Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) admitted to having private disagreements with President Trump on several issues during an interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board published Sunday.
While acknowledging that he has broken with Trump on issues such as budget deficits and debt, tariffs and trade agreements and border security, Cornyn said that he actively decided to air his disagreements privately rather than publicly.
The Texas senator is up for re-election against Democrat challenger MJ Hegar, with polls currently showing that Cornyn has a small lead over Hegar.
When asked whether he and other Republicans regretted not pushing Trump to combat the COVID-19 crisis more aggressively, Cornyn used a bad marriage analogy when describing his relationship with the President to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
“Maybe like a lot of women who get married and think they’re going to change their spouse, and that doesn’t usually work out very well,” Cornyn said, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “I think what we found is that we’re not going to change President Trump. He is who he is. You either love him or hate him, and there’s not much in between.”
Cornyn told the Forth Worth Star-Telegram that he has tried avoiding public confrontations with Trump because “as I’ve observed, those usually don’t end too well.”
Cornyn noted how Trump soured on his friend, former Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), when the then-Tennessee senator broke with the President on issues such as a border wall. Corker decided against running for re-election in 2018 after his clash with Trump.
However, Cornyn told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he’s had an easier time working with the President on judicial nominations, Hurricane Harvey relief, a U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal and tax cuts — issues he was comfortable praising Trump for publicly.
“But when I have had differences of opinion, which I have, (I) do that privately,” Cornyn told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “I have found that has allowed me to be much more effective, I believe, than to satisfy those who say I ought to call him out or get into a public fight with him.”
Cornyn’s admission of privately breaking from Trump on some issues was reported a day after the President took aim at Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), who rebuked him during a telephone town hall with constituents last week. Sasse said that Trump’s behavior had so badly offended voters that he might be the root of a “Republican blood bath” in the Senate.
Sasse’s remarks, which came amid a growing list of GOP detractors breaking from the President ahead of next month’s election, prompted Trump to suggest in a tweet on Saturday that the Nebraska senator “doesn’t have what it takes to be great.”
…Nomination to run for a second term. Then he went back to his rather stupid and obnoxious ways. Must feel he can’t lose to a Dem. Little Ben is a liability to the Republican Party, and an embarrassment to the Great State of Nebraska. Other than that, he’s just a wonderful guy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 17, 2020
….practically nothing. Both Senators became totally unelectable, couldn’t come even close to winning their primaries, and decided to drop out of politics and gracefully “RETIRE”. @SenSasse could be next, or perhaps the Republicans should find a new and more viable candidate?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 17, 2020
