Sen. Bob Corker admonished President Donald Trump for his response to the weekend violence in Charlottesville, Va. | Erik Schelzig/AP Corker: Trump hasn’t shown stability or competence

Republican Sen. Bob Corker slammed Donald Trump on Thursday, urging the president to start putting the nation’s interests ahead of his own and calling for “radical changes” at the White House.

Speaking to local media in his home state of Tennessee, Corker admonished Trump for his response to the weekend violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, and said the president “has not demonstrated that he understands the character of this nation.”


“I do think there need to be some radical changes,” the Senate Foreign Relations chairman said. “The president has not yet, has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful. And we need for him to be successful. Our nation needs to be successful.

“He has not demonstrated that he understands what has made this nation great and what it is today,” Corker continued. “He’s got to demonstrate the characteristics of a president who understands that. And without the things that I just mentioned happening, our nation is going to go through great peril.”

Corker, whom Trump considered as a possible secretary of state, urged the president to do some “self-reflection” and to start thinking not about what’s best for him as an individual, but what’s best for the country as a whole.

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“I think our president needs to take stock of the role that he plays in our nation and move beyond himself, move way beyond himself, and move to a place where daily he wakes up thinking about what is best for our nation,” Corker said. “Helping inspire divisions because it generates support from your political base is not a formula for causing our nation to advance, our nation to overcome the many issues that we have to deal with right now.”

In addition, Corker took aim at Trump for using his Twitter feed to promote a Republican primary challenger to Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).

“The White House would be well-served to embrace the character, the substance, of someone like Sen. Flake,” Corker said. “He’s one of the finest people I’ve served with.”