It is easy to to despise the Trump fawners and they do deserve it. It is more important to decide why both parties in 2016 ignored the flyover population - the rust belt people. Trump didn't ignore them and he got in. He will not help them much but they are the reason he was elected, defying both parties' nominations.
The Democrats are the most likely to address the complete lack of any policy on those left behind but there is not much sign of it yet.
49
As you've established many times, Gail, the only thing Trump is worse at than firing people is hiring them.
He can't fire Sessions because he is a major link to Trump's Confederate base.
A lot of reports say Flynn was fired, but even he was allowed to resign, reluctantly, the only problem voiced by Trump being that somebody leaked the dirt on his General to the press.
As for the actual firing you mention -- did Trump have the gumption actually face any of those guys, or did he send his trusty bodyguard to do the dirty work as was seen with Comey?
49
What baffles me about Trump is that so many of his “ideas” could be accomplished by different, less chaotic means. For example, to reduce imports of aluminum, you can either make imported aluminum more expensive (tariffs, Trump’s choice) or make domestic aluminum cheaper. You can do that by significantly increasing the amount of recycled aluminum. Refundable can deposits would do that. Maybe support renewable energy for the power required for recycling. There are several ways to do it.
You want fewer immigrants from Central America? Make them less likely to flee chaos. How? Make a real effort at solving our illegal drug crisis (and I mean a real effort - not just a tv event). People are fleeing violence and poverty, not coming to the US because they want to.
On issue after issue, this administration seems to do the absolutely least thoughtful thing possible to accomplish its objectives. The American people could really get behind a lot of the objectives if the path to getting there was simply not so stupid.
112
The real collusion is between Sessions, Kelly, McMaster, Nunes, Ryan, McConnell and their ilk to help elect and keep an unethical President in power. The edifice of our democracy is crumbling - it is little cause for comfort that it is falling on all their heads as well.
102
Gail,
I just read your article with Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust."
I suggest others to try it. A perfect fit.
23
The fawning factor allows Ted Cruz and Newt Gingrich to use their Never-Dull magic wadding polish amongst other livery chores.
This includes tailing Trump with heavy duty Aquanet. They combat the combover when it starts flapping in the breeze. That combover can take on a life of its own.
Wait till they start wearing Yoda Ears headbands to mimic the A.G.
True love is never having to say no.
8
The widely documented dinner with Sessions, Rosenstein, and the third in command at DOJ sends mixed messages, but I found it somewhat reassuring that they seemed to be presenting a united front and, perhaps, signaling (because Rosenstein has publicly approved M's work thus far) that they are not going to interfere with the Mueller investigation. Sessions has a lot of ludicrous, nasty, racist ideas, which I think he truly believes as opposed simply to finding them politically expedient. but did he find lying under oath to be as abhorrent as the rest of us? He was likely asked to lie under oath about his Russian meetings, and perhaps finds that mortifying. Best case scenario is that he is now reacting with a personal pledge to stick to the letter of the law from here on out, and protect Mueller. That is my, probably foolish, hope
30
As a prosecuting attorney myself, I can only hope that A.G. Sessions really will discharge his duties with honor & integrity, never mind his lack of judgment in many areas, including his long support of Trump, his positions on marijuana, immigration, etc.
Prosecutors with integrity try to conduct themselves in a non-political manner, even though they are in offices led by a partisan politician. To keep the criminal-justice system working with integrity, requires respect for the rule of law, something Trump clearly does not have. I pray Sessions has some respect for it, having once been a Federal Prosecutor.
223
Could it be that Trump think he's still on his TV show where he fired people and not, actually president?
Maybe he thinks his first year in office was season one and that's why he's had to fire so many people?
Now we're in season two and we can just expect more of the same.
On a side note, I'm always having to correct myself when I type the first few letters of his last name beginning with "Ch" instead of "Tr", it's likely others have same corrections.
12
We have an angry ignoramus as President, supported by 90% of the Republican population that are angry and ignorant as well. Is it the stinging loss they faced when the South surrendered that ails them? Are they still mad at the Union that made non-whites more powerful, because under Obama, Big Government went to Herculean lengths to make their lives better, with record real household income by 2016, record household net worth by 2013, more jobs than ever by 2014, and a record low uninsured rate.
It was Republican governors and legislatures in 18 states (mostly across the Southeast, which has high premature mortality) who refused to expand Medicaid under the ACA. It was conservative deregulation of banking that caused the financial crisis. It is Republicans who cut taxes for the 1% and blow up deficits, while Democrats raise taxes on the 1% and balance the budget (Clinton) or at least cut it dramatically (Obama).
History tells us that under Democratic Presidents, the economy, stock market, and jobs all grow faster; it isn't even close. Trump himself has admitted the economy does better under Democrats.
The South lost the Civil War. It's time for Republicans to act like it.
92
Correction: Preet Bharara, then the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, was just one of more than 40 U.S. Attorneys fired by President Trump on the same day early in his administration. That does not mean that Mr. Trump is a good president, which manifestly he is not, but it suggests that he is somewhat better at firing people than Ms. Collins asserts.
9
Sessions a sympathetic figure, hardly, one look at the photograph accompanying Gails essay and you would have to laugh at the thought. Sessions is an opportunist and he is just waiting for his next opening, his next opportunity and then he will be saying "Donald who?"
19
As an Alabamian, my comments to our former Senator are simple: If you lie down with the dogs, you’re gonna get fleas.
Sessions is getting exactly what he deserves. No sympathy for the man who foolishly came out and supported this ridiculous excuse of a president before any other Senator did.
86
I am dismayed that people still actually want to work for him. Is their love of power so strong that it overtakes any pride or feelings of self worth or values? It is sad to know that we have so many unprincipled and/or self hating people in our midst.
33
As I read about all those who have left/are leaving the White House, I thought as others did, that soon there will be no replacements. Not anyone capable, anyhow.
But wait! The prez still has good people waiting in the wings:
Sarah Palin
Chris Christie
Rudi Guliani
The fun (or lack thereof) has just begun!
16
If you consider the unhinged-ness of this past week, it’s scary. You keep thinking that it can’t get worse, but then there’s something like the tariff pronouncement, and it’s clear that the most powerful man in the world listens to no one, has not an ounce of self-reflection, and cares more about Trump than the welfare of this country.
This cannot last, and the only remedy is for enough Republicans to stand up and impeach Trump before he gets so angry at another personal slight that he starts a war, wrecks the economy, or slowly reduces the standing of this country further and further. The question is not whether Trump will be impeached. He will—because he’s in a treacherous downward spiral and he does not have the ability or awareness to stop it. The question is how long the GOP will genuflect to this man before they are forced to do the inevitable.
19
Of course, the thing about all 'social media' is it's totally anonymous and unverifiable (see Russian election interference). So, there's no way to verify who is really Tweeting all this Trump tripe. Really, how can we ever know? It would be so good if Congress passed a law that forbids the use of social media by all members of the federal government while they are in office. That means everybody. I would really like that.
17
Collins is usually funny, but this one just feels mean-spirited. Maybe we're all following Trump's bad behavior without realizing and/or admitting it?
3
Think back to mock Congress events once held in high schools, conducted with dignity and great solemnity, back when the halls in DC were really "hallowed." Now flash forward to present reality, with the Adams Family occupying the White House, and with clowns and sycophants running riot in Congress. As Mr. Trump would say: "Disgraceful."
15
Gail Collins writes very well and is really funny. However her black humour cannot be funnier than the reality she writes about. I almost died laughing when I read your president's claim that he would have rushed in, unarmed, to tackle the Florida shooter.
30
We can only hope that in a fit of confused pique, Trump fires himself.
363
Please hurry, Mr. Mueller.
32
If you sup with the devil, you need a long spoon.
10
ll those spelling and grammar errors happen because he HATES being told what to do: He has clearly turned autocorrect off, and is too arrogant to reread before he hits “Send”! After all, he thinks he is God!
19
Somewhere in the darkest reaches of Hades, Richard Nixon must be smiling.
"See, I wasn't so bad, was I?"
71
I feel certain that "Mr. Magoo" began planning his lifelong assault on voting rights while he was in the womb, so I for one am quite pleased that he's having a hard time of it. What's really strange is that he thinks he has integrity! I'm betting we see him go down with the ship.
29
Well-said.
6
Mr. Sessions might survive Trump simply because he technically recused himself from "campaign" matters instead of just Russian junk. However, my guess, Mr. Session spends his days "writing list of who is he is afraid of and crossing out the names of people afraid of him" as AG. Sessions was always underwater with the Trump crowd because the 5th Avenue NYC mindset overwhelmed him and made him an unlikely, undeserving co-conspirator sucked up in a whirlwind of craziness and campaign criminality, eg, payoffs of porn stars and rubbing elbows with whomever walked through Trump Towers. My guess is that the AG UNWHITTINGLY was photographed with a Russian spy or two while passing in the lobby of the skyscraper.
6
Gail:
Thanks again for reminding us who a minority of voters electorald POTUS.
And please tell your colleague David B. that it is government and law that matters.
Not his concept of a “left wing victory” in the “culture war”, whatever that means.
It sounded near the old (you know what you know whos) who “run Hollywood” have been able to “win” - though they’re all gone along with Old Little Roy.
The election showed who has won the “culture wars” Russian spies and the @right, who have pushed this country so far to the right that there’s no left left visible above the horizon.
People who a decade ago would never doubt the public prints now believe only gossip on Facebook and Twitter.
OK, people don’t care anymore who people like Mr. Cohn slept with.
But the still want their AR-15’s, which is a little more important.
5
In the words of that despicable liar Sarah Sanders head honcho of the Ministry of Untruth: "What others call chaotic, we call success". Right out of Orwell's 1984 doublespeak. And of course, all his brainwashed adoring base is in perfect agreement because this is how they think Trump will Make America Great Again.
52
It is enlightening to read these letters. Keep up your vitriol. Your disdain for the common man comes through so clearly. Why do you think Trump won in the first place? Do you think your liberal elitist policies have helped the workers in this country. You all just sound like an echo chamber.
2
Trump is apparently becoming "unglued" from the stress of ....... well, you name it.
And Robert Mueller is now closing in on him and his family for real.
Buckle up folks; this is about to get really crazy -- and ugly.
30
Give the president a break, Gail! Even The New York Times makes mistakes! Just look at the corrections list for March 3: In the obituary for a member of the Bush dynasty The Times invented a new city in Connecticut called Lakeview. What did The Times do about it? The Times corrected it. And for a columnist like you who loves fragmentary sentences, one might be a little less critical. Just saying.
You can call out the president for using Twitter to conduct foreign diplomacy. You can call him out for using Twitter to bully people. Misspellings that are corrected are not really fair game. Unless you are in the profession of piling on. Even when there are so many things to pile.
3
brave-oh, because what else is there
1
Behind that impish, elfish, I do declare southern facade is a rascist, bigoted, mean spirited man. Feel sorry for Jefferson Beauregard Sessions? Never!
But there are other people who have had otherwise solid lifetime reputations that are now soiled in the Trump filth as a result of their association with the devil in the White House. McMaster, Kelly, Tillerson and so on and so on.
I believe if it came down to his own children, and the choice was him or them, Trump would throw them under the bus. Only he might briefly shed a tear while doing so.
17
Personally, I can't wait for the update to the story of the forged Nobel peace prize nomination to show it was humpty-trumpty who nominated himself...twice! Even better than the cover of Time....and Obama got the prize!
18
After all, he used to interview himself under a pseudonym.
12
I can't wait to find out who forged the Nobel Peace prize either! I thought I was the only one, lol.
5
Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III has brought no integrity to the AG's office. He has reversed many of Eric Holder's initiatives to treat non-whites more fairly and keep them out of prison for indefinite periods of time. He is terrorizing every non-citizen in the country, legal or illegal. He is an unrepentent racist; ruthless as only a Southern white bigot can be. And he knows how to brown-nose his boss as well as anyone under Trump's thumb. Like a Timex watch, he takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'. The only reason I hope he does not resign is to protect Mueller. But I'd rather Sessions was handcuffed than left free to find other unwarranted punishments to mete out.
19
"Sycophancy isn’t as easy as it looks."
ROFL! If that isn't the best line you've ever written I don't know what is.
Thanks for brightening up a dreary Saturday morning at 0545.
9
A truly revealing story re Roy Cohn/Donald Trump goes that Trump rewarded Cohn for his years of loyal service by (1) buying Cohn a fabulously expensive piece of jewelry and (2) allowing Cohn to live rent-free in a Trump hotel as he lived out his last days, dying from cancer, in relative poverty.
