In his five months on the job, Jeff Sessions has proven himself to be a mean-spirited attorney general, reigniting the failed war on drugs and indiscriminately cracking down on immigration violations.
It remains to be seen if he ll rival truly historic failures like John Mitchell the only AG to serve a prison sentence, for his role in the Watergate scandal but evidence is mounting that Sessions lied under oath during his confirmation hearing about contacts with Russians during the campaign.
Still, I don t want him to quit.
President Donald Trump in a series of recent statements and tweets has strongly hinted he d like Sessions to go. He told The New York Times last week he d never have appointed him if he knew he was going to recuse himself on the Russia inquiry. According to Trump, it was very unfair, and that s a mild word that Sessions adhered to a basic legal ethics requirement.
On Monday, Trump tweeted, So why aren't the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered A.G., looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes & Russia relations?
The fact that Trump spelled beleaguered correctly this is after all a man who recently tweeted W.H. council and also councel for counsel, unpresidented for unprecedented, not to mention covfefe is revealing.
He gave it some thought, maybe even looked up beleaguered besiege, trouble, harass, according to Merriam-Webster.
Of course, if Sessions is beleaguered, Trump is the one doing most of the beleaguering these days.
When a reporter on Monday afternoon asked Trump point-blank if Sessions should resign, Trump theatrically rolled his eyes and did not answer. Talk about a vote of no-confidence.
Later in the day, when Trump addressed the Boy Scout Jamboree, Eagle Scout cabinet members Rick Perry and Ryan Zinke were in attendance but not Eagle Scout Sessions. (Also absent: Eagle Scout Rex Tillerson, who CNN on Monday reported is considering resigning before the end of the year.)
Look. Sessions is Trump s appointee. If the president doesn t want him in his cabinet, then fire him. Own the decision and the blowback, which will be sizeable.
But don t be all nasty and passive-aggressive, making faces and not inviting him to parties and trashing him on social media. That s what a 13-year-old girl would do. It s not befitting of a president.
So far, it s not working. At a press conference last week, Sessions said, We love this job, we love this department, (nice touch there with the royal we ). He added that he would continue to serve as attorney general so long as that is appropriate.