‘Trump puts US in path of WWIII’

US Senator: He’s acting like he’s doing ‘The Apprentice’ or something.

WASHINGTON: Republican US Senator Bob Corker warned that President Donald Trump risks “setting the nation on the path to World War Three” in an interview with The New York Times, the latest in a series of public barbs traded over the day.

Trump had blamed his former political ally for the Iran nuclear deal in a series of derisive Twitter posts that drew a sharp riposte from Corker, who chairs the important Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

In a sweeping, 25-minute interview, Corker told the newspaper he was alarmed about a president who acts “like he’s doing The Apprentice or something” – in a reference to the reality television show that Trump had once hosted.

“He concerns me. He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation,” the senator, who announced his retirement last month, said.

Corker dismissed the idea that Trump may be using provocative comments about North Korea to advance US negotiations being conducted by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by playing “bad cop” to the top diplomat’s “good cop” effort to broker a deal with Pyongyang.

“I know he has hurt, in several instances, as it relates to negotiations that were underway by tweeting things out,” Corker told the paper.

“A lot of people think that there is some kind of ‘good cop, bad cop’ act underway, but that’s just not true.”

Corker had been a national security adviser to Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign and on Trump’s short-list last year for both vice-president and secretary of state.

But the relationship between the two men has greatly deteriorated.

More recently, Corker has criticised Trump, taking issue with the president’s response to a white supremacist demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August. Critics assailed Trump for saying rival protesters were also to blame for violence.

“Senator Bob Corker ‘begged’ me to endorse him for re-election in Tennessee. I said ‘NO’ and he dropped out (said he could not win without my endorsement),” Trump wrote.

“He also wanted to be Secretary of State, I said ‘NO THANKS’. He is also largely responsible for the horrendous Iran Deal!

“Hence, I would fully expect Corker to be a negative voice and stand in the way of our great agenda. Didn’t have the guts to run!”

An hour later Corker tweeted back: “It’s a shame the White House has become an adult day care centre. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.” — Reuters

He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation.

Bob Corker