Heart warming story, huh? Except when his family went to sell the jewelry, it turned out to be fake. And, after Cohn died, Trump took a business deduction for providing the living space for Cohn on his death bed. If you made this stuff up, nobody would believe it.
40
Bolt of lightning...
4
I write my reps almost daily asking how much is too much before they show some spine and denounce this nut job and all the corruption. I still haven't heard... I guess it's a head-scratcher.
17
Do you condemn the three million newly employed as fawners, too? Isn't this like calling Americans ''deplorables'' and illegal immigrants as ''dreamers?''
Did you also call Rachel Dolezal ''black'' and Sen. Warren a Native American?
BUT I do loudly admit before all present that Gail & friends ARE qualified to discuss Sycophancy As An Art Form. During the economic drudgery that was the Obama administration, the NY Times-ers brought real depth to being tools and partners of one political belief.
Sessions deserves Trump.
15
Remember your three Rs
Repealing and replacing republicans
Dave
P.S. That elephant is looking more and more like a dodo bird.
15
Trump trump is going off the deep end. I hope someone can stop him before he nukes a country out of anger. Where is Ryan and McConnel ??? BV
5
From watching Jeff Sessions testify at the Senate Intelligence Committee heats, we can conclude that He is a great actor. We watched the little pixie grow wide eyed with faux indignation when Senators Franken and Harris questioned his “memory lapses.”
But I suspect that Jeff is much more afraid of what Robert Mueller could unleash than he is by being humiliated by a 71 year old blowhard having yet another temper tantrum. So Jeff is turning in his performance of a lifetime, at least in public. He’ll continue to play the bootlicker role on stage. Wounded pride is a better choice than prison.
10
I love that President Trump hates California.
We have a terrific governor and a real leader, Jerry Brown, a Democrat.
We have the world's 6th largest economy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_California
We have the capital of entertainment in Hollywood, which is also the leader in entertainment in the world.
We are the innovators in technology in Silicon Valley and Silicon Beach.
We provide a majority of the agriculture in this country:
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/explainer/2013/07/calif...
We have some of the best public universities in the world in our UC system.
We have figured out how to get things done by changing our rules so in the state primaries, the candidates who get the most votes are picked for the run off. This has stopped the gridlock in our state legislature because we have voted, overwhelmingly, to get rid of Republicans. From governor to attorney general, our representatives are Democrats. In the state senate, it's 27 Democrats and 13 Republicans. In the state assembly, it's 55 Democrats and 25 Republicans.
Maybe he hates California because he never won an Emmy, even though Apprentice was nominated 8 times?
But, I have a feeling that this is the reason he hates us:
Hillary Clinton 8,753,788 votes, 61.5%
Donald J. Trump 4,483,810 votes, 31.5%
It's okay with us, Ms. Collins, because the feeling is obviously mutual.
61
Just for the record. He doesn't like New York City too much either....and this is his home-town!
20
Mr Sessions has goals of his own to get through before the president is done with him: There are those pesky LGBT people and their absurd demands for equal rights; not to mention the disenfranchised poor and black people who think they have the right to vote, or immigrants who need rounding up, and who can forget that marijuana is still a highly dangerous drug which must be stamped out, joint by joint. Arm the teachers, give tanks to the cops, that’s what Mr Sessions wants. All the while looking like a crazed Bilbo Baggins searching for that magic ring with which to rule us all...!
16
Should Kushner feel hurt
After dropping to "Russian
Spy" clearance level?
9
Gail,
I will finish the column in a sec.
Had to stop reading and thank you for the laugh at Jared Kushner's expense.
'But really, it's only a matter of time before he has to go back to his private career of failing at real estate development'.
Mic drop.
20
Are we supposed to feel sorry for the people who work for Trump? They knew how stupid, racist, misogynistic he was when they became part of his circle
21
I don't feel sorry for Jeff Sessions. The man is an abomination. And as far as I'm concerned -- he's reaping exactly what he has sown. That's what happens when you sell your soul...if he ever had one to begin with.
And for all intensive purposes, the same can be said about everyone else who has passed through and out of the White House gates under this administration.
Calumny and public humiliation from this president's mouth, or tweets is only common the trait that binds them all in the end.
But back to Jeff Sessions.
How is it possible to feel any kind of pity for a man who so willingly succumbs to this kind of behaviour repeatedly?
It's hard to believe he didn't know about Trump's track record before signing on for the job. And it's even harder to imagine that he didn't know about Trump's connection to the nefarious Roy Cohn -- even I knew about that.
If Mr. Sessions has any gumption, or an iota of self-respect left, he'll get out of Dodge before it goes down in flames.
But the damage is already done to his name, to the U.S. Justice Department and to our country.
Disgraceful.
8
Trump could be put out of office if everyone in the White House, from cooks to maids to high level staffers, simply quit and walked away.
3
There was an old man from Queens
Who says not what he means
I want more power
Beyond my own tower
So nothing is as it seems
10
Gradually former President Bush doesn't seem so bad. In fact, I kinda like him. Amazing. As for Sessions, a man with a record of bigotry and stupidity, I find myself feeling a little sorry for him. He doesn't look like Mr. McGoo, but he does sort of resemble a Keebler elf. All things are relative I guess.
Trump is the virtual President. I believe the next person he ought to fire is himself.
Hillary was right that he was backed by deplorables such as Putin and the white supremacists, but Trump is the most deplorable of them all. He is an odious traitor to American values and to the constitution. Every day of his administration is a rebuke on our democracy.
14
This president is the wimpiest in living memory ... you get him in a room alone and he buckles like an old pair of shoes. Over and over again, when he's in front of a friendly crowd he proclaims bold (if insane) policies, and then after a one on one meeting, it's all forgotten and he's doing and saying as he was directed. So sad, so pathetic.
16
Did Ms. Bondi's check get paid? Yet?
4
I'm telling you, he said 'steel' but he means 'steal'.
9
You'd think a man whose vocabulary is limited to about 100 words, with a maximum of 2 syllables each, would at least know how to spell them all!
14
A standard piece of 'fashion' advice encourages an individual who wants to improve his appearance to surround himself with obese or physically unattractive friends. Sessions's experience demonstrates that this recommendation also applies in the realm of ethics and morality. Despite his harsh stances on the punishment of drug users, the expulsion of illegal aliens and the protection of minority voting rights, the attorney general's reputation seems to have benefited from the protective covering provided by the behavior of his mercurial boss.
One of the many ironies that helps to define this administration involves the willingness of liberals to defend the actions of an attorney general whose policies they loathe. For Americans who cherish the ideal of a humane government that protects the rights of its most vulnerable citizens, Sessions's tenure as attorney general represents the triumph of a dystopian vision of the state. His refusal to convert the Justice Department into a tool of Trump's malevolence, however, has forced liberals to celebrate him as a bulwark in defense of the rule of law.
Such is the dilemma imposed by the presidency of a man devoid of commitment to any cause greater than that of his own ego.
13
Is there such a thing a Clinton fawners; Obama ingratiators; Schumer supplicants; Pelosi panderers; Lear luvvies, his daughters, Gomeril/Regan;
a list acolytes; having arrived at what appears to be a very normal state of
human affairs, crooking the knee to power, one could go on but as the list is endless...so, best not to.
2
In my career I only worked under one boss that had Trump like leanings---not as severe--and he had areas he was competent in. Having said that, if I could offer advice to all those now in Trump's employment circle---get out--that was one of the best decisions I made in my career.
15
This disgraceful (!) Trump era would be so much less stressful if Gail Collins would write every day . I'd rather chuckle than weep.
19
What I find most delicious about the Sessions-Trump "feud," is that when Trump appointed Sessions to be his AG, Trump ended up virtually giving away Sessions' Senate seat to a Democrat.
Well, you all know what Karma is, folks!
19
" got picked for their jobs because they appeared to worship the ground Donald Trump walked on." Another condition is no self-esteem or dignity. Some of them seemed to have had some brain power but the pursuit of power diluted it. The rest of us will forget as soon as a worse president gets elected (remember George W.) but this crowd will be always hunted by the trumpist mini-meism.
2
The President, who said his administration and cabinet was the most qualified in history lied once again, what a surprise. And when any of them dare oppose him or feign an attempt at picking Country over Trump he becomes agitated and does what he does best rages, obfuscates and blames. Funny how so many who were once so smart and so loyal are now in his " doghouse". This is a man who has made enemies wherever he has been and often fleeced them as well. Any wonder when those who were once loyal, devoted and fawning are cast away and trod upon like the wrapper of one of his big Macs they cooperate against him? When will America finally wake up and turn against Trump and move him out of the White House into the Big House where he belongs?
11
No one leaves without a knife in their back.
17
Trump has a quick mind! There is absolutely no one on the planet that can turn on another human, (politician, friend, relative) faster than the big guy.
How does the pothead murderer, Sessions think he can last when Trump is ready to do away with Jared K. and the little girl. I'm sure their decapitations will take place behind closed doors. Too, he doesn't seem to be that fond of Putin anymore.
Trump seems to be confused at this juncture. He's even concerning himself with real world issues like gun control and international trade agreements. Whether he makes the right choices or not may not be as important as the fact that we can put our nation's issues in the spotlight and actually work on resolving them.
Wishful thinking, naivete on my part?????
Do you think all that obsequious talent was ignorant of their predictable futures or did they think a few months in the limelight was well worth all that bowing down and lying through their teeth.
8
I'll say it again.
Donnie really, really wants to fire Jeff, but someone has convinced him that would be.....SAD.
So, he hopes to pressure Jeff to resign, Jeff has enough and says he's going home, then Donnie can say "See, I did not fire him", then either Christie or Giuliani gets the job, then it is goodbye Rosenstein, goodbye Mueller, goodbye Russian witch hunt.
3
The next step for the large, ignorant child that is somehow our leader is to jail journalists, or otherwise try to silence the press. I refuse to allow this wannabe tinpot dictator whose mob family is lining up at the trough and whose idol is Vladimir Putin to take my country from me and divide it among his oligarch cabinet and his Russian creditors.
We can do better. Resistance is our only choice. In the streets, in the voting booth, in the courts, with our wallets. We can’t look to our useless elected officials, they think only of the next election. It is left up to us to find better health care, higher wages, more opportunity, clean water, less oppression. Pay attention. Resist.
24
Perhaps Sessions really believes that he is acting with integrity and doing his job properly according to the law and the Constitution.
But with this administration, what one believes and what is actually happening are like the difference between a dark room and one with LED lights.
4
The failure of congress to act on important issues, firearm regulations just being one, has vested too much power in the office of the president. We fail to remember that congress writes and proposes all legislation and the president either signs to vetoes it. Congress will not put forth any gun regulations because the Republican party for the most part does not want them. The Democrats will not because some are concerned about the voters and the rest are determined not to let Trump succeed on an issue that Obama failed on miserably. With respect to the Dreamers issue, Obama had a Democrat controlled House and Senate for his first two years in office. He failed to put forth a plan to resolve this issue because he is afraid of confrontation and he did not have any more control of the Democrat party than Trump does of the Republican party.
1
People, pay attention! This is just another iteration of the most astoundingly inept administration in our nation's history. Your children will someday tell their own grandchildren that they were alive during the Trump years and watched as he flailed and floundered, raged and roared ineffectually. They won't believe the stories but by then you'll be able to point to a thousand learned books from incredulous historian's documenting the carnage.
And you were there! It will be almost religious-like hearing a World Wat Two vet tell of distant battles and battlefields.
9
Trump promised to clean up the swamp when he got to Washington. Turns out Mr. Clean isn't very good at that job, or much of anything really. For most Presidents there's a phrase or sentence that stands out, one that history ascribes to their time in office, like FDR's "we have nothing to fear but fear itself" or JFK's "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country". We haven't heard the last of Trump, and it's too soon to feel much in the way of sympathy, but I can't think of a phrase that better sums up his presidency so far than "who knew it could be so complicated".
16
Having once offered to resign as AG to the president, who refused to accept it to further torment his plaything, Jeff Sessions seems to have a new lease on life. He had the stones to tell the president that he will serve as the AG with integrity and honor, qualities that wouldn't register with the Chief Executive. Sessions' statement was a defiant push back at his boss who may not realize that the AG is nearing the end of his tether.
