-President Trump is now fighting with members of his own party
who think he's dangerous, unstable,
and a threat to national security,
and on top of that,
he's threatening media outlets that report on him.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Trump has fallen short repeatedly
on his signature initiatives,
from the border wall to repealing Obamacare,
so now he's trying to convince people he's succeeding
by reciting random numbers about the economy --
numbers he himself derided as a candidate.
Trump told
"Your" stock market? "Your" jobs?
He sounds like a terrible Russian spy
who forgot he was undercover. [ Laughter ]
[ Russian accent ] "Your flag is very beautiful.
I mean our flag."
[ Laughter ]
"The flag of the Uniting States.
Scars and spripes."
[ Laughter ]
But Trump's obsession with stock market numbers
hasn't helped him much,
so now he's trying to bounce back
with what he thinks is a sure-fire crowd pleaser,
tax cuts.
Now, even the most positive polls have found public opinion
very split with at most 48% of respondents saying
they approve of Trump's tax plan.
But when you're as desperate for good news as Trump is,
you'll take 48%.
And on Tuesday,
he tried to claim the plan was a massive hit.
-The people of this country want tax cuts.
They want lower taxes.
We're the highest taxed nation in the world.
People want to see tax cuts,
they want to see major reductions in their taxes,
and they want to see tax reform.
I will tell you that it's become very, very popular.
-I'm sorry, but something cannot be very popular
if it only has 48% approval
unless it stars Johnny Knoxville.
[ Laughter ] Now, incidentally,
the Rotten Tomatoes critics' consensus for "Jackass"
somehow perfectly describes the Trump administration.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Now, you might have noticed in that clip
that Trump repeated his lie
that we have the highest taxed nation in the world,
which isn't even close to true.
The U.S. has a highest corporate tax rate than other countries,
but when it comes to overall taxes,
we rank 32nd.
And "overall" is an important distinction.
As in the stock market under Trump is doing well,
but overall, we're still [bleep]
A reporter tried to fact check
Trump's highest taxed nation claim
with White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders
on Tuesday but predictably got nowhere.
-The president repeated this claim in the Oval Office today
saying we're the highest taxed nation in the world.
Why does the president keep saying this?
It's not true overall.
-We are the highest taxed corporate tax
in the developed economy.
That's a fact.
-But that's not what the president said.
-That's what he's talking about.
We're the highest corporate taxed country
in the developed economies across the globe.
-That's accurate,
but the president keeps repeating this claim that
we're the highest taxed nation.
-We are the highest taxed corporate nation.
-That's not what he said.
He said we're the highest taxed nation in the world.
-The highest taxed corporate nation
seems pretty consistent to me.
-Trying to get the truth out of Sarah Huckabee Sanders
is like trying to get blood from Mike Pence.
[ Laughter ]
You know his veins are just full of whiteout.
But while he continues to push a tax cut plan
that would disproportionately benefit the wealthy,
Trump also continues to insist, despite reality,
that he is providing voters
what he repeatedly promised on the campaign trail --
great health care that would be
much cheaper than what we currently have.
On Tuesday, he claimed he was preparing a new executive order
that would solve many of the problems in health care.
And as has been the case so often before,
he refused to provide any actual details.
-I'll also be signing something probably this week
which is going to go a long way
to take care of many of the people
that have been so badly hurt on health care
and they'll be able to buy,
they'll be able to cross state lines,
and they will get great competitive health care,
and it will cost the United States nothing.
-When someone tells you their product will cost nothing,
that's a good sign to steer clear.
When you see a bucket that says free clams,
you don't eat those clams.
[ Cheers and applause ]
While Trump struggles to advance his domestic agenda,
he's also been locked in a feud with members of his own party,
in particular Tennessee Senator Bob Corker,
a Republican who warned on Sunday
that Trump's reckless threats toward other countries
could lead the nation on the path to World War III.
Trump hit back at Corker yesterday
not with a cogent argument but with a new nickname, tweeting...
"That's what I'm dealing with"?
Hey, man, you're the leader of the free world.
Stop talking like a stressed-out Burger King manager.
[ Laughter ]
"I got two guys out today,
I'm working the drive-through myself,
plus the mouse is back
so, yeah, that's what I'm dealing with."
[ Cheers and applause ]
Now, Corker's warning about Trump is urgent and necessary
but the most revealing thing he said was not about Trump.
It was actually about the Republican Party as a whole.
Corker told
that the people around Trump,
as well as his fellow Republican Senators,
know and agree that Trump is unfit for office.
Corker told the
That sounds less like he's talking about a president
and more like the safety talk to the workers
who got Kong into that Broadway theater.
[ Laughter ]
And of course, it's not just Corker
who's questioned Trump's fitness for office.
Last week, it was reported that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
had privately called Trump a moron,
and yesterday, Trump shot back in an interview.
When asked about the Tillerson report, Trump said...
Ohhh.
That is a bummer, though. because the first question is,
"Who would win an IQ test," and the answer is Tillerson.
[ Laughter ]
In fact, I'm willing to bet
any Rex would beat you in an IQ test,
and most Rexes are dogs.
[ Laughter ]
And if you're wondering --
[ Cheers and applause ]
If you're wondering what happened in that meeting
that led to Tillerson calling Trump a moron,
NBC reported today that...
You don't need 10 times the nuclear weapons.
What we have is enough.
Trump is the kind of guy that would get two orders
of all-you-can-eat pancakes.
[ Laughter ]
"All right, that's all I can eat.
I'll take my next order."
And this will not shock you.
Trump was furious at the report about his nuke comments
and even threatened to revoke
NBC's broadcast license on Twitter.
Later in the Oval Office,
he lamented the fact that the United States has a free press.
-General Mattis put out a statement,
or is putting out a statement saying that that was fake news,
that it was just mentioned that way.
And it's disgusting the way the press is able to write
whatever they want to write.
And people should look into it.
-"People should look into it"?
Not only is he a wannabe dictator,
he's a lazy wannabe dictator.
It's not that hard to look into it.
It's literally the First Amendment.
Even Rex the dog is like, "It's one sentence, dude."
[ Laughter ]
But IQ tests aside,
let's step back and think about this --
a Republican Senator is admitting that
virtually his entire party knows
the president is unstable and dangerous
and has essentially done nothing about it.
If this is what Republicans really believe,
then at the very least they have to
exercise some restraint over Trump
and reign him in if not remove him from office.
And yet many Republicans are doing the opposite.
Congressman Mark Meadows,
chairman of the hard-line Freedom Caucus,
seemed to accidently admit
that he and his colleagues were being cowardly
when he was asked about those comments from Corker,
who plans to retire at the end of his term.
Meadows said of Corker...
So you all know he's a bad guy
but you don't want to tell the rest of us.
Do you work in Congress
or on the board of The Weinstein Company?
[ Audience ohhs ]
[ Scattered laughter ]
[ Scattered applause ]
Trump's White House, meanwhile, has been struggling
to mount a convincing defense of Trump's behavior
and in particular his reckless threats toward North Korea.
Sanders shot back at Corker,
although I'm not sure her argument
was all that persuasive.
-Senator Corker is certainly entitled to his own opinion.
But he's not entitled to his own facts.
The fact is this president has been an incredibly strong leader
on foreign policy and national security.
-That's not a fact. That's an opinion.
You're entitled to your own opinions,
but not your own dictionaries.
[ Laughter ]
If Republicans genuinely, genuinely believe
that the president is unstable and dangerous,
then giving interviews isn't enough.
They have to actually do something about it
by exercising some oversight
or removing him from office,
and if you don't know how that works...
-People should look into it.
-This has been "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]