Corker blasts Trump's decision to 'publicly castrate' Tillerson


Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) continued his critique of President Trump in a Washington Post interview published Friday evening, this time targeting the president's tweets undermining Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in his diplomatic efforts pertaining to North Korea:
[A]s Corker sees it, the biggest problem is that Trump is neutering his own chief diplomat, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and thereby inviting "binary" situations in which the United States will have to choose between war and a North Korea or Iran capable of threatening the United States with nuclear weapons."You cannot publicly castrate your own secretary of state without giving yourself that binary choice," Corker told me in a phone interview Friday. "The tweets — yes, you raise tension in the region [and] it's very irresponsible. But it's the first part" — the "castration" of Tillerson — "that I am most exercised about." [The Washington Post]
Corker praised Trump during the 2016 election and sought a position within his administration. Since Trump took office, however, he has grown reproachful of the president, calling him childish, incompetent, and dangerous. The castration comments mark the latest escalation in the Trump-Corker war of words since since the president attacked the senator on Twitter last weekend.
Read The Week's Matthew Walther, Pascal-Emmanual Gobry, and Ryan Cooper on the value — or lack thereof — in Corker's latecomer protest.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Shompole Wilderness Camp: reconnect with nature at this secluded retreat
The Week Recommends This luxurious family-run camp in southern Kenya has access to more than 350,000 acres of pristine savannah
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Liberation Day: will Keir Starmer surrender to Donald Trump's tariffs?
Today's Big Question After failing to secure exemptions for the UK, PM must decide whether to retaliate or not
By The Week UK Published
-
Cosy cabins for a country escape
The Week Recommends Slow down and take in the nature at these secluded retreats
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
Trump 'not joking' about unconstitutional 3rd term
Speed Read The president seems to be serious about seeking a third term in 2028
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The JFK files: the truth at last?
In The Spotlight More than 64,000 previously classified documents relating the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy have been released by the Trump administration
By The Week Staff Published
-
Supreme Court upholds 'ghost gun' restrictions
Speed Read Ghost guns can be regulated like other firearms
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump sets 25% tariffs on auto imports
Speed Read The White House says the move will increase domestic manufacturing. But the steep import taxes could also harm the US auto industry.
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump allies urge White House to admit chat blunder
Speed Read Even pro-Trump figures are criticizing The White House's handling of the Signal scandal
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Waltz takes blame for texts amid calls for Hegseth ouster
Speed Read Democrats are calling for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and national security adviser Michael Waltz to step down
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Judge: Nazis treated better than Trump deportees
speed read U.S. District Judge James Boasberg reaffirmed his order barring President Donald Trump from deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US officials share war plans with journalist in group chat
Speed Read Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally added to a Signal conversation about striking Yemen
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published