Sessions and Rex Tillerson still serve this administration, although the president has expressed public displeasure with both men. They may not fawn over the president like they used to do, but they're both happy to be the president's doormats at the expense of their self-esteem.
Sessions would do well to look at the example of the recently-departed Hope Hicks, who left the White House on her own terms. Instead of fawning over her boss, she said goodbye and walked out. It's too bad that Sessions doesn't have it in him to flip off the president. He really is a glutton for punishment.
2
Trump is a blowhard. We all know the type. Rule 1 is to filter out the nonsense and focus on what matters. I consider the fawning to be nonsense. As for the impeachment investigation, that matters.
5
As a rule, pictures of Trump rally participants constitute prima facie evidence that white folks have no monopoly on intellect, judgement or common sense.
I abashedly confess to being 'technically' a member of that group.
9
When I wrote about columnists whose views were so predictable they were hardly worthwhile reading anymore, I included Ms. COLLINS, whose anti Trump tirades get in the way of her ability, long gone in my view, to make us laugh, which is why she was hired by the Times newspaper.What has happened to humor?Collins is beginning to sound like Jimmy Kimmel who is fed his "jokes " by aides to Sen. Schumer.Last time I laughed at Kimmel was almost a generation ago when he appeared on a Sunday pre NFL games analysis show with Terry Bradshaw. Worst thing any comedian can do is to take himself or herself seriously as a spokesman for a party, a cause. Schumer should not be providing lines for Kimmel or any other comedian, but apparently he is.What is it about the Left that has led them to believe that Trump and his followers are unintelligent and do not have the nation's well being and security at heart? RR faced the same problem, regarded as a mere actor lost without a script, but who was active in politics all of his adult life, first as a New Deal liberal, then as a Republican governor who served 2 terms followed by 8 years in WH..Recall jokes about "Richard Nixon dumb waiter in the WH"during Kennedy years. Yet RN was regarded as a "man of destiny"by De Gaulle h who relegated JFK to status of a "second class hairdresser!"Note that Jerry Seinfeld avoids political commentary like the plague. yet is more popular than ever!
Time for the 25th Amendment now?
7
All right already everyone, please stop focusing on his calling his AG "Session." My big thumbs make plenty of typos on my phone's keyboard (though I'm obsessive enough to backspace and correct them), and there are comments to this Op-Ed that misspell that name, too.
There are plenty of awful things Trump has done that need to be addressed without the meaningless distraction of a typo.
1
Let's not forget the fawnfest to beat all fawnfests--the one where our president gathered all his lieutenants (never mind the stars on several shoulders) for a show of Sycophants on Parade. It would be hard to say which was the most excruciating--the extent to which these grown men (sans McMaster) were willing to publicly sacrifice their self-respect at the feet of their Dear Leader or the neediness on such public display of the grown man who demanded it.
You might almost feel sorry for such a sad little man whose damaged psyche requires such regular doses of public adulation--and who has self-destructively so abused his fawners that so many have either been pushed or driven off the bridge too far. But then you see the terror in those needy eyes, flailing for a "fix" and tossing his dwindling base a trade war purely in hopes of their roar of adoration. And you remember that this desperate--and likely cornered--little man has been entrusted with the nuclear codes.
With McMaster' impending departure, I find myself searching the roles of the motley crew of remaining fawners for someone with sufficient strength of character to stop our sad excuse for a president before he wags the glow-in-the-dark dog. How terrifying it is to be grabbing at such weak and slender reeds.
12
Sessions talking about "integrity and honor" is laughable. The man endorsed Trump, a man with no integrity nor honor, and is hanging on to the job he coveted, the many insults that Trump has hurled at him notwithstanding.
If Sessions had any integrity or honor left, which is highly doubtful, he'll resign posthaste and release a statement castigating the POTUS for his persistent efforts to turn DOJ into his personal law firm. I'm not holding my breath waiting for this to happen, but it would be nice.
7
The thought that Attorney General Sessions would earn support and sympathy from anybody concerned with constitutional democracy and the rule of law is astonishing. The fact that this has occurred speaks volumes more about the unfathomably low depth of regard for the current president than it does for any redemption of Jeff Sessions.
Notwithstanding the recent spine-stiffening of the US Attorney General, his history, even his recent actions as AG, precede him just as they ever did. ICE agents are still tricking immigrants into revealing themselves so that they can be arrested and deported. States rights are still being dismantled on matters related to marijuana.
Perhaps the president's unrelenting public humiliation of the Attorney General has angered Sessions enough to fight back. If go, good for him. As with so many things, the president has only his own intemperance to blame for his AG's suddenly inconvenient stance on principle.
But let us not be fooled. Yesterday's Jeff Sessions is today's Jeff Sessions who will be the same Jeff Sessions tomorrow.
8
I know this isnt nice, but Mikie Pence would have been the perfect foil for Don Rickles. All he has to do is stand there with a half smile and take a few slaps. The comedy team of Rickles and Pence!
1
"It is a small mind indeed that can think of only one way to spell a word". President Andrew Jackson a notoriously poor speller but a dueling war hero and Trump idol.
While Trump avoided war he fights duels by tweets. Trump silently pines for his beloved Vladimir Putin. But Putin does not return his fawn pawn Trump's love. Bears eat fawns.
7
Despite his many flaws, Sessions is doing the country a true favor by staying. If he were to resign, Trump could appoint an AG who would supervise Mueller - no need to recuse. That is why Trump tries to embarrass him into resigning. Sessions is the one wall Trump has managed to build.
2
Is Hope lost or only a Spring and Summer away? Hope might be gone from the WH but not in the hearts and minds of millions of US citizens who feel as though they're caught in a bad dream or good political thriller. As the snow thaws, ice melts and sun warms hope becomes less tenuous and more coherent and tangible. And because of my literary sensibilities, I can only wax poetic when I watch Hope exiting the building. If there had been ANY, it's gone now and we are held captive, witnesses to a horror that no one could have imagined, until Hope returns or after we vote and tally up those returns and regain what has been lost.
2
Hard to believe what we have done to our government. A man like Trump bent on destroying our democracy. A man like Sessions canonized for standing up for the Rule of Law. Who could predict the madness?
A bright spot surfaces in that our young people are fed up and working now to fix the problem. Teens running for Governor of Kansas. Parkland students creating a nationwide protest against what the supposed 'adults' have done to our country.
Democrats gaining a bigger presence in both local and national political slots. The GOP is clueless and may just crash and burn in November.
Some bright spots, including Mueller and the investigation. We can continue to hope.
7
Ms. Collins surely knows the answer to the question she ends her column with. For the benefit of those who have not been wasting their time following Trump's stupidities and vengeful actions, let me spell out the answer. All three were "canned" because they refused to join the "Trump Fawners" brigade; and because they were involved in investigating Trump's Russia connections -- both political and business-related.
Why hasn't Mr. Trump fired AG Sessions as yet? I can hazard a few guesses: The first one is that Mr. Sessions knows something from Mr. Trump's shady past, which he is holding as a trump card. Trump is afraid that he would play the card at the most opportune moment. He knew full well that would mark the death knell for his presidency and business empire. The best way to avoid that risk, Mr. Trump thinks, is to keep humiliating Mr. Sessions so he would quit on his own. But to Trump's regret, Sessions proved to be too thick-skinned to be humiliated.
Another guess I would venture is that Mr. Sessions knows that the Mueller team is close to completing its investigation, leading to Mr. Trump's impeachment; and that his position as attorney general would be safe under Vice President Pence who would automatically succeed Mr. Trump.
Fully convinced that this is the last stop in his political life, Mr. Sessions is clinging to what he has, ignoring the humiliations Mr. Trump is heaping upon him.
2
why do we seek as defensible
Sessions who is reprehensible ?
We have surrendered
To One who has rendered
Both honor and loyalty
Nonsensible.
4
Never mind Sessions becoming an ersatz-sympathetic figure, which is disgusting enough to contemplate. What about Trump himself? In one of the last things I read before Trump's election shocked the world, a pundit described his campaign as being on hospice care, merely focused on making the candidate as comfortable as possible before the inevitable end. With Hope on her way out, and Jarvanka soon (?) to follow, it feels as if another hospice moment is upon us. This time, however, the patient needs to have the decency to transition on to the next world, whatever that looks like for Trump. Does anyone really think he will be able to survive another three years without his human wubbies? I don't see how he can. Maybe Mueller and a Democratic Congress will put him out of his misery--if he can hold on even that long.
4
Enjoyed this column, Ms. Collins. And still...The GOP Congress may be internally agonizing, by they are standing by their man, with only a whimper coming from a couple of them who aren't running again.
The Wednesday night dinner of Sessions, Rosenstein, and Francisco, so strategcally photographed gave me hope. I hope it was meant to do so. The three stalwart DOJ amigos: just as long as they weren't dining at the Trump Hotel.
4
Nobody wants to lose insider tips on what economic catastrophe trumps words will cause. That's probably why Sessions stays "put."
Follow the shorts and follow the options trading. No way someone is not making $$$ here...too bad the SEC is controlled by these criminals,,,
4
“Consider the White House. Stuffed with people who got picked for their jobs because they appeared to worship the ground Donald Trump walked on.”
These days mark a contemptible time that will be relegated to the dustbin of American history.
“Hmm, what do all those offices have in common?” Aside from posing threats to Trump, none of these people were appointed by him. Trump won’t fire anyone he appoints because it will eat away at his innate narcissism – that he could have made a bad choice, that he is a bad judge of people.
These op-ed columns are important. As Dr. Seuss said: “Nonsense wakes up the brain cells. And it helps develop a sense of humor, which is awfully important in this day and age. Humor has a tremendous place in this sordid world. It’s more than just a matter of laughing. If you can see things out of whack, then you can see how things can be in whack.”
Keep on whacking, Gail Collins. Trumpworld is a vast collection of overstuffed piñatas, at your disposal.
3
Mike Pence, hands down. His servile body language and his adoring gaze bring to mind a sixty-something gay man trying not to ogle some young Adonis too overtly. Trump has said worse things of Putin than Pence has even hinted about Trump. But Pence knows what he's doing. God has been instructing him on every detail.
10
Gail, you are having us reply in verse!
Roses are red, violets are blue,
Ivanka, Jared, Donnie & Eric too,
Will join their dad,
Wearing orange jumpsuits.
2
you cannot work for Trump and have honor and integrity
Sessions will hang on because won't give Trump the satisfaction
wil demand he be fired.
Trump wants fealty not loyalty.
and you must be willing to lie for the Very Stable Genius
2
Sycophancy can be easy as it looks. All it takes is years of practice.
2
The sycophants, the yes-people of our legislature - include most of the GOP senators and representatives. But Trump himself is not free of this humiliating offering of one’s self to another. Putin, who has impacted our elections, who has helped arm the N. Koreans, who showed bombs destroying Floridia has DT without one tweet saying “yes” to the Russian master.
3
Nope--sorry. I will never feel any sympathy for Jefferson [Davis] Sessions.
He is willing to put up with any humiliation heaped on him by the disaster currently inhabiting the White House in exchange for being able to implement as many racist, regressive policies as possible in the next 3--7 years.
When he completes his term as A.G., we'll be lucky if the 1st, 4th, 5th, 13th and 19th Amendments haven't been abolished.
2
How long do we have to wait for responsible Republicans to speak up loud and clear?
If this does not happen soon then we are in deep!
Make no mistake, this is serious!
2
Who knew that being President was such a challenging position? Siri can spell? "Siri for President in 2020".
Trump is right he really does need a fixer. Jeff sessions just does not measure up or in this case down to the presidents ideal. Now who is out there that is a real fixer. Hmmm. Ted Cruz looks a lot like joe McCarthy minus 50lbs but they can’t stand each other. Don king? Naw. Too old. Let’s see. Newt Gingrich. Yes. He will double speak them into circles and while they’re eyes have glazed over he will perform magical slight of hand on constitution. Yes yes.
2
Very Stable Genius promised the best and brightest.....see how that turned out.
Mr Fire And Fury promised to take care of North Korea but instead starts a trade war with South Korea (our friend and ally) that in the end hits the pocketbooks of everyday Americans.
I’m exhausted from all this winning.
VOTE in November
3
Trump speaks just like a neighbor nearby. She say, 'until we find out what the heck is going on blah, blah, blah' Constant word salad. She can focus her thoughts occasionally, though.
If this isn't Alzheimer's I'll eat my hat. I've been around elderly people a lot over a 40 year career in nursing, and I know dementia when I hear it.
