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A "reckless", "non-truth telling" "moron" at the helm amid "bullying and prejudice in our public life" at a time when nationalism has been "distorted into nativism", isolationism and bigotry".
Blinks.
It was peak 2017 when a former president's speech sticking the boot into Trumpism (without naming it) was followed up with several choice words from two Republican senators about their own President (and party) while fellow Republican John McCain cheered them on.
And there's still the lingering "moron" insult from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, which remains undenied and floating around like a bad smell. (Take a listen to this podcast with the SoS for some good insight into his style and thinking.)
Sidebar: no surprise that Mr Tillerson feels like this sometimes:
Can relate.
So, are the wheels falling off?
Not yet, but the Trump Train has hit some rough terrain and while the President's supporters will welcome the departure of senators Corker and Flake — who will not seek re-election in 2018 — Republicans have a narrow Senate majority, so it could create a major problem down the track.
Let's recap.
Senator Bob Corker, chair of the influential foreign relations committee who has issued the uplifting warning that Donald Trump is leading us towards WWIII, also says the President is to blame for "the debasing of our nation, the constant non-truth telling, just the name-calling".
Mr Corker was trending globally on Twitter this week after he took the gloves off and said what he actually thinks about the man he helped put in the White House.
He was quickly followed by Senator Jeff Flake who has decided to retire next year rather than seek re-election in the November 2018 midterms.
"We must never meekly accept the daily sundering of our country — the personal attacks, the threats against principles, freedoms, and institutions, the flagrant disregard for truth or decency, the reckless provocations, most often for the pettiest and most personal reasons," Mr Flake told the Senate in an extraordinary speech, although it must be said that he's a longtime Trump critic.
The full text of the speech is here.
Mr Trump responded via his favourite channel, Twitter:
While I can't pretend to be in the head of either man, this is relevant.
Mr Flake's approval rating in his home state of Arizona, according to this poll by Morning Consult, is just 30 per cent and other polls have been even worse, showing him being utterly trounced in the Republican primary. In part this is read as the result of Mr Flake's vocal criticism of Mr Trump even though he's remained a loyal vote in the Senate.
And, it's little surprise. Here's a flashback to Mr Trump's feelings on Mr Flake from a few months ago:
It comes down to the fact that Mr Flake couldn't abide the idea of a brutal, losing primary when he doesn't believe in the cause.
As for Mr Corker, the Tennessee senator has also had a strained relationship with the President for some time, and facing several 2018 primary challengers has also bailed out.
OK. So what? Here's why this matters so much:
- American politicians rarely criticise their own president so directly. This is an unusually brutal public discussion.
- Both men could do damage from within the Senate over the next year, especially Mr Corker with his powerful position on the foreign relations committee.
- It could liberate the senators involved to vote against Trump administration policies, after all they have nothing to lose. It also frees them up to lobby other senators to vote their conscience on troublesome policies.
- It could influence Republican turnout at the 2018 midterms. If this becomes a Trump v The Party situation voters might decide to stay out of it.
- It could lead to Republicans losing their Senate majority.
For the moment there's no mass exodus following Corker and Flake, although it's worth keeping in mind that it's likely this will also be John McCain's final term so that's relevant to the Senate majority issue.
After a series of legislative flops on health care, Republicans are trying to stick to their agenda and closing ranks to get their tax reforms through.
Even if infighting might be more entertaining:
Mr Trump played down the tension:
Meanwhile, Speaker Paul Ryan, who famously swallowed his misgivings to back Mr Trump into the presidency, suggests just ignoring the circus.
"All this stuff you see on a daily basis — Twitter this and Twitter that? Forget about it," he said.
Well that's one approach.
It's also an interesting take from Mr Ryan, who last week joked in a long roast of the President that he scrolls through Twitter to see what tweets he will have to pretend that he didn't see later…
The other way of saying it is that Republicans won't abandon Mr Trump until they think it will stop them from getting re-elected. Right now they're sticking to the pony who's in the stable, even if he bucks.
Mr Trump's backers were embracing the developments, saying good riddance.
"Winning: Flake Out," gloated Steve Bannon's Breitbart.
