President Trump has a hired a 2020 campaign manager, unveiled a new “Keep America Great!” campaign slogan and has raised millions of dollars for a re-election bid.
But retiring Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee said Thursday he has real doubts about Mr. Trump’s political future, saying it is “very questionable” whether Mr. Trump will seek a second term.
“Surely CNN is not taking for face value everything that comes out of the White House all of a sudden,” Mr. Corker said during an appearance on the cable news network after being pressed on whether he would support the commander-in-chief if he runs. “I have no idea whether the president runs for re-election, nor what the field will be on the Republican side. So I think it’s way too early to weigh in on who one might support.”
Mr. Corker is among a number of GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill who are shying away from immediately jumping aboard Trump 2020 bandwagon.
On Thursday, Sen. Ron Johnson also took a pass, saying it is way too early to be taking sides in the next presidential race.
“It could be a completely different world by 2020,” the Wisconsin Republican said, also during an appearance on CNN. “We have a 2018 election first. I understand the kind of gotcha question you’re engaging here, but it’s just way too early to even be talking about it. It just is.”
Republicans are concerned that they will face strong political headwinds in the midterm election, which traditionally serves as a referendum on the party in power.
Mr. Trump’s approval rating is hovering around 40 percent and Democrats hope that electoral victories in special election congressional races in Alabama and Pennsylvania, as well as victories at the state level bode well for them.
Meanwhile, there has been lingering speculation that the chances of Mr. Trump facing a GOP primary opponent could increase if Republicans suffer major setbacks in the November election, where their House and Senate majorities will be at stake.
Gov. John Kasich of Ohio and retiring Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona are both flirting with challenging Mr. Trump for the GOP nomination.
Mr. Trump, meanwhile, has signaled he is moving full speed ahead with his plans to win another four-year term.
Hours after taking office, he filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commissions indicating he was running, and in February he announced that Brad Parscale, who served as the digital director of his 2016 campaign, would serve as his campaign manager.
The following month, he rolled out his updated campaign slogan at a rally in Pennsylvania.
“We can’t say ’Make America Great Again’ because I already did that, right?” Mr. Trump said. “So our, not mine, our slogan, this is a team, our new slogan will be, which I am almost positive. You can never be 100 percent sure. I never like to go too far in advance, but let’s assume it is going like it is going … Our new slogan when we start running in, can you believe it two years from now — Keep America Great, exclamation point!” he said.
Mr. Corker, though, suggested Thursday that he takes the early signs coming from Trump “with a grain of salt.”
“Any president that’s 18 months into their term or 15 or 16 or 17, whatever it is, is likely to say that they’re going to run for re-election,” he said. “They do not want to be viewed as a lame duck.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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