7
Gail, it will be so great when you can devote your acidic wit to actual and serious problems. Constantly evaluating a circus must be tiresome although you are great at making the best of it. I am 71 and I could be dead before this destructive farce is over but I hope it will end soon so you can move on to more interesting topics.
1
While Putin was announcing the mother of all nuclear bombs Trump was tweeting insults about Alec Baldwin. Heavy thinker there.
483
Where is the betting pool for the date when at least 50% of all original white house staff have been fired, resigned or quit in disgust?
6
I lose. I would have bet they already had.
4
Ms. Collins, if you wrote this piece in response to that bizarre one from yesterday by Smith and Eisen (“Why Sessions Is Rights to Stand Up to Trump), I say thank you. I found it just too bizarre to read the comments from all those people complimenting Jeff Sessions. Or You-made-your-bed Sessions as I call him. Integrity and honour? In my world, that would mean one thing: resign. But we have seen this again and again. John McCain, ex-war hero, loser, coward, NRA bagman (I get confused, admittedly) ultimately coming back into the Trump tent to make sure he got elected. Mitt Romney – blistering attack one day/hugging the pillow the next – the same thing. In some ways it's like The Office – how many insulting things does Todd Packer get to say/do before he is dropped as a friend by Michael Scott. Which eventually happened, BTW, but the bad news is that it took almost 8 years.
46
Hmm, what do all those offices have in common?
Only three words: "Lock him up!"
54
Gail, Jeff Sessions a sympathetic figure ??? Sure, compared to Stalin's henchmen or perhaps Pol Pot. Otherwise, no. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, made his own bed, with the specialized, highly customized Dixie Flag Comforter. I will personally never, ever feel sorry for any unrepentant and obvious racist, as long as we both shall live. Which brings us to the Trump Regime, in part, and in total. No person, man, woman or beast, could ever serve the Flim Flam " man " and have an ounce of integrity remaining in their Soul, after one week. In fact, there MUST be a soul removal process as part of the Oath, the swearing in ceremony. We already know they are heartless, being members of the GOP/ NRA Party.
As for brains, let's get real. Many dissertations will be written, in a polite academic fashion, rating the intelligence levels of the Trump acolytes. Here's the short version: Rick Perry is merely average. Think about THAT.
68
The so-called president likes Bondi because, like himself, she's in the thrice-married club. It's such an important achievement to Donald that he did fellow member Newt the favor of sending the third Mrs. Gingrich off to the Vatican to play ambassador. Having helped Newt cheat on wife No. 2 must have been considered proof for the pope of her devout Catholicism.
52
Trump likes Bondi because as Florida AG she got him out from under some sticky wicket litigation over the little matter of Trump University--in exchange for a generous contribution to her re-election campaign, of course. By Trumpian standards that no doubt makes her especially well qualified to take over for Jeff Sessions.
5
Trump seems to be fixated on the word "disgrace" these days, like an old lady with anger management issues. Maybe because he can spell it.
39
LS....'dis-grace' is one of the core polysyllabic words that Trump feels comfortable with, so he's flaunting his mastery of it; his Neanderthal voter base is deeply impressed.
47
Same 8th grade nun as we had.
if there's a higher power - show us a sign!
Stroke. - Cancer
23
Nothing would refresh the US more spectacularly than getting over its absurd projections of an empathic human personality onto the automatic processes of nature.
1
He runs into a high school and falls down the stairs.
4
Bold of lightning...
1
Anyone working for or with Trump is a flat out traitor. Collaborators. Exploiters.
They wouldn't blink an eye if every beach had oil rigs in view, or every national park was sold to the highest bidder, or if your grandmother died because they destroyed Medicare.
They should all be arrested and tried for "crimes against humanity." They are menaces to civil order and decency.
79
I remember 2008.
I remember 2012.
I remember 2016.
Now I remember 1970 and Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi":
"Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone..."
52
Ms. Hicks and Mr. Sessions (a/k/a "Mr. Magoo") along with others who knowingly aided and abetted the forces of evil, specifically Russian operatives during the election campaign and the cover-up for the so-called adoption meeting at Trump tower, will face a reckoning. Trump is an unreliable, unhinged sugar daddy who may or may not pardon them, opting for a coin toss: heads you're free. Tails, get a lawyer. Climbing into the devil's lair was always risky.
31
In the current circumstances of meltdown, trump might beware the Ides of March.
It might be punctuated by an "Et tu, Magoo?"
41
What d'you expect from Fawlty Towers, USA? With Basil Trump in charge anything can happen. But eventually this crazy show went off the air. Let's just look forward to that day and pray that it comes sooner rather than later.
21
Mr. Magoo is merely the latest comparison for Mr. Sessions, a man who seems to conjure "reminds me of's" the way Trump draws 'one of a kind-nesses." There's Henry Gibson of Laugh-in, the Burbs and others fame, Grannie Clampett, E.B. Farnum of Deadwood, and now Mr. Magoo. Ah, Wilbur...
11
trump and the rest of the cast of white house minions prove the Water Theory. Water seeks it's own level. trump's water was far below all the others that his cabinet and advisers were already descending the depths to get to his level.
this train wreck has been visible since the candidate explained the physical attributes of cantaloupe like appendages on our neighbors directly south of us.
in their constant drone of heading towards the cliff some insights into their futures. Hicks in a year or three will be comparing her black eye photos with the exes of her boyfriend. the bosses own daughter and hubby will slink off to irrelevance. scaramucci is warrant fodder for some district attorney. kelly will be reviled for many marine reunions to come.
as for the boss himself beautiful chrome plated bracelets will adorn his wrists.
flynn manafort carter and eventually the russians will be jettisoned by the GrOuP of the elephant party one day too late to save their hides. america will change rapidly as long as we all Vote.
17
Each day we are reminded how much of a spoiled brat the POTUS is. OMG! All that take his abuse apparently are masochist~ a person who enjoys an activity that appears to be painful or tedious. They have to be. I get they want power/fame but to take a beating at every turn~that is awful. When I read Michael Wolfe's book, I could picture trump yelling/bellowing at those that are not bowing to him. Session made a name for himself long before trump, he was a despicable person then, now he is being the fool for trump.
I am looking forward to the day this nightmare is over. And for all the books that will published! As an avid reader it will delightful.
11
'they appeared to worship the ground Donald Trump walked on. And now they’re getting trodden underfoot."
He dished it out at the gun violence meeting the other day! He worked the GOPers over. Hilarious! Grassley did a double take, Croney Cornin looked like someone had f__rted in church, and Pence looked like someone had told him his dog had died!
Chris Christie also was a very early backed and a gonner.
What a monumental irony if Jeff Sessions was the one to save the republic!??
8
But sycophancy IS easy. Its the nature of being a sycophant to grovel and be demeaned for it. Trump grinds up people for sport and without any care says whatever his great sense of his embittered voting core tells him they'll revel in. But, he knows or just senses from years of experience that there's always another Sessions or Spicer or whomever who will suffer one level or another of demeaning to be near power no matter how wretched . . . to grovel for Trump's . . . or Hitler's or Berlusconi's or go down the list of megalomaniacs over history, Yes, for outsiders seeing it and being repelled by it's almost incomprehensible. But, for Trump's embittered core, ready for exploitation by a long list of get-re-elected-at-any-price sycophant politicians living on making Trump-like baseless promises and other supplicants, it's "normal."
And, perhaps most to be feared, the sycophants and their followers are unlikely to go easily. Trump's expectations of obeisance as normal and his never ending supply of followers willing to deliver it to erase their often embittered sense of indignity cannot necessarily be expected, that when votes or indictments or whatever eventually go against him and them, to just say "well we lost. We'll just have to work harder the next time" and just walk away. Bitterness, sycophancy's natural cousin, is not easily given up.
3
What's happening California Mr. President? We're booming!
Please Texas, steal some more businesses...we're drowning in traffic!
21
Too bad there wasn't room to describe the way he canned Comey, which I'm sure you've done before but would have been a relevant reminder of the Fake President's cowardice.
12
I know I am supposed to be outraged, irate, frustrated ,that Democracy is sold so cheaply. But you, know what? I am just fatigued.
Last week I learned that Italy is re-considering Silvio Berlusconi. So what does that tell me? It tells me, just like an apocalyptic Groundhogs Day, to expect seven more years of Trump.
Yes, he is a clown. Yes, he is a narcissist. Yes, he is corrupt, and so is everyone surrounding him except for an occasional Sessions, who is inept, and a few advisors who have their heads on the block. I am certain he is bad for the nation, that his ranting just adds to the divisions that are ruining us.
But I also predict that Congress will do nothing, and the courts will do nothing and we are stuck with him. So how do I hold all that outrage for another 3 years only to watch us leap into the abyss all over?
12
Dear Gail,
You are the only thing keeping me going these days. I especially loved this quote: Perhaps you remember that Bondi refused to join in a multistate suit against Trump University, a decision which had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Donald had donated money to support her campaign.
The Guns Over People party are going to be taken down by a group of high school students from Parkland, Fl. Why? Because they represent the moral heart and soul of America. They speak truth to power and the status quo in Washington don’t have a clue. March 24 will send a message that America is not for sale!
#resist
#neveragain
#emmagonzalez
43
I'm expecting a presidential order to change "dying" to "dieing".
21
There aren't many companies looking to fill slots with ex-Trumpers. Fox News comes to mind for Hope Hicks, she's admitted white-lying and that's a necessary qualification for any job at Fox. Sessions could run for governor of Alabama and probably win. Kelly should have retired and got a job at a VFW hall running the bingo game.
Several of the Trump Univ alumni like Manafort, Page, Papadopoulos, etc. don't have the time to look for a job. Staying out of jail is a full time job for those slogs. I hope part of their sentences are community service jobs-picking up trash or washing police cars.
Then there's the others like Bannon, The Mooch, Priebus, Spicer, Lewandowski, Porter and more who are swelling the unemployment numbers.
No matter who works for this President they all leave dirty and disgraced. Of course, many of them go in dirty and disgraceful and only come out worse.
54
Sessions is vital to the President, for highlighting the manliness of his rages.
5
What a great burn of the hideous spectacle of this Whitehouse. Still, it's a comfort that the exiled and fired, disgraced and departed merely traipse off to interviews on Fox, or at worst, to home detention. A real despot would have them beheaded, or at least cast into a dungeon. My guess is that the little Yellowhammer, Jeff Sessions, will hang on to the end.
6
There's that old satiric folk song about a drunk lying in the gutter with a pig that ends in the great line:
".. you can tell a man who boozes, by the company he choses ... and the pig got up and slowly walked away."
All of Trump's pigs are running away as fast as they can, except those who have trapped themselves ... the dead-enders.
Sessions gets to join Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie in degradation. He shoulda stayed in the senate.
But take a look at the little Trumpers, like cockroaches when the light goes on ... running for a crevice before they get crushed.
Dan Donovan, congressman from Staten Island: he was a gaga Trumper. His chief claim to the office was that he was the DA who refused to indict Pantaleo, the guy who choked Garner to death. The previous Republican congressman was going to jail for tax evasion. That's the trifecta on Staten Island ... bada bing! We have a winner!
Donovan's got big problems, headed down the path of everybody who gets close to Trump. He's got Bay Ridge (Brooklyn) in his district and they are getting really mad. There are Republican women on SI who wish they hadn't voted for Trump ... and may well take it out on Donovan.
And then the cherry on top is that Grimm is out of jail and wants his seat back.
221 out of 966 of Donovan's campaign contributions came from Staten Island -- yes, similar ratios apply to Grimm and Max Rose, the likely Democratic opponent.
Time for the pig to get up and walk away.
14
Jeff Sessions may just be one of the most enigmatic men in Washington.
Opportunistic, sycophantic? Sure, after all, he is working for the Trump Administration.
But corrupt and treasonous? We will see.
Perhaps he realized early on that he was being led down a certain path. Perhaps a couple of meetings with Sergei Kislyak triggered an alert for him, or maybe someone cautioned him.
He did the right thing for the country when he was advised to recuse himself. Much that has come to light since then would, perhaps, have been swept under the rug if he had been loyal to Trump but disloyal to the rule of law.
I don’t much like his politics. But I don’t think the final chapter can be written about him.
24
It seems to me that you are overthinking this. Sessions cares only about his legacy, about returning to Alabama awash in praise and comfort.
THAT is why he won't quit. It would not fulfill the fairytale ending he envisions for himself.