Any loss of moderates like senators Flake and Corker allows Trump backers to be inserted in their place, gradually morphing the Republican Party into the party of Trump, or beyond.
On that, Republicans are beginning to endorse Roy Moore — the "firebrand" from Alabama who is vying for Jeff Sessions' old seat. Mr Moore has previously alleged that communities in Illinois are under Sharia law.
Here's a blunt take on that from the Washington Post.
Mother Russia
We can't get through a week without having to provide an update on Russia, can we?
A few things this week:
First, a protester hurled a handful of Russian flags towards the President as he walked into a lunch with GOP leaders at the Capitol:
Then attention shifted onto Hillary Clinton again. (Note: the election was 352 days ago.)
Nevertheless, The Washington Post confirmed that both the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign were funding the research of a secret dossier by a former British spy that contains salacious allegations about the President — and possible information that the Russian Government has on the President, and may have used to extort him.
It's not the only Clinton-related scrutiny that's kicking around.
The Republican-controlled Congress launched an investigation this week into an Obama-era deal allowing a Russian company to buy American uranium mines.
The deal went through while Mrs Clinton was secretary of state — and at the same time as the Clinton Foundation was receiving millions of dollars of donations from Russian nuclear officials.
While it was already publicly known that the controversial deal had gone through, as we told you last week there's new scrutiny after The Hill revealed that the FBI had "gathered substantial evidence that Russian officials were engaged in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering" all in an effort to "grow Vladimir Putin's atomic energy business inside the United States".
You can see why those on the right are asking:
Mr Trump called it the Watergate of the "modern age". The jury is still out on that one.
And, finally, James Comey has outed himself on his Twitter account. Note the location. Ya planning on "running" somewhere Jim?
Something smells whitefishy…
As recovery efforts continue in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria (many are still without electricity on the island), help is sort of on the way — and sort of already there.
One of those helping is a small company from Montana that had just two full-time employees on the day Maria hit.
According to the Washington Post, Whitefish Energy signed a $300 million contract with Puerto Rico to repair the island's electrical infrastructure.
A detail that hasn't been overlooked is that Whitefish is based in Whitefish, Montana — the home town of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.
Whitefish now has nearly 300 workers in Puerto Rico — but it didn't stop them from getting in a Twitter feud (yes, even companies get in Twitter feuds) with the San Juan Mayor Carmen Cruz, and then later apologise:
Ugh.
Just on storms, I paid a visit to post-hurricane Houston this week to moderate a session on weather at the International Women's Forum World Leadership Conference. Thanks for having me!
Other news you should know this week
- The Great Wall of America
...is starting to pop up on the US-Mexico border. Eight prototypes have appeared. You can check them out here. Should we conduct an online poll? - George HW Bush apologises
Triggered by the #metoo movement, actress Heather Lind accused the former president of inappropriately touching her when they met a few years ago. In a statement, a spokesman for the President apologised. - The President declared an opioid emergency
Mr Trump has talked about this for a long time but finally declared opioid abuse a national public health emergency — and opened up about his brother, Fred, who suffered from alcoholism. We visited West Virginia in August — it's truly an epidemic that is rampant across America. In terms of funding and action, it's better than nothing, but doesn't automatically trigger federal funding.
By the numbers
57 — That's the number of presidential untruths The Star counted over the past week (up to October 24). According to the paper, it's a record. The top number was 40, just three weeks prior.
In an interview on FOX this week, Mr Trump said, "I've really started this whole fake news thing," before later adding: "I'm so proud that I have been able to convince people how fake it is."
This week, CNN started its own "Facts First" campaign:
This really is America in one graphic:
In a bizarre, impromptu briefing with the press, Mr Trump waxed lyrical on a range of topics, including this line for the ages:
It's just a fortnight from the anniversary of Mr Trump's electoral win. Time flies when you're having fun (or frantically busy), huh? How will you mark the day?
In Boston, more than 4,000 people are supposedly attending an event where concerned citizens will commemorate the anniversary by "screaming at the sky".
OK, then.
Topics: donald-trump, world-politics, united-states