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Article snippet: WASHINGTON — President Trump’s latest rupture with a Republican senator has widened the schism with his own party on Capitol Hill, potentially jeopardizing the future of his legislative agenda even as he presses lawmakers to approve deep tax cuts, according to veteran Republicans and independent analysts. The caustic exchange with Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee on Sunday came at a time when Mr. Trump could ill afford to lose the support of even one more Republican, given his repeated failures to hold together his party on high-drama votes on health care. And as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. Corker has significant influence over appointments and legislation important to the White House. White House officials seethed on Monday, privately accusing Mr. Corker of intentionally picking a fight with the president to draw attention to his new crusade against raising the deficit in any tax overhaul. But Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, and his allies were incredulous that the president would anger a senator just a week before a budget vote that is critical to tax cuts when the party’s 52-vote majority can be thwarted by just three defections. “Under the normal, traditional rules of politics of the last 40 years of my life, a president would not poke a senator in the eye when he has a two-seat majority and a major legislative agenda needing to be accomplished,” said former Representative Thomas M. Reynolds, Republican o... Link to the full article to read more