6 | http://www.nationalreview.com OCTOBER 30 , 2017

The Week

nWho do youthink has a higher IQ—Trump, or someone who

chose to work for Trump?

nPresident Trump picked a fight with Senator Bob Corker

(R., Tenn.), chiding him for not seeking a third term because he

“didn’t have the guts.” Corker blasted back in an incendiary

interview, which ranged from wild (“Trump may be setting the

U.S. on the path to World War III”) to deadly (the administra-

tion is “a reality show... like he’s doing The Apprenticeor

something”). Trump acolyte–emeritus Stephen Bannon

jumped in with a call for Corker to resign. Corker is not our

beau ideal; his tenure chairing the Senate Foreign Relations

Committee will be best known for his undercutting the oppo-

sition to the Iran deal. But the best evidence for Corker’s pic-

ture of an uncontrolled president is Trump himself, tweeting

impulsively and dishonestly (Trump said Corker decided

against running again after begging for his endorsement and

failing to get it; but it had already been reported that Trump had

urged Corker to run). Trump thinks he’s being Ali, when too

often he’s only Bundini Brown.

nThe relationship between President Trump and Rex Tillerson

has gone from strained to downright bizarre. Upon news reports

that Tillerson had threatened to resign earlier this year and had

called Trump a “moron,” the secretary of state held a press

availability at which he pledged his undying loyalty to the

president—and pointedly declined to deny he’d spoken the

offending word. Asked in an interview about Tillerson’s alleged

insult, Trump said he had a higher IQ than Tillerson. Clearly,

after some decent interval there will be—and should be—a

parting of the ways. Trump, who is impulsive and imagines his

Twitter feed is an unmatched tool of U.S. diplomacy, is a nearly

impossible boss; Tillerson, who hasn’t managed to make the

transition from CEO to cabinet official, is a poor secretary of

state. A bad combination, playing out badly.

nThe Trump administration will expand the conscience ex -

emp tion to the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate,

which requires employers to offer health insurance that pro-

vides no-cost contraception. The Supreme Court had al ready

forced a broadening of that exemption, to comply with the Re -

li gious Freedom Restoration Act, and more legal challenges

were under way. The new rule allows any employer that ob -

jects to providing some or all forms of contraception, on either

religious or moral grounds, to refrain. Democrats want contra-

ception to be an object of political patronage rather than an

ordi na ry consumer product of the sort that American women

manage to provide for themselves every day without too much

trouble. Most employers will have no objection to including

contraception in their health-insurance plans, but they were

never the issue: The issue has always been the desire to bully

those who do object into submission.

nPresident Trump released his immigration principles, a wish

list of policies he wants from Congress in exchange for codi-

fying DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). The

principles constitute nearly the entirety of the restrictionist

agenda, from the border wall to E-Verify to an end to chain

migration. If all, or even most, of this could be had in a DACA

deal, it would count as the biggest victory for immigration

restriction in memory. Realistically, we’d be happy to get

E-Verify or an end to chain migration in a trade for lawful am -

nes ty for a segment of so-called Dreamers. Given that Dem o -

crats think they have significant leverage because Trump has

signaled that he doesn’t really want to start deporting Dreamers,

it’s more likely that the president will climb down and accept

an amnesty in exchange for more border funding, the least

important of his principles.

nTom Price resigned as secretary of health and human services.
Price came under fire for taking several private and military
flights on the taxpayer dime. His initial defense was that the
flights were for business purposes and that many of them were
his only available transportation options, but it turned out that
Price was catching charter planes to places where he owned
property and between transit hubs Washington, D.C., and Phil a -
del phia. His conduct was unseemly, even if the cost to taxpayers
was a drop in the bucket. His stint in the cabinet was ineffective.
ROMANGENN It’s a disappointing end to a disappointing tenure.

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