On November 7, the United States Attorney General submitted his letter of resignation to President Trump, who has hounded him for months
Once, Trump was quite fond of his Attorney General, lauding Sessions as “a world-class legal mind,” and “a truly great Attorney.”
But in July of 2017, the President did an about-face. Once Sessions vowed to recuse himself from the Mueller investigation and allow it to run its course free of executive meddling, Trump was enraged.
So that summer began with Trump venting his frustrations with Sessions via Twitter, lamenting his Attorney General’s refusal to fire key players in the Russia investigation. But by the next summer, the President had unleashed his full fury, calling the Sessions-led justice department a “joke,” and telling a Hill reporter, “I don’t have an Attorney General.”
Sessions is far from an obstructionist or dissenter: he was one of Trump’s earliest and most vociferous supporters. But because he didn’t completely concur with the President on everything–and wouldn’t cater to his every whim–Trump dismissed him. In his place is Matthew Whitaker, a die-hard Trump loyalist who has unabashedly promised to do just that.
Sessions is the latest and highest ranking in a host of Trump staffers ousted for sticking to their guns and not being “Trump-like enough.” From Sessions to Tillerson to Hicks to Spicer to you name it, too many of otherwise capable and qualified executive officers have been discharged–not because of errors or violations, not because they weren’t effective in their positions–but because they were not completely deferential to Trump’s wishes.
This freak show personifies crony politics. The Whitehouse is a cult of personality.
The longest tenured White House staffers are those who are the most obsequious, most readily to sell their souls to the MAGA agenda, and who do everything in their power to ensure that Trump’s infallible will be done. By contrast, aides who show the slightest hint of misgiving regarding the President’s wishes are mercilessly harangued on Twitter and ultimately get the boot.
No, this isn’t grounds for impeachment (Sorry incoming House Democrats), but it’s incredibly dangerous all the same.
Because in place of the checks and balances built into the executive branch through the cabinet system, there is only Trump and his band of brainwashed minions. Rather than a whole team working around the Commander in Chief to cautiously and prudently govern the nation, one egotistical man is running the show.