trillion because it s hundreds of billions of dollars that they re talking about. so, i don t actually think it s that hard of an idea logical test for jeff flake. he s been a deficit hawk. this is an enormously irresponsible bill for any principled republican. yes, he likes tax cuts, but this is an insane bill if you care at all about the solvency of the united states, which jeff flake does. so, i actually think the odds are a little higher than he will join mccain and corker and maybe a few others and sink this. and if he does, then trump has nothing to show for 2017 and he goes into an election year, a complete failure in terms of getting bills through congress. e.j., it seems if the president does not get his tax bill that explodes the deficit, then his presidency explodes. that seems to be the washington republica republicans view of this. we have to do this or we all go down. i think that s right.
i don t mean two years from now when he is not a senator. i don t mean the next stop in his career. i mean, what does he do now in the united states senate? jeff flake has been a reliable trump vote so far in the senate vote. but now that he doesn t have the pressures of a republican primary election in arizona, what does he do? jeff flake is a member of the senate foreign relations committee, where his chairman, bob corker, now stands accused by donald trump of trying to block the republican tax bill, which senator corker just might do, because he says he s not going to vote for tax cuts that increase the deficit. and the republican bill, no matter how it is written, is definitely going to increase the deficit. jeff flake likes to think of himself as a deficit hawk too. the trump-mcconnell tax bill in the senate will test just how much jeff flake cares about the deficit. what it won t test is just how much jeff flake cares about getting reelected.
and later do, not miss. resentment is not a governing philosophy. and at some point, you actually have to govern, and you have to have competencies in governing. and you move ahead with certain policies that really have animated the party for generations. and i think until we return to that, we re going to be we re going to be in trouble electorally. joining the discussion now, e.j. dionne, opinion writer for the washington post and msnbc political analyst and co-author of the new book one nation after trump. and jonathan alter is back with us. e.j., the question now is what will jeff flake do in the senate? and as the tax bill approaches, if it has a massive explosion of the deficit built into it, which it looks like it s likely to at this point, jeff flake will have a choice. is he a deficit hawk or is he
he doesn t have a clue as the entire world was laughing and taking advantage of us. people like little bob corker have set the u.s. way back. now we move forward. corker quickly replying to most any camera he saw today, he started #adultdaycare. today picking up with this idea, #alertthedaycarestaff. we heard from an official who tell us, as you might imagine, not surprising there, there s no obvious strategy playing out right now. this wasn t some deliberate back and forth. which the white house would like the focus to be on tax cuts right now. corker knows well what he s doing and he knew the reaction he would get to it. but notably his vote is a crucial one here. he s a deficit hawk. the republicans are going to try to pass tax cuts exclusively
thing happened under reagan where he cut taxes and the economy took off. jimmy carter fact check, reagan raised taxes four separate times. you said he cut too much? no you to figure out to mechanics that. the reason he raised taxes four separate times because of lack of revenue coming in. second, you asked me a question. what programs would i cut. i gather you are a big deficit hawk? indeed. and that s why you are supporting legislation that would increase the national debt by $1.5 trillion over ten years. but above and beyond that you asked me a fair question. okay, what programs would i cut. how did you vote on the authorization for the department of defense which increased military spending by, if i m not