Non-revolting sitting senator marvels about the lack of 'outright revolt' in Congress
Republican Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.) is no fan of President Trump's trade war. He has blasted the president's protective tariffs as a "wake up, ready, fire, aim strategy," and he has attempted to curb Trump's ability to levy the taxes via legislation.
On Tuesday, the Agriculture Department unveiled a $12 billion aid package to farmers negatively affected by Trump's trade war. Earlier this month, Corker lamented that "farmers are losing money as they harvest right now" as a result of Trump's tariffs — but he was unimpressed with the administration's proposed salve. "You have a terrible policy that sends farmers to the poorhouse," Corker said Tuesday, per Bloomberg News' Sahil Kapur. "Then you put them on welfare, and we borrow the money from other countries."
The whole affair is so appalling, Corker said, that "it's hard to believe there isn't an outright revolt right now in Congress." Corker, a sitting senator since 2007, votes with Trump 83.6 percent of the time, per FiveThirtyEight — and he should not be expected to lead a congressional revolt now or in the future, given he has decided not to run for re-election and will leave office in January.
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Kimberly Alters is the news editor at TheWeek.com. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
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