Black offers everyone an opportunity to sign her Donald Trump birthday card
U.S. Rep. Diane Black has — well, at least arguably — already outdone other Republican candidates for governor in proclaiming her support and admiration for President Trump. Latest gesture (gimmick?): You can now sign a birthday card to the president on her campaign website. (His birthday is June 14 and he’ll be 72.)
Corker spurns Trump request; files bipartisan tariffs legislation with Alexander as co-sponsor
Sen. Bob Corker introduced a bipartisan bill Wednesday that would give Congress new authority to check the president’s trade moves, going forward with the legislation despite a personal appeal from President Trump to back off, reports the Washington Post.
Corker’s bill would require congressional approval when the president enacts tariffs under the auspices of national security, as Trump did last week in imposing levies on aluminum and steel imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
The legislation, which Corker released with a total of nine Democratic and Republican co-sponsors, is the most forceful congressional response to date to Trump’s protectionist trade agenda. For the first time, at least some Republicans are uniting behind a concrete plan to force the president to change course on trade, after months of pleas and appeals achieved little.
Corker’s push for tariff legislation reported picking up steam
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker outlined his proposal to give Congress authority to block tariffs during a meeting with fellow Republican senators Tuesday and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he may allow a vote on it, reports Politico.
NRSC echoes Trump’s Bredesen bashing in online video
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen is declared “another obstructionist Washington Democrat” in a National Republican Senatorial Committee online video that uses clips of President Trump criticizing the former Tennessee governor during a campaign rally for Republican Marsha Blackburn in Nashville last week. Blackburn’s campaign posted the same clips as online video shortly after the rally. The NRSC video is entitled “Whatever His Name Is” — a label Trump applied to Bredesen at one point during his remarks.
Corker working to block Trump tariffs with Bredesen’s blessing; Blackburn ‘still trying to work through this’
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker says he and others are “crafting” legislation requiring congressional authority over levying tariffs in response to President Donald Trump’s imposition of stiff steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada, Mexico and the European Union, according to the Times Free Press. Phil Bredesen, the Democrat running to replace him, has embraced the idea. Republican Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn has not, though she’s concerned about the tariffs and “still trying to work through this.”
National campaign underway to free Nashville man sent back to federal prison after being released in 2016
More than 50,000 people have signed an online petition calling for the release of Matthew Charles from federal prison, reports WPLN, and the Nashville man’s case is otherwise getting considerable national attention – including a New York Times story suggesting he could be a candidate for clemency granted by President Donald Trump.
Charles was sentenced to 35 years in prison for selling cocaine in 1996, then freed in 2016 under a sentence-reduction program launched by former President Barack Obama – only to be sent back behind bars last week after courts ruled he technically didn’t qualify — though, by all accounts, he has led an exemplary life both while serving time and since his 2016 release.
Trump tariffs get TN criticism and cause concern over economic impact
Republicans are bitterly protesting the Trump administration’s decision to impose sweeping tariffs on U.S. allies with Tennessee’s two U.S. senators among them. Economically, there are suggestions Tennessee could suffer more than most states because of reliance on vehicle manufacturing and, politically, Politico reports Republicans are alarmed that the White House ignored their frenzied lobbying campaign and afraid that the party could suffer at the polls in November.
GOP gubernatorial candidates showed at Trump rally; only Black got presidential mention
While President Trump’s Nashville rally was held to support Marsha Blackburn’s run for the U.S. Senate, four Republican gubernatorial candidates were on hand as well to show support for the president and look for votes, reports WKRN TV. U.S. Rep. Diane Black got a presidential mention.
Trump bashes Bredesen, embraces Blackburn at Nashville rally
In a Nashville rally Tuesday, President Donald Trump declared former Gov. Phil Bredesen “an absolute total tool” of Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and urged Tennessee Republican voters not to become complacent in backing Republican Marsha Blackburn for the U.S. Senate.
Some media reports preceding Trump’s campaign trip to Nashville to help ‘thrilled’ Blackburn
President Donald Trump’s Tuesday evening trip to Nashville for a Marsh Blackburn fundraiser has been preceded by more national media reporting on Tennessee’s U.S. Senate race, including a Washington Post report suggesting women voters could tilt the race in Democrat Phil Bredesen’s favor.
The article begins with a question posed to Blackburn during a campaign event at the Cumberland County town of Fairfield Glade.
“How as a woman can you support Donald Trump?” asked Marcia Storrison, a Democratic retiree in this heavily Republican area of hilly green golf courses. “His lies! I believe in facts. . . . I don’t understand how a woman can be supportive of what is going on.”
“Trump is working very hard for us,” replied the Republican congresswoman, touting his record on jobs and the economy.
