On Tuesday morning, President Trump unleashed a stunning Tweetstorm directly targeting his attorney general, Jeff Sessions. Here’s what it looked like:
And then for good measure, Trump attacked his acting FBI director:
Trump has been fulminating publicly about Sessions since last Wednesday, when he told The New York Times that if he had known Sessions would recuse himself, he never would have nominated him. Of course, Sessions didn’t know Sessions would recuse himself at the time, because it was only during Sessions’ confirmation hearing that he misstated that he had never met with Russians during the campaign. In any case, Trump is making a bushel of mistakes here — and he’s participating in the wanton cruelty toward his employees for which he’s quickly becoming known.
Here are just a few problems with the Sessions potential firing:
1. President Tough Guy McBallsy Doesn’t Have The Spine To Fire Sessions Openly. Instead of merely calling Sessions on the carpet and firing him, he’s now passive-aggressively tweeting him, hoping Sessions will resign. This makes the third time during his administration that he has edged someone out without openly firing them: first, he edged out National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, claiming that Flynn embarrassed Vice President Mike Pence, when it’s pretty clear that isn’t the case; then he attempted to hide behind a letter from deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein to fire FBI director James Comey; now he’s sending Sessions mean notes like a high school girl, trying to get him to leave. Where’s the “you’re fired” guy from TV?
2. President Trump Treats Those Who Work For Him And Don’t Devote Full Time To Sycophancy Like Garbage. Sean Spicer didn’t bow obsequiously and convincingly enough before Trump; Trump didn’t take him to the Vatican, then appointed Anthony Scaramucci over him, forcing his resignation. Trump didn’t just quietly fire Comey — he waited until Comey was on the West Coast, then fired him publicly so that Comey saw it on TV while speaking with FBI employees. Now, Trump is sending Scaramucci out to tell talk show host Hugh Hewitt that Trump wants Sessions gone. Who in the world would want to work for this administration?
3. President Trump Is Supposed To Be Pushing Health Care. Immediately following Trump’s tweetstorm about Sessions, he fired off these tweets:
So, while he’s struggling to cobble together 52 votes in the Senate to even get a health care bill examined on the floor of the Senate, he’s distracting himself with the Sessions nonsense — and he’s sending a signal to Senate Republicans that no matter how loyal they are, he will dump all over them if the time comes to do so.
4. President Trump Only Seems To Target People Over The Russia Stuff. So, who’s been fired and who’s on Trump’s poop list? Fired: National Security Advisor Mike Flynn, fired over presumed Russia connections; FBI director James Comey, which Trump said was over Russia investigation stuff. Poop list: Acting FBI director Andrew McCabe, who now presides over the agency’s Russia investigation; Sessions, who recused himself from the Russia investigation, angering Trump; deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who recused himself from the Russia investigation; and special counsel Robert Mueller, who now leads up a Russia investigation. Either Trump has something to hide or his pathological narcissism is leading him to obsess about something he would be better off ignoring.
5. Sessions Was The Driving Force Inside The Trump Administration On Immigration. For all those who just want Trump to give you his agenda, be aware: Sessions was the driving force inside the Trump administration on his key issue, immigration. Sessions was one of the earliest Trump endorsers specifically because Sessions believed that Trump would be his avatar on immigration. Three years ago, I sat at a late night drinking session with Sessions, Ann Coulter, and then-Sessions aide Stephen Miller; they laid out virtually the entire Trump platform on immigration. Later, Steve Bannon (my former boss at Breitbart) would reportedly commission a white paper on immigration for Trump from Coulter and Miller. Sessions and Miller cared about one thing and one thing only at the time: immigration. Now Sessions is being sidelined because Trump is piqued on Russia. Meanwhile, immigration softliners are entering the halls of power.
6. President Trump Uses Hillary As His Go-To Excuse For Everything. Trump’s tweets about Sessions’ failures to prosecute Hillary Clinton are an excuse for Trump’s anger on other issues, just as all of his misdirects on Hillary are. Trump is the head of the executive branch. If he wants his Department of Justice to investigate Hillary Clinton, he can order them to do so. But Trump has explicitly and repeatedly stated that he doesn’t want such an investigation to take place — which is correct, since presidents seeking to prosecute and imprison their former political opponents would set a rather dangerous precedent. Trump’s invocations of Hillary are red meat for his base. They aren’t serious, they aren’t real, and they aren’t the true reason he’s angry at Sessions.
Whether you support Trump or not, what he’s doing to Sessions right now is egregious, cowardly, and stupid. It undermines his supposed agenda, it distracts from other key issues, and it undercuts his ability to earn loyalty inside his administration and out.
But at least he’s playing 873-D underwater upside-down Hungry Hungry Hippos.
