Donald Trump reportedly blames Attorney General Jeff Sessions for Roy Moore’s Senate race loss in Alabama.
The special election that took place earlier this month was only held because Trump picked Sessions to be his Attorney General in the first place, a move that forced Sessions to step down from his Senate seat after he accepted the nomination.
Of course, Roy Moore was endorsed by Trump, but he went on to lose to Democrat Doug Jones.
Republicans had considered replacing Moore with Sessions late in the campaign after allegations of sexual assault and child molestation were leveled against the former Alabama Chief Justice, but that would have been a complicated process.
After the loss, Trump initially blamed the write-in votes.
Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2017
And then Trump claimed that the “deck was stacked against” Moore and tried to rewrite the narrative as if he always knew Moore would lose.
The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2017
But in private, Trump apparently blames Sessions for the defeat, which is a continuation of the attacks he launched against him earlier this year.
According to the Associated Press:
Trump continued his assault in a series of tweets in which he called Sessions “weak” and “beleaguered.” Privately, he discussed firing Sessions, but was met with a wave of resistance from his advisers. Some warned it would worsen the Russia probe, while Bannon told the president it would hurt with his base supporters, who loved Sessions’ tough-on-crime approach at the Justice Department.
Kelly, in his first weekend on the job, called Sessions to assure him his position was safe. But the rift between Trump and Sessions still has not healed. Recently, Trump bemoaned the Republicans’ loss in a special election in Alabama and in part blamed Sessions, whose departure from the Senate to head to Justice necessitated the election.
Trump has nobody to blame but himself. He’s the one who picked Sessions to be Attorney General. It’s not Sessions’ fault that we have separation of powers in this country. The Attorney General works within the executive branch, and no one can simultaneously serve in two branches of government at the same time. It would be a major conflict of interest. And let’s not forget that Moore is the one who lost the race.
Trump should have thought about the potential consequences of picking Sessions before leaving the Senate seat up for grabs.
But Trump also should have called for Moore to drop out of the race in favor of a Republican who was not accused of sexual assault.
No doubt, Trump’s latest attack on Sessions will make their relationship even more tenuous now, no matter how ridiculous the reasoning is.
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