3
Jeff Sessions, is one of the few in this cabinet, who has shown some integrity/ honor. I respect his recusing himself, staying, and refusing to let the President force him out. Because the President is looking for his Roy Cohn.
Who's getting "trodden underfoot" in the White House, Gail? Rats leaving a sinking sychophant ship aren't getting trodden, they're just getting out while the getting is good. Jeff Sessions who was the first senator to endorse His Yuge Ignorance is just another of Trump's not-Roy Cohns. We have witnessed Trump ragging on his Attorney General (amopng others of his appointments) for the past year - to what end? And the President is DISSATISFIED? What are we? Happy as oysters in front of the big Walrus with the red-tie and the Carpenter Paul Ryan? We AAT (Americans Against Trump) are so small and defenseless we're reduced to reading the original versions of the Twitter in Chief's misspelled Tweets? Isn't it "really great, really tremendous" that those who have left the S.S.Titanic instead of arranging the deck-chairs in First Class have resigned and not been fired? Hey, we AATs are grateful in these chaotic and frightening days for small favours.
20
Great column, Gail Collins, but you forgot the president's most reliable and enthusiastic sycophant, Himself. It's a close contest, but I think we can safely say that Donald J Trump is an even bigger admirer of "Trump" than "Putin", his "wouldn't it be nice if we were married" foreign role model.
16
re Sessions repeated obsequious humiliations.
One is reminded of the Kevin Bacon hazing scene from the movie Animal House. "Please,sir, may I have another."
10
I know a sixty year old with a severe case of Attention Deficit Disorder. She also appears to believe the world revolves around her and she can't understand why everyone doesn't always do want to do what she wants them to do.
She and the president have a tremendous amount in common. Chaos to them is like breathing is to us. They create it and blame others for it.
The president creates more chaos the more he is stressed. And he is very stressed these days so I believe the chaos will get worse until he is ether fired or he resigns.
35
Perhaps the A.G. knows he's helping to bring his own personal 'Lonesome Roads' back down to earth. He helped make Trump, now he wants to break Trump.
3
Nothing so diabolical. Sessions merely wants his legacy protected. He wants to retire with everyone back in Alabama worshipping him.
4
Comedy is great, in its place, but trump is no comedy, unless it's one "of errors".
10
the current trump administration makes the old jerry springer show look civilized and sophisticated. how much longer can this "one flew over the cuckoo's nest" moment last? i'm thinkin' another 7 years. ouch, bob.
9
The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, the acting attorney general and the F.B.I. director all had information that could bring down the president. Hence. they were fired.
However, there is a thing called karma. It may be awhile (it took over two years after the Watergate breakdown for Richard "I am not a crook" NIxon to resign), but it will catch up to the president eventually.
50
The thing never mentioned - where would Sessions go? What would he do?
He gave up being a senator in the only state that would have elected him - if he stops being AG he would just be an old racist, with no podium or power anymore. I think the only way he will go is when trump fires him, which probably won't happen because trump is too afraid of the consequences.
38
Bingo! Far too few people considering Jeff Sessions' behavior forget to look at it through his eyes.
2
I think SNL would hire him as consultant.
3
Another good one from Gail Collins!
Her comments, additional inside information and wit are always so enjoyable - terrific, fantastic, great as someone else with limited vocabulary would say? - in spite of the grave disaster we are living with whom she writes about. I wish we could read her more often! Cheers
18
"Jared Kushner is still hanging around — perhaps he doesn’t mind having a lower security clearance than some of the government janitors." I am just guessing, but I think the janitors are doing more valuable work than Jared is.
61
The janitors are doing an honest day's work. Can't say the same for Jared.
6
If Liddle Jeffie had physical attributes that matched those of the Florida AG, Trump would quite likely have seated himself between the two in spite of his displeasure with Sessions's failure to uphold Trumpian expectations and values. Perhaps if Trump had donated a 5- or 6-figure sum to Sessions's past campaigns, Jeff wouldn't be shut out in the cold. The 6-figure estimate is a bit high, though, to expect for Trump largesse to a politician. Those numbers are usually reserved for women of really great, magnificent...yuge...attributes that they are willing to shower the president with. Note: I'm not suggesting Sessions try this tack. Just saying.
Sessions is toast, regardless of what course he takes. I believe he will in the end get his druthers and be fired by Trump. Trump's explanation for the dismissal? Liddle Jeffie just failed to grow into the job.
6
I've been waiting for someone to do a totally over the top performance for the current President. Pulling from instructions of how a commoner would address Louis XIV I imagine someone like Bill Mahr prostrating himself at Trump's feet, rising to a knee and saying, "your magnificence and brilliance and stature and wisdom have been under reported. The sun, moon, stars, the entire universe is honored by your presence... " and continue in that vein to see if Trump would ever stop it.
2
Sessions will ride this train all the way to NoWheresVille, where he'll disembark into political nothingness. Intuiting this, he hangs on for dear life, his dreams of reinstating Jim Crow and repealing the 13th Amendment gone poof in the wind.
As a humorist, Gail finds herself in a literary predicament covering the regime. No level of hyperbole and/or embellishment casts anywhere near the effect that the reality of this Executive Freakshow provides by itself. Nope, while we continue to search for that mythic greatness that's supposed to be sewn into the fabric of our culture, we continue to be the laughing stock of the entire planet. No level of satire can top that.
13
I always appreciate your columns, but I don't see anything in the paper today about the horrors going on in Syria. Are we so distracted by our disgusting politics at home that we are ignoring the genocide going on in several places in the world?
7
PBS’ NewsHour covers the tragedy in Syria but you’re right, the antics of a 71year-old man-boy get more attention.
5
Critical as one can be of the choices and decisions made in the Bush II and Obama administrations, depending on one's ideological leanings, even the critics cannot credibly doubt that the people working in those administrations were patriots, and in it for love of country doing what they thought was right to serve the interests of their country. And that is THE single most depressing thing about the Trump administration: the appalling lack of patriotism. No, this president and his fawning inner circle serve but one interest, Trump, while they use their shameless press secretary to apply the same method used to grow mushrooms and by which corporations treat their boards of directors: keep them in the dark and covered with manure.
17
I keep asking myself, "what do they think of him now?" I'm not thinking of the run of the mill deplorable who doesn't know anything. I am talking about people like Clint Eastwood, Carl Ichann, John Paulson, Rex Tillerson and even, most remarkably, Mitt Romney.
Each day as Trump becomes more and more unhinged and wrecks even more and more havoc on American interests, does there ever come a point when they admit they have made the worst error in judgment they could ever commit by supporting a man like Donald Trump.
Surely they must see that he will take the whole system down? How do otherwise intelligent people come to these conclusions? I know for sure I'm not brilliant. How can they not see what is obvious to me?
34
I had not noticed that everyone Trump had fired was involved in (completely unrelated) investigations of Trump's ties to Russia. Trump is normally so inconsistent that this surely means something.
16
Trump would fire Eric Schneiderman if he could. Too bad, Donnie.
6
The Barnum and Bailey circus is now in the dustbin of history but fear not-the “president” provides us with more entertainment than all of the circuses combined.
We have the jugglers and the clown acts starring that wonderful reality television star from Queens and his side kick No Clearance Jared.
Enter the ringmasters Sara and KellyAnne with the lap dog Sessions and this show is ready for prime time.
To state this sad show is leadership in action is a stretch of the imagination.
But, the grifter from Queens is making this country great again.
In time many will use this sad part of our history as an example of a failure in leadership and governance, and Sessions will still be groveling and Trump will still be groping. Bondi should keep her distance.
3
Definitely not the Greatest Show!
Ask most senators and they will share their dislike of Sessions. The Senate had previously denied him a federal judgeship because of his racist views. Becoming a senator was sweet revenge, but the job of AG has been in J Beau’s sights for years, and he will hang on to it like grim death.
8
Trump's business history/scandals and his presidential campaign foreshadowed today's ongoing political crisis, yet we
granted him presidential power anyway.
Why do we hate our country?
9
This is a can of worms for Trump. Firing the attorney general exposes him to more obstruction of justice charges and bullying the man vindictively to force him to resign hasn't worked.
The worm may turn. Sessions exposed himself to perjury charges by lying under oath about his Russia contacts. He would be ripe for a Mueller deal to avoid prosecution and regain his dignity after the months if humiliation.
If Trump goes too far in making Sessions his punching bag, he may regret it. Loyalty may be bought but there can be an expiration date or an end clause as other defendants who have pled guilty including Gen. Flynn can attest.
And how long will Alabama watch its favorite son be treated like a despised laughingstock instead of a Southern gentleman and former senator?
3
I am loath to pick nits with Gail, but the $25,000 donation to Pam Bondi she references came from the Trump Foundation. I mention this only to emphasize the fact that, as usual, Trump took credit for something he himself did not pay for.
15
As comedic as most find Jeff Sessions to be, he is actually the boy with his finger in the dike, holding back the collapse of the American law enforcement structure. If he had done everything that 45 had commanded, we would be in much worse shape than we are; for the time being, Rosenstein and Mueller are being sheltered, as well as the IG's investigation.
Trump revealed himself completely with his Roy Cohn reference; anyone who thought that 45 is as pure as snow surely received a stern education when he cried out for his own legal fixer.
415
Yet there is a problem, simply that the majority of the base has no clue who Roy Cohn was. Yup, the uneducated are Trump's people.
14
Unfortunately, his base - and I do mean that in every sense of the word - don't notice and don't care. They want a bubba just like them. Sessions hasn't got integrity, he just wants to stay in power to deport all them there aliens.
12
When the dust settles and Trump is done, one has to wonder what those who deigned to "serve" in this administration* will do, can do, for an encore. What's below bottom? Oh, wait...
16
The MVP of Trump's team of sycophants has to be Mike Pence. (The award itself features a boot with a large tongue applied near the toe-cap.) Pence never misses an opportunity to publicly fawn over Trump's "inspiring leadership" and his tireless efforts on behalf of American workers.
Of course, it helps that Mr. Pence doesn't actually do anything, apart from giving speeches trashing Democrats while traveling abroad. It's easier to stay on the president's good side when you're not making decisions that he could perceive as affecting him in a negative way. And, since his own star was on a severe decline before Trump tapped him to be VP, Pence is smart enough to know that his fortunes are inextricably tied to the president and his base.
So, we won't be hearing any high-minded statements from Mike Pence about discharging his "duties with integrity and honor." He jettisoned both of those a long, long time ago.
283
Unfortunately, Pence IS doing things. He's breaking ties in the Senate. And he is the force behind the efforts to roll back LBGT rights, reproductive rights and the push to incorporate an extremist, right-wing form of "Christianity" into US law and public policy.
15
NA: Speaking of Pence, what actually does he do, besides staying within the safe shadow of Mother?
6
The inevitable pardoning , resigning and pardoning Don by the new President needs to happen soon.
16
What I'm looking forward to is the Trump reaction when Congress finally decides to hold an impeachment trial of Donald the Trump. Undoubtedly and indubitably it will be either the best comedy or the biggest tragedy of the century.
Bets anyone?
77
So far, it's felt like an overly long farce.
4
I'll bet the president's impeachment will be conducted entirely in song. After all, isn't Trump's story arc the same as in "The Music Man?"
2
Tragicomedy with a bit of farce.
So here we have played out in gory technicolor the vulnerability of a quasi-democracy, and it begs the question: can a democratically elected government operate on a higher moral level than its morally corrupt populace?
It is true that Trump lost the popular vote but broadly speaking We the People have allowed our corrupt gerrymandering and electoral college to rot away the core of democracy for more than two centuries, and nobody fantasizes that enough states will agree to ratify a constitutional amendment to abolish them.
Both Obama and Trump are accurate images of America, and my clinical diagnosis is that we have a schizophrenic nation careening into civil war. "A house divided against itself cannot stand" as somebody or other once said...
443
Trump is the shiny object distracting us from the painful realization that a very great number of our fellow citizens looked an a patently amoral man and pulled the lever to vote him into the Presidency. Trump will be gone at some point, but the people who voted him in will not. And now that they have identified themselves as craven enough to vote for a sham of a man like Trump, other "Trumps" are standing in the wings to tap into that huge voting block. Don't be surprised if the next Trump is better at demagoguery then this current ham fisted and in artful version.
The bigger question of the Trump episode is what does a country do when a large percentage of its electorate is ill educated, mired in resentment at social change most of us honor, and highly susceptible to the faceless voices of right wing radio stoking their fears? Who, by the way, control the primary process of one of the two major political parties running the country, thereby controlling the quality of persons sitting in many legislative chairs.
