, at about 7:00 P.M. The great people of Utah will be very happy! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2018 Senator Marco Rubio (R-TN) tweeted about two hours ago that Sen. Orin Hatch (R-UT) has secured the release of Utah resident Josh Holt from a Venezuelan prison. Notably, Rubio made no mention of Sen. Bob Corker’s (R-TN) meeting with Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro in Caracas on Friday. .@senorrinhatch has worked tirelessly to bring this innocent young man & his bride home. It is unfortunate he had to go through this. Josh & Thamy Holt had nothing to do with internal politics in #Venezuela #GodisGood https://t.co/FgMUNOPcit — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) May 26, 2018 In his statement announcing the release, however, Hatch thanked Corker for his “pivotal” efforts: BREAKING: Senator Hatch has secured the release of Utahn Josh Holt from Venezuela. #utpol pic.twitter.com/q9bPIVHgmk — Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) May 26, 2018 Saturday,…
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The diminutive and retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) has told the Tennessean he turned down an ambassadorship from the Trump White House; however, it appears no one from the White House has confirmed the offer was even made. Critics of Corker might be wondering if this isn’t yet another instance of trying to pad his resume, as opposed to his real estate portfolio. From the Tennessean: The Trump administration wanted U.S. Sen. Bob Corker to join its diplomatic ranks. But the retiring Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman declined, saying he turned down the chance to become the next U.S. ambassador to Australia. Even if Corker were offered the slot, it seems clear he was not the front runner and came in at least second, at best. The real star of the story should be Adm. Harry Harris, who was raised in Tennessee and is a graduate of Crossville High School, sources tell The Tennessee Star, and who Trump had chosen for the spot, before bumping him up to what is a more important posting, especially given current developments in both North and south Korea. Trump previously named Adm. Harry Harris his nominee as the envoy to Australia. But in April, the administration…
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President Donald Trump will headline a fundraiser for Rep. Marsha Blackburn in her Senate bid, WSMV reported. A Blackburn Victory Fund invitation says Trump will be in Nashville for the May 29 event. Admission options include a private round-table with Trump for $44,300 a couple; a private photo reception with Trump for $10,800 per couple; or just the general reception, at $2,700 per couple. The president endorsed Blackburn in April, Politico reported at the time. He tweeted, “@MarshaBlackburn is a wonderful woman who has always been there when we have needed her.” Trump praised Blackburn after retiring U.S. Sen. Bob Corker suggested she could lose the Senate race to replace him in Tennessee and that her Democrat opponent former Gov. Phil Bredesen had “real appeal” in the race, Breitbart reported. Corker has repeatedly bashed Trump in the past. Though he did not use the formal term “endorsement,” Corker announced his support for Blackburn’s bid to replace him in the United States Senate, the Tennessee Star reported in April. Republicans hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate going into the 2018 midterm elections. Blackburn, who is unopposed in the August 2 GOP primary, will be running against former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen,…
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Though he did not use the formal term “endorsement,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) announced his support for Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s (R-TN-07) bid to replace him in the United States Senate on Monday. Corker sent this tweet out late Monday afternoon: Now that the Republican primary has essentially concluded, I am sending a contribution to Representative Marsha Blackburn’s campaign and wish her well in her race for the U.S. Senate. — Bob Corker (@BobCorker) April 9, 2018 Blackburn became the presumptive Republican nominee on Saturday with the Tennessee Republican Party removed two potential challengers–Dr. Rolando Toyos and Darrell Lynn– from the August 2 primary ballot because they failed to meet the requirements established by the party to be a candidate for statewide office. As The Tennessee Star reported: The GOP State Executive Committee (SEC), the governing body for the Tennessee Republican Party, met in Franklin, Tennessee at the Hilton Garden Inn on Saturday and removed eight candidates from the August 2 Republican Primary ballot for failing to qualify as “bona fide” Republicans as defined by party by-laws. Seven of the candidates had filed petitions to run for the U.S. Senate; one had filed to run for Governor. Party by-laws require…
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On Tuesday, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) publicly confirmed that he will not be seeking re-election to a third term in the U.S. Senate. Corker announced back on September 26 that he would not seek a third term, but earlier this month stated that he was reconsidering that decision. Corker’s chief of staff broke the news early Tuesday morning in Politico, then issued a written statement picked up by other media outlets. The icy reception Corker received when he spoke at the Shelby County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner on Saturday night may have played a role in his decision to bow out without risking a humiliating defeat against front runner Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) in the August Republican primary. The Tennessee Star reported on Saturday’s event in Memphis: Corker and his consultants have been trying to generate the perception of momentum for him to get in the race by “encouraging” speculative stories in national publications over the past several days, including in USA Today and ABC News. Those efforts, however, have fallen flat. Sources in the Corker camp had previously indicated to the press that he was going to make and announce a decision on the Senate race one or the…
