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A member of the Republican leadership in the United States Senate has compared his relationship with Donald Trump to a marriage and said that he was “maybe like many women who get married and think that they are going to change their spouse, and that is not So”. It usually works very well. “
Texas Senator John Cornyn’s comments to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram are the latest example of a Republican under electoral pressure seeking to distance himself from an unpopular president, albeit cautiously, as Election Day approaches. Democrats are favored to take over the Senate, which could lead to a unified government in Washington.
“I think what we found is that we are not going to change President Trump,” Cornyn said. “He is who he is. You either love him or you hate him, and there’s not much in between.
“What I tried to do is not get into public confrontations and fights with him because, as I’ve observed, those don’t usually end very well.”
Trump spent part of the weekend in a public fight with Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska. Sasse criticized Trump in a call to voters, lamenting, among other things, his treatment of women and the way he “kisses dictators’ butts” and “flirts with white supremacists.”
Trump responded with insults, forcing Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel to get defensive on Sunday’s talk shows.
Sasse is more or less certain of being reelected in two weeks, but his prediction of a “bloodbath” for Senate Republicans with an unpopular president at the top of the list may have hit Trump and McDaniel the most.
Cornyn, a former Senate Majority Whip, certainly knows what Sasse meant. He leads his Democratic rival in the generally safe Republican state, but not by much, some polls show MJ Hegar within the margin of error.
Cornyn told the Fort Worth newspaper that “when I have had differences of opinion” with Trump, “I have, [I] do that in private. I’ve found that that has allowed me to be much more effective, I think, than satisfying those who say I should call him or publicly fight him. “
Cornyn said he was happy to publicly praise Trump when they agreed, such as on court nominations and tax cuts. Topics of disagreement included the Covid-19 response; efforts to secure another relief bill; and the use of defense funds for border security.
On trade policy, Cornyn added: “I applaud him for taking on China but frankly, this idea that China is paying the price and we are not paying the price here at home is just not true.”
The comment was mild enough not to immediately irritate Trump, who was campaigning in battle states. The Star-Telegram described Cornyn’s caution, saying that he “noticed that his friend, a former [senator] Bob corker [of Tennessee], who initially stayed on cordial terms with the Trump White House, chose not to run for reelection in 2018 after clashing with Trump on issues like a border wall. “
Corker was once considered a running mate or secretary of state. Exasperated to the point of saying that the White House functioned as an “adult daycare”, he retired in 2018.
By attacking Sasse, Trump proved he never forgets a slight. The Nebraska senator, the president tweeted, “appears to be going down the same ignominious path as former Senator Liddle ‘Bob Corker,” who became “totally ineligible” due to his criticism “and decided to leave politics and gracefully” RETIRE. .
Cornyn, 68, hopes to defeat his 44-year-old opponent and secure a fourth six-year term.