This is not an easily or quickly fixed problem. America is in very real danger of enduring a sustained period of political unrest that may well leave the fabric of our country significantly degraded.
This is where we are as a country.
33
What the people cannot decide concerning the government the government cannot decide concerning the people. Given the problems we face I had always thought this a rather depressing prospect. Given the government we have now I am reading Kant in a whole new light.
8
Abraham Lincoln -- Legislature, State of Illinois
3
Mister So-called President, who knows what you meant exactly, but I assure you we "know what's happening" out here far better than you.
That includes getting tired of the amount of taxes we pay that end up going to red states whose populace and politicians alike seem opposed to things we do, like trying to care for the environment and people.
I wonder if he even knows where the term "taxation without representation" comes from?
213
Wow! I just got it. Trump thought he was announcing tariffs on Steele. Richard Steele. Now I too am, like, really smart.
169
Really? I thought he was referring to Michael Steele! Or was it the Man of Steel?
2
Funny Steve, but the dossier's author's first name is Christopher, which is more James Bond-like.
3
Okay mate, but it's Christopher Steele.
3
Sessions doesn't give a lick about law and order. He is staying in order to retain the only source of power he has, to keep attached to the information pipeline in order to adjust his defensive strategy, to try to demonstrate to his future jailer Mueller how truly "law and order" he is, and to hope that Trump will either find a way out of this mess, or.... wield his pardon wand (as demonstrated by Trump's pardon of Joe Arpaio).
44
We have 'democratically' become an oligarchy, and that form of society sees money as leader. We are that. Greed for ourselves and our families is our motto; the Republicans themselves will tell you that 'tax cuts' are their main mission. And, by that I mean tax cuts for the richest, the oligarchs.
We're dumb enough citizens to somehow think billionaires and concentrated wealth is somehow 'good' for democracy. We're lazy enough to do absolutely nothing about the growing number of people hurting, suffering, in desperate ways.
We are not 'American the Beautiful', we are America of, by and for billionaires. We want riches and security (which in itself is not a bad thing, just bad if it's not spread around). So, if you got a job for $100,000 a year, you'd do just about anything to keep it. If your friend said tariffs may occur, you might sell steel-related stocks you have. If the President lied and cheated and fooled-around on his wife and bullied women and others and was just a truly, God-awful kind of human being, but he was your meal-ticket to millions of dollars, what would you do? Really, for millions?
We lust for wealth. That's our real problem. That keeps us from forming and cultivating a good and noble and honest and equitable and sacred society. Our greed trips us up.
Move left. Move towards the greater good, the more 'perfect Union', the whole. The USA. All of us. Move towards equality of condition, away from the vast concentration of wealth, income, property, etc.
282
Support, give money to and vote for all democratic candidates in 2018. Every single republican political office holder in the USA must be voted out of office to save our republic and the world.
5
The lust for $$ started in the 80s with Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, continued through Dallas, Dynasty and the other shows through which viewers could vicariously live the rich life. It continues today - although has morphed into a lust for fame and fortune - hence all the "Reality" shows where they compete for a million dollars. American's have checked any sense of propriety at the door when they elected this boorish man as president.
America's puritan forefathers would be aghast. As our current "fearless" leader would say: "Sad!"
1
Radix omnium malorum est cupiditas; money in and of itself is not evil but the love of money is (greed & avarice = cupidity) and, yes, as a nation we are beyond infatuated. I think the same is not true of guns -- I believe that they are inherently evil and I think this is true even in hunting for sport and target shooting.
3
Trump has an acute awareness of impending default.
Jared Kushner replicated the same catastrophic judgement at 666 5th that Trump did in Atlantic City.
They both used the wealth, connections, and support that had been established with post-WWII, publicly-financed, family real estate empires to become "players", and cratered.
In my opinion Trump wants to get the smell of the failed "wang-zi" Kushner out of the White House before 666 5th fails.
Trump is following the Catherine de' Medici playbook. While outwardly reconciling with Admiral Coligny, she supplied a pistol to his assassin. Trump wants to retain what he imagines to be a "classy" facade of Ivanka while losing the ridiculous Kushner, and figures Kelly (in a bid to survive himself) will do the dirty work.
40
Everyone associated with this man and his administration will end up with a trashed reputation, a ruined career or a prison sentence.
Trump taints everything he touches. He seems to have the Teflon gift of shrugging off actions totally unacceptable for everyone else - bullying, open racism, sexual assault, continual and obvious lying and overall incompetence. But that immunity applies to no one else.
368
Poor Don, Jr. is busy continuing the family corruption in India right now, and nobody is paying any attention.
59
Mr. Sessions will stay on the job as long as he is able to enforce draconian drug laws and imprison as many potential Democratic voters as possible.
A bigoted partisan's work is never done.
163
Democrats voted for Hillary. Non-voters, third party purists, and Me First Independents placed Trump in the Oval Office.
5
And also undo as many civil rights laws as possible.
2
He may yet pursue those draconian measures, but I do (begrudgingly) give him props for not standing down re the IG investigation of the DOJ despite the talking yam’s rants.
2
You really have to wonder why Sessions is sticking around being publicly humiliated by trump (no pre-nup there). Is he afraid of being unemployed? A masochist? Thinks trump is so wonderful he can’t leave?
According to the pundits (of fake news fame), trump is unraveling fast, and not a moment too soon.
A word to Jeff Session, you hitched your wagon to the wrong star.
34
UNFIT. And the Republicans who continue to allow him to run roughshod over the rest of us - also UNFIT. I can't wait to read the Mad Magazine version of events...
45
Every single day I marvel at the GOP's ability to remain true believers and not stray from the party line, even when it is not in their best interest to do so. Even as Trump mentally dissembles - on a daily basis - they do not change course. Who in the GOP is working on behalf of the country? No one. Do they have the courage to save themselves and impeach Trump? No they don't. Buckle up everyone and vote the Trump enablers out.
123
We live under the reign of Caligula . Caligula and Trump were both the leaders of the most powerful countries of their times . Both were suspected of being crazy . Both liked to humiliate the senators . The plebeians ( the base ) enjoyed the humiliations of the elites . Nobody at the Palace or the West Wing felt secure . Nobody knew who was going to be thrown to the lions or fired next . Caligula wanted to build a beautiful bridge across the Bay of Naples . Trump wanted to build a wall across the southern border and wanted Mexico to pay for it . Caligula named his horse Consul . Trump named his son in law chief negotiator on the Middle East . Trump wants a beautiful military parade . Caligula wanted the legions to invade Britain and instead send them to collect sea shells on the beach . In both cases there were non verified salacious allegations . Rome survived Caligula and continued being the most powerful country on the face of the Earth for several centuries . Let us hope the same happens to our Country .
139
Sessions knows that politically Trump doesn't dare fire him. His very public dinner with Rod Rosenstein was a thinly disguised nose thumbing of Donald Trump.Congressional Republicans are ecstatic that the attorney general is carrying out the insidious Republican agenda, the essence of which is eviscerating the role of the justice department as the protector of minority rights. He has also reduced the strict scrutiny of polce department conduct and stressed that prosecutors press for maximum sentences for convicted criminals. Republicans will not allow Trump to fire Sessions and that outrages the president.
56
...and perhaps also eviscerating anti-trust efforts.
1
Robert Mueller please act quickly, decisively and firmly. Trump appears to be more erratic every day.
101
The man belongs in a lunatic asylum, not running the militarily most powerful nation on Earth. I emphasize 'militarily', because the nation is dying economically as I write. The steel tariffs imposed by Dubya in 2002 caused a net loss of 200,000 jobs in steel-related industries and were scrapped just a year later. The new ones will target NATO allies far more than the Chinese whose steel/aluminium exports to the U.S. are negligible in comparison. Looks like he's scared of the Chinese after all!
I hope Haley Davidson, Levi's and all the other reciprocally penalized heartland manufacturers in his 'base' get the message and toss him and his cronies out with the rubbish. November has never seemed so far away.
92
Hamid, I feel the same way: November has never seemed so far away. I'm hoping we get there still intact! I'd give up a Maine summer and go through another Maine winter just to get to November tomorrow! Time is truly of the essence. Our very own Caligula might destroy us before we get there.
11
The more time FL Attorney General Pam Bondi spends in D. C., the less time she has to protect special interest groups here in FL. As I recall, it was said that her contributions from Trump during the Trump University lawsuit investigation were because they had been close friends for years--not because she was being influenced by his donation to refuse joining other attorneys general in the multistate lawsuit against Trump.
Many FL citizens lost money and time on the promises Trump made in his failed attempt to pass on his "knowledge" of real estate to paying students across the US. Bondi's failure to protect FL citizens should have been a red flag to voters about her priorities. Unfortunately some voters never learn.
I wish there were something more humorous about Bondi than her use by Trump as a tool against Sessions, sadly she is firmly on the side of the wealthy and well-connected against people who in other states can count on the voice of their attorney general to speak out against consumer fraud.
Ms. Collins, please keep looking for the cheery news in politics. Most of us don't want it to be the fact our anti-voter approved marijuana, anti-civil rights Attorney General hasn't been forced to resign yet.
29
The irony of Trump University is that his fraudulent "college" preyed only on Trump fans and supporters. A few thousand dollars in tuition pocketed here, a few thousand there, all easy money for the sticky-fingered con man.
3
Much is written about Trump's messaging to those who became his base. Let's be clear. He started his messaging with a well prepared script on the day he rode down on the escalator to the applause of a gaggle of hired actors. The message was aimed full bore at white supremacists, the KKK, xenophobes, islamophobes etc. His message was so distasteful that it took regular Republicans some time to get on board the bandwagon, but rally by rally and debate by debate, he increased his support. He used insults as well as promises that were quite ridiculous--and still are. Some regular Republicans never got on board. But Sessions was an instant convert to Trump-worship, along with Giuliani, Christie, and their ilk. Sessions was and is one of the deplorables. My thoughts on Sessions and karma go way beyond schadenfreude.
87
Actually, DJT’s road to the WH began with his “birther” routine against President Obama - his base loved it, and he was off and running.
3
Reading this column about the fate of Jeff Sessions and other appointees of Donald Trump, it is difficult to keep one’s mind on the cautionary tale by Gail Collins about corruption, nepotism and the demands of a narcissistic boss.
There is a tendency to wonder if Donald Trump knows what ‘sycophancy’ means and then to dwell on the astronomical odds against his being able to spell the word.
We recall the elated Attorney General sitting in a row of other cabinet members at the State of the Union address, turning to look at them to see if they enjoyed the Trump applause lines as much as he did.
It is hard to imagine that this naughty little elf may stand between Donald Trump and a presidential impeachment.
27
"naughty little elf"? That's the nicest thing that could ever be said about Sessions. I think he's an 'evil little elf' myself. But it is ironic that he's the one standing in the way of firing Mueller. And Rosenstein of course. But if Sessions had capitulated and quit when Trump first started humiliating him, Mueller would be gone now.
4
I do not disagree with you, Sophia, but my focus was on the foolish and slavish buffoonery of Jeff Sessions in his public appearances alongside his boss. The hyper-ambitious person who is trying to replace Sessions, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, seems to personify the evil of which you speak.
3
Trump is bankrupt -- financially, intellectually, morally and spiritually.
As his supporters start to see that the Emperor's new clothes aren't real, they've begun to abandon him, one by one. They're now telling HIM: YOU're fired!
The truth overpowers all of Trump's lies.
24
His fan base is not 'firing' him. He's got the same 40% that he had on the first day. And that 40% is a Tyranny of the Minority against the Majority of US.
5
AND emotionally!
Trump is simply unfit to be President of this "United States" and for the good of our country, and the free world, must be removed from office as soon as possible.
Passivity will not do. We, the people, must be demanding and vociferous!
3
I just installed an app that measures heart rate on my iPhone. Trump’s daily insanity has been causing me to go into temporary atrial tachycardia.
If our roles were reversed, he would certainly sue me.
16
Does the theory of relativity apply to the words and actions emanating from the Trumpian universe?
It seens to have created a unique and cockamamie force field - where ally quickly becones traitor.
While for those of us on the outside, yesterday's villain is today's victim.
9
I have to say, the photo of Sessions ranting at a Trump rally, in a MAGA hat, made me chuckle. He deserves everything Trump heaps on him and shows his moral fiber as he takes the abuse. He will go down as one of the worst, if not the worst, AG. Gail, please keep reminding us that he is still around.....my bet is that Sessions is waiting to max out federal pension or some other obscure reason.