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Both Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), the incumbent senator who said on September 26 he would not run for a third term but has been “reconsidering” that decision in recent weeks, and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07), the frontrunner for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate seat Corker is vacating, spoke at the Shelby County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner on Saturday night. “I don’t have anything to say but at some point I might,” was all Corker had to say after Saturday’s event about a potential reversal of his decision not to run for re-election. Even the national press corps is finding Corker’s constant back and forth on this a source of amusement. “Hamlet on the Tennessee River,” Washington Post correspondent and NBC News contributor Robert Costa tweeted late Saturday night Hamlet on the Tennessee River https://t.co/N6tBjCWjEu — Robert Costa (@costareports) February 25, 2018 Vaughn Hillyard of NBC news tweeted the following after Saturday’s event in Shelby County: Corker after this Memphis dinner on possible re-elect bid: “I don’t have anything to say but at some point I might.” https://t.co/chUuCKbfbF — Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) February 25, 2018 Several commenters on Twitter pointed out that Memphis is on the Mississippi River,…
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Republican leaders in Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have “moved on” from Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), who recently indicated he is having “second thoughts” about not running for re-election, and are now all-in behind Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07), who is the presumptive Republican nominee, The Washington Examiner reported on Wednesday: Top Republican leaders, including McConnell and Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, as well as senior Blackburn advisors, some of whom were working for Corker’s re-election campaign before he pulled the plug, are baffled by suggestions that the congresswoman is putting this race in jeopardy. She has hit all of the metrics set for her campaign, launched only after Corker bowed out last fall. Her fundraising is strong, she is organizing on the ground, and she has the consensus support of the Republican establishment in Washington and the conservative grassroots in Tennessee long unhappy with Corker. Blackburn also happens to be a woman. That matters because the Republican Party is lacking female candidates — capable or otherwise — in an election cycle in which the GOP’s biggest vulnerability is a weakness among educated, suburban white women — just like Blackburn. “We simply haven’t been involved…
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Senator Bob Corker is apparently open to the idea of running for reelection, despite previously announcing that he would not run in 2018. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has reportedly advised Corker that the idea is a “non-starter” unless he can get President Trump on board. Is it possible for Corker and Trump to “kiss and make up” at this point? A quick review of some of the most blatantly anti-Trump statements that Corker would have to overcome make it clear that he would not only have to “eat some crow” – he would have to devour a whole flock! Corker likely doesn’t have the stomach to do so. And some may recall that Trump dined with his nemesis Mitt Romney while dangling a prospective Secretary of State appointment – and then left Romney dangling before turning to Rex Tillerson. If this video compilation of the “Best of Corker Bashing Trump” becomes “Must See TV” at the White House it is more likely that President Trump will have a warm and friendly reconciliation with Rocket Man before he does so with Liddle Bob.
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The Gannett-owned USA Today-Tennessee network named Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), the compromised retiring junior senator from Tennessee, its “2017 Person of the Year” for his constant bashing of President Trump on Sunday. The big announcement from the Tysons Corner, Virginia based mainstream media newspaper giant came just weeks after a Tennessee Star Poll that showed Corker has an astonishingly low 22 percent approval rating among Tennessee Republicans, and a record-high 60 percent disapproval rating. It also comes barely a week after a devastating blast of Corker’s business ethics by Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi, who posed this question: How did Corker go from “dead broke” to a net worth of $68 million during his eleven years in the U.S. Senate? But the anti-Trump liberally biased Tennessean –part of the USA Today-Tennessee network that also includes the Memphis Commercial Appeal and the Knoxville News Sentinel–sees all of Corker’s attacks on Trump–who won the state of Tennessee by an overwhelming 60 percent to 36 percent margin over Hillary Clinton–as praiseworthy. “In October, he responded very publicly and forcefully to President Donald J. Trump’s bullying and insults on Twitter, calling the White House an ‘adult day care center,’” the Tennessean wrote of Corker, adding: In…
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Donald Trump has taunted world leaders, criticized football players and picked fights with members of his own party. After a year in office, one thing is indisputable with this unconventional president: He relishes the battle.
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