New York Daily News

‘Dog catcher’ line is his best friend

- Denis Slattery

PRESIDENT TRUMP has once again gone to the dogs. Trump on Tuesday turned to one of his favorite animal idioms to attack Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), telling the retiring lawmaker he “couldn’t get elected dog catcher in Tennessee.” Trump has been using the the dog catcher line to demean opponents and rivals for more than two decades. One of the earliest recorded examples of Trump using the dogcatcher riff came in 1993 during a fued with then-Connecticu­t Gov. Lowell Weicker. Trump had proposed a casino be built in Bridgeport, Conn., a project that Weicker did not support. The lawmaker voiced his opposition in a television interview, calling Trump a “dirtbag.” The real estate and casino mogul responded by telling The New York Times that Weicker was a “fat slob who couldn’t get elected dog catcher in Connecticu­t.” The phrase was a constant during the Trump campaign as he blasted former Gov. George Pataki, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and others . During the Republican debates, he said of South Carolina senator and current frenemy Lindsey Graham, “I don’t think he could run for dog catcher in this state and win again. I really don’t. Other than that, I think he’s wonderful.”

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