46
I’d feel sorry for Jeff Sessions, except for one thing. He’s Jeff Sessions.
59
Obstruction of justice denial, for Trump, seems a noble undertaking, given he 'plays guilty' by not saying 'peep' about the proven Russian interference in U.S.'s elections. Let's trust that Mueller is close to declaring in public what may be discussed in private right now: "guilty as charged". It does not mean that Trump's fawners can't follow his internment.
5
Well, there are at least some who make sycophancy look easy. They are employed at Fox & Friends. And they have figured out how to butter up the very stable genius in such a way that he follows Murdoch's instructions without even knowing it.
36
TRUMP: Thanks, Jeff, for being the first senator to endorse me. And I'd like to show my gratitude by offering you a lifetime supply of MAGA hats.
SESSIONS: (abashed) Thank you, sir. (holding and examining the hat) I just got a great idea: Why don't you make these great hats available in white? In fact, I think that they should be white only. That's our favorite color in Alabama.
TRUMP: We're going to do great things together, Jeff.
20
What about the love fest on the steps of the White House with his all-star sycophants after the tax bill was passed in December? One had to wonder if it was choreographed by a second-rate Hollywood producer or a new skit for SNL.
Trump had to have promised the Republicans at the event his approval of future passages of their agenda if they would just heap praise upon him with over the top adulation. How else could they have embarrassed themselves with their fawning and fake praise and think that we actually believed them?
To set the scene- the Marine band serenaded the crowd with Christmas carols as they obediently lined the steps. A triumphant Trump took the stage to “Hail to the Chief."
Just for laughs (Lord knows we need them), let's review some of the greatest accolades bestowed upon the Great Leader.
Mitch: "It has been a year of extraordinary accomplishment for the Trump administration,”
Paul: "Something this big, something this generational, something this profound could not have been done without your exquisite presidential leadership."
Pence: "Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for your leadership, thank you for your boundless faith in the American people."
Orin Hatch: "You’re one heck of a leader. This could be the greatest presidency we have seen not only in generations but maybe ever.”
Trump (the emcee) smiling and nodding wrapped it up: "I don't know if we will have bigger moments, but we hope to.” God forbid. Please close the curtain on his show soon.
38
Sessions, for me, retains a certain fondness, since he was and remains the only Senator to rail against H1B abuses, however noble or ignoble his reasons. Everyone else, Republican or Democrat, is on somebody's payroll regarding this issue and has kept their mouths dutifully shut. That said, it is a mystery to me why he stays on. Everyone else has something to gain by remaining a Trump sycophant, or still believes so, but for Sessions, the only path is downhill. Maybe he does retain a perverse form of integrity, which in this administration marks him as an outlier.
3
This is like a live psychological research test. To get the candy, you have to endure the electric shock. Sessions is a guy who reaches for the candy over and over despite an ever increasing voltage to the shock. I get it. He's been denied that candy his entire career and now even the risk of electrocution makes having the reward worthwhile. The other members of his party, however, reach for the candy, get the shock, reach for the candy, get the shock, even though the candy has poison in it you can taste. But they never even show any expression the reward is in no way unpalatable and just keep on eating and reaching for more. Even some lab rats would rather starve than continue to eat the poison. Not Republicans. They can't get enough of it. And like the rest of the rats, the outcome is pretty predictable for them.
17
I cannot be sympathetic- Sessions sold his soul. And the new favorites- take a ticket and join the harassment queue. Jekyll and Hyde - if there is one certainty it’s that Trump never fails to disappoint. His insecurity results in him trying to please everyone - and pleasing no one, including himself.
11
With no known takers for the growing number of empty offices in the West Wing, the last incompetents to remain in Trump's echo chamber will soon be Mike Pence, Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Sanders, and Stephen Miller. Never has a more terrifying and motley crew ever been assembled, with the possible exception of a horror movie set.
42
Donald Trump is behaving precisely the way one would expect a person with something to hide to behave. On a side note, his constant need for attention and adulation is pathetic as well as dangerous. Trump's sycophants have forfeited any entitlement to self-respect.
18
Perhaps now that Hope Hicks will no longer be available to steam press the presidential trousers, Jeff Sessions can get back in Trump’s good graces by taking over the job. However, considering the “tortured” on again off again relationship between the two men, Sessions’ had better not fail at wrinkle removal or it just might continue to remind Trump how Sessions has failed to “iron out” the Donald’s other problems as well.
17
Sessions is seventh in the line of succession to the presidency. Is it possible that he figures he'll still be at large when all the paddy wagons have driven away?
19
I’m going to be in DC later this month. It makes me feel creepy.
I remember going to DC so many times through the years, feeling proud, patriotic, happy.
But even walking in the Women’s March in January, 2017, there was a sense of gloom and doom, even with the inspiration of all the marchers. And Trump had not even been in 24 hours!
Are the cherry blossoms going to be out yet on this trip? It’s as if under this administration, I wouldn’t be surprised if they just couldn’t develop and/or turn brown if they do unfold. The place is toxic.
If I, a visitor, feel this way, think what the insiders feel. Sessions, Kelly, the Supreme Court Justices......now they must really feel the depths of creepiness.
Some just disguise it better than others.
For someone who was going to drain a swamp, Trump has just drummed up more extensive work for the DC sanitation department, starting with himself.
24
Jeff Sessions has used his power for contempt. Throughout his career, Sessions has shown animus for racial minorities, for the LBGT community, for marijuana users, for immigrants and the Dreamers, inter Alia. So it's more than a stretch to see Sessions as a victim. He must have noticed Trump's vindictive streak from way back.
However, he is still Attorney General and Trump's treatment of him is unacceptable. Why should a prospective AG have to pledge never to recuse himself? If Trump knew he had acted on the wrong side of the law, that's on him. So it makes no sense for Trump to constantly say he would have appointed someone else. Trump's belittling references to Sessions, like "beleaguered" or "you know who" are beyond the pale. Just like wanting the AG to open a witch hunt for "the other side."
So why does Sessions let himself be kicked around? Maybe he loves the power and title. But he is probably undermining Trump by staying as an opposition figure. He is sympathetic to Rosenstein and others. Sessions probably is helping Mueller (he may recall things better in private). He is almost definitely among the leaks. The longer he stays, the more he knows.
Sessions is many bad things, but he's not undignified. He wants to have the last laugh over Donald. And I will have to hold my nose and cheer for him if he does, not because he is sympathetic but because he is against someone worse.
7
Sessions made his bed with a narcissist with his early support of Trump's candidacy; and now he's lying in it.
10
But what of Chris Christie, who was the earliest and one of the biggest supporters of Trump? Take my ex-governor, please.
11
Once Kushner is gone it will be safe for the “my family deserves a private beach while NJ beaches are closed to the public” x-gov to enter the WH circle of DJT admirers.
3
Gail you are my hero.
9
I know I may be close to the point of no return when I actually come close to believing Sessions' words, "...I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor." Up until today, I really didn't realize he had either honor or integrity. Perhaps, this is just a symptom of having an ethical bar so low within the Trump administration that it is subterranean. The only one left to trip over anything is Trump tripping over his untruths and bizarre statements, whether from his tainted mouth or misspelled tweets.
Although we all try to make light of this chaotic mess in DC's White House and Republican Congress to maintain some sort of order in our lives and minds, we really are in a pretty pathetic situation. As Ms Collins reminds us, the inept and most likely crooked fawners are being swatted away like pesky flies. Now, ordinarily that would be a good thing. But look who we are left with..Trump, Kelly who is looking more and more like the proverbial chicken with his head cut off, or the smiling, but I-don't-trust-him-as-far-as-I-can-throw-him Pence.
But stay tuned. We are approaching another week with more head-spinning news from which we would prefer to escape. But maybe, just maybe, one of these days in the hoped-for near future life will get back to some sort of normalcy, stability, and, please God, peace.
15
“Sycophancy isn’t as easy as it looks...Remember that on-camera cabinet meeting in which Trump’s appointees competed to see who could gush the most compliments in the shortest period of time?”
Psycho-fancy, on the other hand, equals Trump administration job security.
11
Jeff Sessions looks like a stunted priest invoking the Deity in that rally photo. Now the Deity demands the sacrifice of whatever honor and integrity the priest has left. Sessions is hardly a turbulent priest and Trump is no Henry II. But if Sessions craves some peace and quiet in his twilight years, he should bolt out of the temple as fast as his little feet would carry him.
4
Trump is a praise-o-holic. He doesn't drink, but sycophantic praise is his addiction. He can't get enough. He is insatiable, and like with other addicts, the more flattery he receives, the more crazy and dysfunctional he becomes.
Addicts must hit bottom, destroying their lives and the lives of others, before they finally seek the help they desperately need. And although Trump is getting close to bottom, he hasn't quite crashed yet. But it is immanent.
In the meantime he still has a bunch of co-dependent enablers hanging around tiptoeing around trying to prevent him from doing more damage, but never holding the intervention that is essential if Trump is going to save himself, and avoid doing more damage to our nation.
14
Trump's fawners are NOT being trodden underfoot. They are just gaining a more intimate acquaintance with the ground upon which HE walks.
9
Of course Trump hasn’t fired Sessions. The Congress made it very clear that dumping him would be a firing too far. In that regard he is boxed in with no obvious escape hatch. To compound his problems his wife won’t even let him touch her. What’s a randy old wannabe dictator supposed to do to get some fealty?
10
"Consider the White House. Stuffed with people who got picked for their jobs because they appeared to worship the ground Donald Trump walked on. And now they’re getting trodden underfoot."
The deserving downtrodden, Every. Last. One.
11
In a former incarnation maybe Jeff Sessions was a spittoon?
7
I used to laugh at Jeff Sessions bringing up his "honor" at Congresssional hearings when trying to weasel our of definite answers to probing questions about possible Russian collusion and his knowledge of it. But I am starting to believe that he does, at bottom, a respect for the rule of law and division of powers in our government. Rooting for Jeff Sessions? The world turned upside-down.
9
Great piece, Ms Collins.
(Especially the final sentence!)
6
Everyone hates lawyers. I fail to see how Trump is different than any other American.
Most of us have never committed treason.
9
I'm waiting with bated breath for Trump to issue an exhumation order to disinter the remains of Robert Bork, the one guy who could solve (some of) his problems.
4
Sessions seems unwilling to play along with Trump's latest attempt to revive "The Apprentice" (fka "The Dating Game"), via the Presidency:
Wiki: Although [The Apprentice] was one of the most-watched programs on NBC in the advertiser-friendly 18–49 age demographic, the franchise's total audience gradually dissolved...following the first season... Whereas winners have been named "executive vice presidents"... in actuality, they were employed as publicity spokespeople for the Trump Organization.
A rational human being would wonder why the GOP, en masse, has not arisen and removed Trump & mini-Trump (aka Pence) from office on justifiable grounds of pathological failure to meet their oaths of office.
MAGA - Making Americans Gullible Again the Trump-Pence-GOP way.
6
He can change his mind on issues faster than anyone. He is with the gun violence victims one day and with the NRA the next. Tariffs last week. No tariffs last weekend. Tariffs this week. He loved the GOP Obamacare repeal one day and called it "too mean" the next. He encouraged bipartisan immigration efforts one day and trashed them the next. The list could go one forever.
Changing his mind on people is totally different. Once he perceives you have been disloyal, you're permanently banished. Perhaps the only person who has figured out how to retain Trump's loyalty is Putin. What's the secret to your success, Vladimir? 340 million Americans eagerly await your answer.
Release it on WikiLeaks?
9
It's easy to change your mind when there's nothing in it.
6
Have you noticed that Trump attacks peoples' looks? That's childish. Now he's calling Sessions Mr. Magoo. He calls people "liddle," calls women dogs, makes fun of politicians' and celebrities' weight, height, faces. He seems to think height equals quality and especially goes after short or "liddle" people. We all wish Trump would grow up. What are the chances he will?
179
Trump IS childish. But the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan took place under Bush. Millions of refugees trying to enter Europe, with many dying by drowning the Mediterranean, happened under Obama. So did Brexit.
Both Bush and Obama destroyed the existing order, Bush in a violent way, Obama in a more subtle way, by destabilizing Libya and Ukraine and trying to destabilize Syria.
Trump can be as childish as he likes if he refrains from causing tens of thousands of deaths.
