Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Humiliating Jeff Sessions

As it becomes increasingly clear that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson does not know how to conduct foreign policy and has failed to take control of the State Department, President Trump has engaged in a very public campaign to humiliate and to force out… Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

No one expected that Donald Trump had the experience to take the reins of the federal government. No one expected that he knew enough about policy to take the lead in policy debates. And yet, everyone expected that a business executive would know how to conduct himself as a chief executive… and not just playing one on television.

Many of Trump’s supporters were thrilled to have someone who understood business in the White House. And yet, if you want to drain the swamp you also need to understand the swamp. You need to understand its flora and fauna, how it functions and where its weak points are. You cannot do it with bluster and bravado.

Now, President Trump is offering us all a workshop in how not to exercise executive leadership. Were it not appalling, it would be breathtaking. If an executive is not loyal to his staff he has no business expecting them to be loyal to him. While showing disloyalty to his most loyal supporter, Trump has been trying to disparage Sessions’ loyalty to him. It's yet another instance of how not to lead.

Ask yourself which political leader was first to support the candidacy of Donald Trump. Which cabinet member has worked the hardest and had the most success implementing the Trump agenda? And which cabinet member has the most friends and supporters in the United States Senate?

The answer to all the questions is: Jeff Sessions.

And yet, at a moment when Trump needs votes from Senate Republicans he is spending his time called Sessions “beleaguered” and “weak.” He seems to think that he can bully the Attorney General into launching another investigation into Clintonian perfidy. No one would be unhappy to see the Clintons exposed for the grifters they are, but Trump’s public bullying of Sessions will accomplish precisely the opposite. It will make it impossible for Sessions to do anything against the Clintons. The only people being served by the Trumpian attack on Sessions are the Clintons. Trump thinks he is attacking them. He is protecting them. One understands that if Sessions resigns, the Senate will never approve any new candidate who is nearly as conservative or Trumpian. One understands it. Trump does not.

Many of Sessions’ former Senate colleagues have rushed to defend him. The Wall Street Journal summed up the problem nicely in an editorial:

Instead [Trump] continued to demean Jeff Sessions, and in the process he is harming himself, alienating allies, and crossing dangerous legal and political lines.

And also:

Mr. Trump’s suggestion that his Attorney General prosecute his defeated opponent is the kind of crude political retribution one expects in Erdogan’s Turkey or Duterte’s Philippines.

As you know, the Wall Street Journal editorial page does not make a habit of promoting leftist causes.

It continues:

As a candidate, Mr. Trump thought he could say anything and get away with it, and most often he did. A sitting President is not a one-man show. He needs allies in politics and allies to govern. Mr. Trump’s treatment of Jeff Sessions makes clear that he will desert both at peril to his Presidency.

No matter how powerful the office of the Presidency, it needs department leaders to execute policy. If by firing or forcing out Jeff Sessions Mr. Trump makes clear that his highest priority is executing personal political desires or whims, he will invite resignations from his first-rate Cabinet and only political hacks will stand in to replace them. And forget about Senate confirmation of his next AG.

The Journal concludes:

Even on the day that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was scraping together enough Republican votes to avoid a humiliating defeat for the President on health care, Mr. Trump was causing Senators to publicly align themselves with Mr. Sessions. Past some point of political erosion, Mr. Trump’s legislative agenda will become impossible to accomplish. Mr. Trump prides himself as a man above political convention, but there are some conventions he can’t ignore without destroying his Presidency.

Remember, President Trump is dealing with human beings. All executives do. If they think that they are dealing with characters in a play that they are directing, they will have serious trouble getting anything done. Trump should know that Sessions has far more friends in Washington than he does.

Last night on CNN, a sworn enemy of everything that Sessions stands for and is trying to accomplish, Sen. Bernie Sanders commented on Trump’s treatment of his former colleague:

You don’t treat another human being that way.

It’s no way to run a government, or even a railroad.

9 comments:

Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said...

Sessions should never have recused himself on this Russia madness.

And Trump should never resort to the humiliation tactics he's using with Sessions.

I believe Trump is doing this because he's in a political pickle and wants Sessions to resign.

Sessions is not going to resign.

Trump is not learning the governing game fast enough. Strong campaigner, not a good governor.

So this will go on. It's not good.

trigger warning said...

