Donald Trump Needs Bob Corker (And Not the Other Way Around)

President Donald Trump (R-NY) with Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)

I devote so much of my life to politics, reading and memorizing and tackling the issues of the day that I sometimes raise an eyebrow when people casually involved with it, usually around elections or a particular scandal, pipe in with their opinions as if they are suddenly experts on the topic.  It is condescending, admittedly, and we all have our rights to vote whatever way we so choose, but it's still something that comes out in me, a moment when I hear someone proclaim something ridiculous like "I think both parties are the same" or "we should have term limits" or "they're all corrupt" without, you know, actually taking any sort of nuance to their opinion or really having any argument surrounding that statement other than it's something they heard on Morning Joe and few people will challenge because they say it with authority.  The people, of course, don't make politics their career, so ultimately this isn't that important from a day-to-day perspective (though on Election Day it matters enormously).

But something unusual has been happening amidst the bluster of Donald Trump (I'm sick of talking about him too, but he's the president so this is our reality for the next few years because we couldn't convince our relatives in Wisconsin & Michigan to vote)-he's proven that politics is not a great color for amateurs.  Like those people who only talk about politics in the abstract, Donald Trump repeated sound bites that made him feel like he knew what he was talking about, but clearly had no grasp on actual policy positions and how the government itself actually worked.  But unlike those people, Donald Trump is currently the president, and learning quickly how significant certain "unnecessary" political actions and realities are when it comes to accomplishing actual legislation.

Much has been made, frequently by POTUS himself, about the productivity of Donald Trump's administration and what he's actually accomplished.  To a lay person, which is what Donald Trump is in some respects (he's never held political office before nor worked for a politician before-this is his first foray into anything other than campaign contributions and glad-handing), it might seem like he's accomplished a number of major pieces of legislation, but when it comes to actual new policy, he's had a scant amount of major contributions compared to past presidents.  It's unfair to say he hasn't accomplished anything, and it is in fact accurate to say he signed more legislation into law during his first 100 Days than any president since Harry Truman, but those laws aren't all created equal, and quite frankly Trump's accomplishments pale in comparison to what other presidents achieved in their first year in office.  FDR passed the New Deal, Bill Clinton got through the Family and Medical Leave Act, Obama got the Lily Ledbetter Act and TARP, and Truman/Ford both ended wars in their first 100 Days in office.  You may not agree with all of those actions, but they changed American way of life more than anything that Trump has passed since January.  Trump has achieved some legislation, most notably a Russian sanctions bill (that he publicly admonished but signed anyway, likely knowing that veto override was on-the-table) and the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, but this is small potatoes compared to most of his predecessors.  About the only really major achievement of Trump's administration so far has been the way he has shifted America's negotiating power through his comments about the situation in North Korea and Iran, as well as the lasting impact he's had on the national dialogue.

That last part is perhaps why Trump hasn't been able to achieve any of his major goals, specifically the signature goal he put forth regarding changing healthcare, despite his party controlling both houses of Congress.  Trump's mouth is largely getting in the way of his promises, much to the chagrin of someone like Mitch McConnell, the quintessential career politician who is watching his deal-with-the-devil go up in smoke when POTUS lashes out against members of his caucus.  This happened again on Sunday, when Trump publicly lambasted Sen. Bob Corker for his involvement in the Iran Nuclear Deal and stated that "he didn't have the guts to run."  Corker is just one in a long line of Republican senators (including Jeff Flake, Dean Heller, Lindsey Graham, Lisa Murkowski, and in particular John McCain) that Trump has attacked, but here's a little secret I don't think has quite sunk in for the president yet-he needs those senators more than they need him.

You saw that, of course, during the Trumpcare debate.  Trump tried to throw Murkowski and McCain under the bus (all things considered, he's been strangely quiet to Susan Collins-perhaps McConnell has put his foot down there as she's a senator I could genuinely see switching parties if Trump went too far on her), but they didn't cave.  Murkowski has survived conservative challenges before & just won reelection, and McCain is battling brain cancer-neither of them gives a crap about what President Trump is thinking.  Hell, there's no guarantee he'll be anything more than a footnote the next time they face the voters as he has to face voters next before they do.  With term limits in place, it's Trump, not members of the Senate, who have the ticking clock when it comes to legacy-he only gets four years, eight max.  Senators can serve for decades.  There's no reason for them to make a deal with a guy who is publicly unpopular, can't really threaten their position, and who is constantly berating them in public.  There's an old saying that "every senator looks in the mirror and sees a president," and a president doesn't respond well to bullying.

This could have larger implications for Trump, quite frankly, than he's even seeing now.  Forget for a second tax reform, which it's nearly impossible to see Corker supporting at this point (meaning McConnell is going to have to find a tax package that doesn't upset more than two of Susan Collins, John McCain, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, & Ted Cruz...good luck with that), but instead remember that Bob Corker is chair of Senate Foreign Relations, and is a sitting senator until January of 2019 even if he isn't running for reelection.  Votes on North Korea, Iran, Syria, NATO, you name it, could come before his committee, and he'll have a major role if and when there are indictments put forth by the Mueller investigation.  Not to mention that if Rex Tillerson quits, Trump's nominee will have to go through the Foreign Relations Committee to be appointed.  Bob Corker could easily make Trump's life hell for the next 14 months, and since he's retiring there's nothing Trump can possibly do as payback.  Trump needs Corker a hell of a lot more than vice versa, and an experienced senator like the man from Tennessee isn't going to care about some tweets from a man he happily says "is in adult day care."