GOP Sen. Bob Corker Rips Into Trump, Calls His Tax Reform Meeting A Meaningless ‘Photo Op’

Republican Sen. Bob Corker turned up the heat on Donald Trump on Monday, calling the president’s upcoming tax reform meeting with GOP senators a political stunt.

To See President Biden's 5 Best Jokes At The White House Correspondents Dinner visit The Daily.

In his harsh remarks, Corker said that the lunchtime meeting scheduled for Tuesday is nothing but a “photo op.”

The key Republican senator’s comments should be concerning to Trump, who will need Corker’s support if he wants to push tax reform legislation through the Senate. Without Corker, the White House can only afford to lose one more Republican vote.

After an entire year of legislative losses, Trump and GOP leadership are desperate for some type of political win. As one Twitter user put it on Monday, the president and his Republican colleagues would throw a victory party for “passing a kidney stone” at this point.

But as Corker noted today, the upcoming meeting between Trump and his Republican colleagues in the Senate couldn’t possibly be anything more than a photo opportunity.

This is a president, after all, who knows – and doesn’t care to learn – details about any policy issue that faces him, from health care to tax reform, regardless of how high the stakes are. The idea that Trump will show up to Tuesday’s meeting well-versed on the complexities of tax reform legislation is ludicrous.

In fact, this president has repeatedly shown that he hasn’t read the very legislation he claims to support.

Instead, Trump sees politics and governing as extensions of his show business career. He wants ratings and attention – nothing else. The more drama and conflict, the better – even if it’s a back-and-forth with a grieving, pregnant war widow.

Without the depth of knowledge or even a casual understanding of how the federal government operates, all Trump has left are political stunts and photo ops. And Sen. Corker, who seems eager to leave the town that has become consumed by Trump’s reckless incompetence, seems to care very little about holding back.

Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.