I. Whatever Trump Loathes, We Love
There are many odious things to despise about Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, but they didn't catch the attention of the general public outside Alabama much until the diminutive Senator starting appearing at Trump rallies during the campaign, a stiff MAGA hat contrasting with his elfin visage. Who was this ranter? Is this 1958, and is there a bus boycott happening somewhere? His brand of barely veiled race-baiting and extreme positions on immigration made him an instant hit on the pro-Trump, alt-right circuit, but a pariah in his own chamber, the august Senate. Many assumed he was committing political hari kari as one by one, never-Trumpers in his own institution, including Jeff Flake and Ben Sasse, were the vanguard of a general distaste for Trump's chaos and spectacle. It didn't take long, after the infamous Access Hollywood GrabberGate for Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan to distance themselves from the Donald at all costs, without directly repudiating him. They shrewdly kept that card in their pocket against the outside chance that Trump won. Ahem. At any rate, after that fateful ascendency took place, and Sessions was nominated to Attorney General, you would have thought that he had been majority leader, so great was the acclimation, and so easy was his confirmation, despite grave concerns about his record as Alabama AG.
Soon enough, previously secret meetings with Russian operatives surfaced, and Sessions was lucky to escape by "recusing" himself from the investigation, although how the head of the nation's law enforcement avoids such a massive undertaking is laughably impossible. At any rate, that decision, we now know, infuriated the President to such an extent that, months later, he is still seething about it, recently in an interview with the New York Times. This is the single greatest argument to fight for keeping Sessions at Justice: out of favor with the capricious gods of the White House, he will be increasingly ineffective at implementing his grand plan to renew the war on drugs, lock up people of color and immigrants en masse, tacitly condone police abuse, all the while arming city law enforcement to the teeth. Trump also lashed out at Deputy AG Rod Rosentstein and acting FBI director Andrew McCabe. Given this track record, it won't be long before his pick to lead that agency, Christopher Wray, falls within the Donald's crosshairs. But doesn't all of this weaken the investigation? Not as long as Robert Mueller is at the helm of the independent probe. We must be patient, and expect zero leaks and even less drama. But all indications are that this inquiry is serious, meaty, and credible. Meanwhile, let disorder and disloyalty reign supreme at Justice. A hobbled Sessions is far better than whatever monster will come in to replace him.
II. Even in Trump's Inner Circle of Hell, Sessions Is a Devil
This is a man who joked sympathetically about the KKK, later waiving it off in a sort of southern version of "locker room talk." He clings to the decades old notion that marijuana is a gateway drug; meanwhile an opioid epidemic engulfs the nation. He routinely ignores all evidence that points to the devastation of minimum mandatory sentences for even the slightest of drug crimes, just as GOP Congress members were coming around to the idea of prison and sentencing reform. His attack on the voting rights of African-Americans in Alabama is notorious and shameful. That such a venal politician could hold such a high office in 2017 is almost beyond comprehension. Others in Trump's orbit are self-centered swamp creatures who selfishly advocate on behalf of their special interest or class interest: Mnuchin, DeVos, and Pruitt shill for big finance, private ed, and fossil fuels, respectively. But Sessions seems to be stuck in the Selma of yesteryear, a Confederate pin proudly adorning his lapel. This is why I resisted him like no other Cabinet appointee. This is why the Alabama NAACP revived the sit-in just to oppose him. This is why he must go now. He was always a terrible pick, and now he has been exposed as a liar and a perjurer who is wrapped up in the potentially traitorous Russia scandal. On top of all of that, he has lost the confidence of his one-time champion, Donald Trump. If you stake your future on such an obvious evil, you deserve whatever terrible fate awaits you. Finally, it is not at all certain that his replacement would be as bad. Take the Christopher Wray pick, for example. While he has some baggage, most observers agree that he is smart and independent, two qualities in scarce supply in the Washington of today. Perhaps, cowed by the endless drama of the scandal, Trump will replace Sessions with someone at least one percent less evil.
Of course, for now, Sessions still sits in his office, meting out his punishments to petty criminals, and drafting secret speeches for hate groups. The question is, for how long? And what happens next? Stay tuned.
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