Politics

Republican Senator Says Trump Puts Nation On ‘Path To World War III’

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Alex Pfeiffer White House Correspondent
Font Size:

Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, believes President Donald Trump might cause the U.S. to enter “World War III.”

Corker gave a lengthy interview to The New York Times Sunday in which he laid out his concerns about the president, who he endorsed during the election. The two feuded on Twitter earlier Sunday with Trump claiming Corker isn’t running for re-election in 2018 due to the president not endorsing him, and the Tennessee senator comparing the White House to an “adult day care center.”

“He concerns me,” Corker told the Times about Trump. “He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation.”

The senator said last Wednesday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and chief of staff John Kelly are responsible for keeping the country from “chaos.” He echoed this sentiment in the Times interview.

“I know for a fact that every single day at the White House, it’s a situation of trying to contain him,” Corker said. “As long as there are people like that around him who are able to talk him down when he gets spun up, you know, calm him down and continue to work with him before a decision gets made, I think we’ll be fine.”

The Tennessee Republican said that most of his Senate colleagues feel likewise.

“Look, except for a few people, the vast majority of our caucus understands what we’re dealing with here,” Corker told the New York newspaper that Trump has deemed “failing.” “Of course they understand the volatility that we’re dealing with and the tremendous amount of work that it takes by people around him to keep him in the middle of the road.”

He claimed during the interview that Trump’s tweets about North Korea, including one urging Tillerson not to negotiate, have hurt diplomatic efforts with the increasingly hostile state.

“I don’t think he appreciates that when the president of the United States speaks and says the things that he does, the impact that it has around the world, especially in the region that he’s addressing,” Corker said. “And so, yeah, it’s concerning to me.”

WATCH CORKER CALL OBAMA THE WORST PRESIDENT IN HISTORY: