Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) is chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and supported Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. So when the man who, 18 months ago, praised then-candidate Trump’s stated foreign policy plans as “very thoughtful” and lauded him for “challenging the foreign policy establishment” suggested that the nation’s foreign policy is no longer in the hands of a grown-up, the president did what he usually does when criticized.

On Sunday morning, Trump took to Twitter to lash out at Corker, who announced in September that he will not seek a third-term next year. Trump’s attack claimed that Corker’s decision came after Trump refused to offer a purportedly “begged”-for re-election endorsement:

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… — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2017

..my endorsement). He also wanted to be Secretary of State, I said "NO THANKS." He is also largely responsible for the horrendous Iran Deal! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2017

…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! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2017

Trump was apparently reacting to Corker’s comments last Wednesday that “Secretary [of State Rex] Tillerson, [Defense] Secretary [James] Mattis and [White House] Chief of Staff [John] Kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos.”


A ThinkProgress review of Trump’s past tweets revealed that this is very much part of his traditional response to criticism, especially by those in the Republican party.

When his 2015 announcement speech was panned by Fox News Channel’s Dana Perino, former President George W. Bush’s White House press secretary, Trump suggested that she was a hypocrite who once asked him for a favor:

Why did @DanaPerino beg me for a tweet (endorsement) when her book was launched? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2015

In July 2015, then-primary-opponent and former Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) denounced Trump as “a cancer on conservatism” and “a barking carnival act” that contained “a toxic mix of demagoguery, mean-spiritedness and nonsense that will lead the Republican party to perdition if pursued.” Trump shot back at his future Energy Secretary:

.@GovernorPerry in my office last cycle playing nice and begging for my support and money. Hypocrite! https://t.co/axPAVsLEqx — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2015

Then, in January of 2016, after Iowa anti-LGBTQ activist Bob Vander Plaats endorsed a primary rival and suggested Trump was insufficiently anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ, Trump went after him with a similar claim:

.@bobvanderplaats begged me to do an event while asking organizers for $100,000 for himself—a bad guy! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2016

The same week, he reacted to an article in the conservative National Review questioning whether Trump had ever walked with the conservative movement by going after its author:

.@BrentBozell, one of the National Review lightweights, came to my office begging for money like a dog. Why doesn't he say that? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 23, 2016

Trump took the same tact last March, when 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney gave a speech denouncing Trump for his “bullying” along with “the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third grade theatrics”, responding:

Why did Mitt Romney BEG me for my endorsement four years ago? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2016

A year ago, after 2008 GOP nominee and Arizona Senator John McCain revoked his support following the revelation that Trump had bragged about sexually assaulting women, the then-presidential candidate did the same thing again:

The very foul mouthed Sen. John McCain begged for my support during his primary (I gave, he won), then dropped me over locker room remarks! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016

So, Trump’s claim about Corker’s begging is just the latest in a long pattern.

It is unclear why Trump put “begged” in quotation marks, but he tends to use them around claims that could be deemed false.


Indeed, the right-leaning Washington Examiner reported on Sunday that in fact it had been Trump who called Corker to ask him to reconsider his decision not to seek re-election and offered an endorsement. Given that Trump’s poll numbers in Tennessee are sagging and that his endorsement of Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL) had no discernible effect in Strange’s unsuccessful attempt to win renomination last month, it is unclear why a Trump endorsement would be of much value to Corker even if he wanted to run again.

Corker said Sunday evening that Trump is treating the presidency like his former NBC “reality show,” warning that his reckless threats could put the nation “on the path to World War III.”