My personal experience with chief executives leads me to conclude that, broadly speaking, there are two types; executives that have built companies and executives that have risen up from the ranks (I'm deliberately excluding nepotism). Steve Jobs and Donald Trump are examples of the former, both broadly disliked, both having made huge errors in judgement (NeXT Machine and Atlantic City, as examples), and neither had/have much oily political "savvy" because it simply doesn't play a big role if you're always the Top Dog. Risen-up executives tend to have sensitive political instincts, a common topic for quotidian watercooler complaints.

I'd guess that Trump views Sessions as "his lawyer". Executives hire and fire lawyers all the time, both inside and outside counsel. My spouse was a General Counsel (now outside counsel), and always gave her very best legal advice to the CEO. It was often as not ignored, because there are many opportunities in business and if one follows the guidance of lawyers, nothing ever gets done. Because most of the important bottom-line decisions an executive makes can have unfortunate legal consequences. Nearly everything is illegal in this country. That's a big reason the best physicians shun Medicaid and Medicare.

And it's not as if Trump is somehow unique in stabbing Sessions in the back. Senate Republicans did so themselves when Sessions was nominated and rejected for a Federal judgeship in 1986. So I think he'll get over it. After the 1986 debacle, Sessions went on to become state Attorney General and eventually a Senator.

Sessions recused himself because of an "abundance of caution". Typical lawyer. That set the stage for the Berian "investigation" by Bob Mueller and his team of Democrat donors, eventually dragging Trump's children into the Potemkin deliberations. Trump. Is. Pissed.

Trump's mistake here was acting in anger without not seeing that his base loves Jeff Sessions. White, middle and working class voters are his base (see here for a stunning graphic). But these same voters also like Sessions. When you've lost Breitbart...

So it's going to be interesting watching Trump get himself out of this, if he can. The real test of an executive is not avoiding all mistakes, but getting out of them and moving on. Ask Steve Jobs.

Trump is 70, he's a self-made billionaire and the unlikeliest President in American history, having gotten there on a bare-bones budget against an entrenched, corrupt politician who spent a billion dollars. My money's on Trump, but Moody's and Fitch are not happy. :-D

This was an own goal.

Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said...

TW: White, middle and working class voters are his base (see here for a stunning graphic).

Can you post a link?

trigger warning said...

Oops, sorry. Fat finger.

http://orig00.deviantart.net/6f33/f/2016/328/d/7/usa_2016_election__white_voters_only__preliminary__by_reagentah-dapfdhy.png

Ares Olympus said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

"Mr. Trump’s suggestion that his Attorney General prosecute his defeated opponent is the kind of crude political retribution one expects in Erdogan’s Turkey or Duterte’s Philippines."

Oh! I get it! To get away scot-free from a crime, simply run for President. Then, if you lose, claim you're being persecuted by your opponent.

The IDIOT who penned the above-cited post clearly believed Hillary and the Clinton Foundation are pure and innocent of any wrong-doing. It's just this Trump persecution complex that's driving the whole deal against poor Hill! The STOOPID is thick with this one.

Ares Olympus said...

Stuart: And yet, everyone expected that a business executive would know how to conduct himself as a chief executive… and not just playing one on television.

I don't know anyone who expected this, although I've heard such fairy tales existed. My image for Trump was more like man-child CEO "Big Guy" Gordon Jump on "WKRP in Cincinnati". But at least he had is toy trains to keep him out of mischief.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Carlson

Stuart: ...if you want to drain the swamp you also need to understand the swamp.

Actually Trump admitted he didn't want to drain the swamp. He thought it was hokie, and only changed his mind when people cheered. Trump confesses his own unlimited dishonesty and his victims still cheer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3GA1Bc1elQ Donald Trump admitting "Drain the Swamp" slogan sounded like hokie BS. Goes off script.

Glaivester said...

On the other hand, Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin, both of whom never wanted Sessions to be Attorney General, and the former of which was pushing for him to withdraw or to resign, hvae now both come out demanding that Trump keep Sessions on. Is this entire thing a case of Trump using reverse psychology?

Ares Olympus said...

Glaivester said.. Is this entire thing a case of Trump using reverse psychology?

Trump doesn't look smart enough for that. Remember he was sure everyone would be overjoyed when he fired Comey?

To me it looks like Trump is trying to shame Sessions into breaking his vow to recuse. Trump really only had to fire one person to show his seriousness, and then everyone else is afraid, and hopefully (in Trump's mind) they'll do he wants.