President Donald Trump on Sunday used Twitter to attack a Republican Senator who has raised the possibility of not supporting a GOP tax reform bill, saying Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) didn't "have the guts" to run for re-election, prompting Corker to respond with a flame throwing social media jab of his own, further inflaming tensions within the Republican Party over the President's agenda.
"It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center," Corker fired back in his own response to the President on Twitter.
"Someone obviously missed their shift this morning," Corker tweeted.
The unprecedented social media tiff between members of the same party only further highlighted the simmering divisions within the Republican Party, as the President alternately admonishes - and then demands the support of GOP lawmakers for his top agenda items.
It wasn't exactly clear what provoked the President to slam Corker on Sunday morning, but the Tennessee Republican has made very clear that while he supports tax reform, he doesn't want to vote for any GOP plan that increases the federal deficit as well.
Since announcing his decision not to run for re-election, Corker has made clear that he was not going to be a rubber stamp vote for whatever the details turn out to be of a GOP tax reform plan in Congress.
I just want to put a marker down that I'm not interested in increasing our deficits," Corker told reporters last week off the Senate floor.
In repeated hallway interviews this year with reporters at the U.S. Capitol, Corker has detailed his struggles to help guide the President, and to make sense of what the President wants to do on major policy issues, as Corker has made clear his displeasure on several occasions.
After Mr. Trump's remarks following violence surrounding a white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia in August, Corker did not mince words to reporters during a stop in his home state.
"The President has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to be successful," Corker said at the time.
That infuriated Mr. Trump in August, and it boiled over again on this Sunday morning, before the President left for a second straight day of golf at his Virginia golf course.
Even some Democrats were surprised by Corker's tweet in response to the President.
"Damn," said Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) on Twitter, who has been a stern critic of the President from the Democratic side. "I wouldn't even go this far."
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