Opinions | If Republicans won’t risk defeat to tell the truth, Trump will own their party Norman Ornstein When Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), once mocked by President Donald Trump as “Liddle’ Bob Corker,” retired in 2018, Trump loyalist Marsha Blackburn succeeded him. When Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) retired, he gave a farewell speech making clear that he didn’t want to be “complicit” in the Trump agenda but declined to defend his seat in a primary. On Monday, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) announced that he, too, would not seek another term, noting, “We live in an increasingly polarized country where members of both parties are being pushed further to the right and further to the left.”