2
Agreeing with you about his despicable behavior, no, I don't want him to grow up. I want him to get worse and worse to the point that he is intolerable to 100% of that 'base' of his. I've been saying this since the beginning of his antics; "In time, he will insult or offend everyone in this country." I just thought he would be closer to completing that task by now.
8
Ain't gonna happen. Trump knows that his penchant for name-calling is perhaps what his supporters like best about him. He's "very smart," you know.
8
This is like the worst episode of the Apprentice yet.......tune in tomorrow!
116
I don't know why Trump dumps on Sessions. Afterall Sessions is delivering on behalf of Trump--most of the time. Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, brought a $230 million case against Russian company Prevezon in a NY real estate fraud and money-laundering case. Turns out Ms. Veselnitskaya--who met at Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr., Kushner, and Paul Manafort--represented Prevezon. Bharara was later fired by Trump and just days before the trial was to begin, Sessions' Justice Dept. agreed to settle the case for peanuts-- $5.9 million. Of course the Veselnitskaya's firm said the Justice Dept. decision vindicated them.
http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/will_bunch/ag-sessions-the-russi...
327
@Ann
Thanks for the info. Until now I never knew the real reason behind Bharara's firing. Somehow I knew it had to be some kind of dirty dealing, not political or ideological. It even involves Russian oligarchs. What a surprise, not.
10
Why does Trump dump on Sessions despite his bigoted other work? Well to Trump bigotry is just a side line, and protecting his butt is the main issue. So to Trump Sessions is not doing his main job of protecting him from impeachment or worse.
4
Anyone noticed that the fawn-fests seem to have stopped, or at the very least, are fewer and far between?
of course it could be due to all the recent departures, but it might also explain the president's worse than usual rages since Wednesday.
most men I know get over rages by working out, cursing, or binge-watching dumb movies. of course Donald Trump is not like any other man, and in terms of hobbies, his biggest is himself.
His answer to troubling anger is to threaten tariffs, bring down markets, and have allies pull out their retaliatory game plans prepared during the campaign.
Will somebody please tell the president to organize a "buck up the president" rally so he can start feeling good again?
I'd rather see a smarmy crowd I can turn off then watch markets dive because Donald Trump is out of sorts.
566
Do remember that those supporting Pres. Trump actually WORK for a living and are thus markedly different from the crowds showing up for CNN emotion-fests.
Did you also decide that Barack Obama expertly timed the 30% boost in stock prices to begin the day after his successor was elected and continuing for a year?
You're claiming that Trump supporters are all fully employed? Been to West Virginia lately?
19
Excellent comments! And with an explanation, finally, for why there are so many dumb "guy" movies out there! The poor things.
7
There's no doubt that Jeff Sessions is a major "fawner" but he's been surprisingly steadfast in not firing Rod Rosenstein or Robert Mueller. His refusal this week to put the IG's investigation into the hands of the Justice Department where Trump would have more control, infuriated Trump so much because Sessions made it clear that there were some lines he would not cross, at least thus far.
Trump surrounds himself with people of little or no character, values, conscience, empathy, humility or truthfulness. His wish is their command. But once in awhile, someone crosses him and his monumental rage at not being obeyed seems to send him so far over the edge of normal behavior, he acts like a lunatic.
Although I find Sessions an awful AG, I appreciate that he can reduce Trump to such a state. The same is true for Rex Tillerson. He's just as bad at his job, but every time a reporter asks him if he called Trump "a moron" and Tillerson refuses to deny that he did, it gives me a reason to crack a smile for a moment in a year when the news coming out of the Trump presidency or the Republican Congress every day is nothing to smile about.
619
That's a reasonable point about Sessions; his not firing Rosenstein and by proxy not firing Mueller.
Sessions has recognized his culpability with this amazingly moronic and insufficient executive branch, and he is posing for leniency in a last ditch attempt to withhold his (ersatz) honor.
This whole crew is contortedly pathetic. It is embarrassing. If you don't feel that way, I don't believe your eyes are open at all, and your sense of appropriateness and history is deficient.
The state of affairs astounds anyone, even remotely aware, every day.
15
it seems to me that Sessions is being true to himself, ditto Tillerson. Sessions is a true conservative and thus given probably to idolization of the boss as that far right crowd is prone to that kind of thing. It turns out though that he does have ethical principals and has some regard for how history will see him. Tillerson, to get where he got in the corporate world, had to deal with all kinds of whiners and crybabies as every administrator has to deal with juvenile regression in a few of the people they supervise. He probably views Trump as one of those hysterica, flightyl types whom he just has to put up with until they flame out.
4
I hope we are at the end of the beginning of getting rid of Trump. Sessions and Tillerson may be looking ahead to life after Trump and considering whether they can repair what shreds of reputation remain to them.
7
I just can't keep up with the tRump zoo. Some of the inmates keep escaping, they must be hiding out in the trees. Sessions needs to have a joint instead of trying to make them go away.
There is a certain population of adoring deplorables that are surviving somewhere mostly in Kansas, Idaho, and Oklahoma, far from civilization as they can get. Actually there are some out here in what we call the foothills, they are waiting the great I Am to appear from under Mt. Shasta and make the world weird again. Yes we have had our share of odd ones, from the Dunites to Ami Semple McPherson, but none so weird as the Trumpites.
Just to the east of us, is a largely unpopulated area consisting mostly af gambling halls and a few bordellos, and east of that is a place where the natives once had reputation for honesty. The tRump is popular there, why no one really knows, but the place has been the lair of several refugees from Brooklyn, with names like Vito, and Louie.
The sycophants seem to have on thing in common, finding a way to mine the public bitcoin. First they get an insulting tweet, then they leave and we are told just how great a job they did, all this from the bipolar sociopath in charge, and lauded by the Grand Old Perverts still looking for more.
Charon is waiting to give you a ride to your final resting place, so keep it up and we will watch the show unfold.
156
Trump thinks Charon is female.
2
Ditto!
1
Mr. Underwood - Here I am in deep red eastern Idaho - you have no idea how right you are about Trump supporters! There actually is a tea-partier running for the next governor of Ideeho - that would be Raul Labrador. Shudder!! But you'd be surprised there are quite a few liberals right here in Idaho Falls. And there was a large turnout in 2016 at the Bernie Caucus...quite amazing. So we struggle on, while I miss my home state of California!
7
It's very, very, sad
that the president goes mad,
he fires people at will
cuz' he's a shill,
but don't despair,
there's only 3 more years
for the wigged one to disappear!
123
Three years we'll be screechin'?
Much better to impeach him!
359
And he's dragging us all down
it's best he get out of town!
13
To Trump, the Attorney General was supposed to come fur-wrapped with the turned, tanned skins of his enemies.
180
Who knew Jeff Sessions loved the integrity of law? Yet he abandons its tools and leaves unfinished the work of social justice that includes voting rights, pay equity, workplace bias. Trump demands he treats the law as words to circumvent.
In statecraft and law, words matter as much as acts. Combined with power, words can oppress or set captives free. They are speculations, visions, light, guidance; and ignorance, folly, fantasy; lies. (Per Mueller, words will get you prison time!)
To words, add props: Wilbur Ross' aluminum cans pretend tariffs have minuscule effect. He should have displayed Caterpillar's hydraulic mining shovel or a GE diesel turbine, better demonstrations of the costs of Trump's latest “win.”
In fact, every Trump “win” is expensive! Each burdens the public, the freedoms in amendment nine. Healthcare pays for tax cuts; tax cuts buy back billions in stock. Private costs are transferred to public interests and people are scattered statistics in a tilted balance sheet that shows how easy it is to deregulate by fiat and kill for profit.
Flint still lives with the pallor of poison in its waters. The waters of the Dan River (NC) still turn up dead fish from a coal ash spill, as Pruitt relaxes the regulations that protect the people living along its streams. Blow out regulations on oil rigs are more lax than before the Gulf spill. This is America winning. We can't afford the victories. As he feuds with Trump, Sessions isn't helping.
251
Walter, I could not agree more with all you said here. And Wilbur's TV appearance was very telling, a 100 year old white male billionaire tells the good folks at home not to worry..
8
We might as well kick back and enjoy the show. Our government is being managed by a collection of egomaniacs, lunatics, thieves, and fools.
We stop them via comedy and relentless humiliation. The comedic profession is blessed to have this crew to work with. Check out the photo of Jeff Sessions. Guess what? Some of the others look even crazier! They have a proud tradition here.
Change will happen when everyday reporters stop describing the Republicans with a straight face. The Democrats have a few challenges here, but with a fair shake on TV they will ace it this year.
633
I am not quite so sanguine about the result of the November election. People are lazy and the districts are still gerrymandered. Mueller will find the connections between the Trump campaign and Russia but not between Russia and Trump himself because for all his “being in charge” DT never does anything himself. He works through other people. He doesn’t use computers so there's no Email trail and he signs no paperwork etc. Furthermore, at rate he’s going a trade war may be the least of our concerns. If he actually does his job in carrying out the laws of the Congress, Russian sanctions might heat things up exponentially.
7
D. Trump's Ship of Fools has a captain that makes the fawner-crew look almost intelligent. I wonder if El Capitan knows about rocks and reefs and--oh, too late.
6
It’s really unfair to include Sessions with the run-of-the-mill Trump sycophants. If you can get past his resolve to find SOME way to end-run the Thirteenth Amendment (that abolished slavery), he’s dedicated his life to an intense protection of the law – which got him into his current fine mess with Donald Trump. And Hope Hicks probably squeezed about as much career value out of her association with Trump as she could, and might be preparing to troll for bigger fish BEFORE she turns 30. I hear that Harvey Weinstein could use a good press agent – and he could probably afford her.
Note that the real value in the Twitter ability to edit comments is the contrast it presents to long-suffering NYT commenters – something the Wall Street Journal fixed ages ago (heh heh).
How long will he last? I’ve already predicted that when Anthony Kennedy retires (rumored to be soon), Trump will stir-fry two Komodo Dragons with one woc by nominating Sessions to take his place, and taking on a NEW AG (perhaps Bondi). If and when that happens, those of us rather partial to the Thirteenth Amendment can again breathe easier.
28
Gee, Richard, when I read the title of Gail's piece I initially assumed that you were its subject. Oh, well...
Anyway, why should The Times endeavor to correct the spelling errors of its commenters? In most cases (you're the exception that proves the rule*) it's easy to spot the Trumpistas by their refusal to invest in spell-check.
*Though I do believe that the cooking utensil you're referring to is actually spelled "wok."
358
stu:
I believe you're right about woc vs. wok but, interestingly, neither the latest version of MS Word nor the NYT's spell-check caught it. I was undoubtedly thinking of a "roc", the enormous prehistoric, reptilian bird of prey, that reminds me of the High Jurassic frame of reference from which so MANY comments emanate in this forum.
As to the Times correcting typos, nobody's asking them to. But one of the most popular features of the WSJ's content manager for comments, when it came in years ago, was the ability it provided to edit a comment within five minutes of its original posting. As I recall, the WaPost offers the same feature. People want their comments to be perfect with regard to grammar, spelling and punctuation -- consider the clutter occasioned by so many comments apologetically posted to correct typos in prior comments.
Entertainingly, Gail missed an apostrophe in the title, either before or after the "s" in "Fawners".
7
And your point is . . . The politically self-serving one that we should treat this as entertainment, rather than government?
36
What a lovely Make America White Again rally photo that is.....a sea of Caucasian skin as far as the eye can see.
That's the problem when you run for President primarily on a Birther Liar and Mexicans Are Rapists platform; it makes for an interesting campaign, but it doesn't translate very well into actual governance.
There have now been 13 solid months of cheap Trump carnival acts to thrill the idiotic masses - and while the carnival barker can go on like this indefinitely - this so-called Presidency very closely resembles the giant floating orange log in a toilet that most Americans thought it would be.
While it's true that real Republican policy damage has been done to the country - the treasury has been stripped bare by billionaire campaign donors, the State Department has been demolished, the Interior Department and the coasts have been outsourced to oil drillers and frackers, the EPA has been aborted, the judiciary has been stacked with corporate shills - the Presidency itself has been reduced to an incoherent bucket of foul-smelling Tweeting mud and a shrinking janitorial Oval Office staff that changes Daycare Donnie's dirty political diapers.
Jeff Sessions knows he's working for a madman, but he thinks keeping the Constitution in effect is probably the right thing to do even as Donald does his daily best to defecate all over it.
When you sign up for a dunghole of a Presidency, it's not a surprise when you find yourself standing in a bucket of warm feculence.
1278
With any other president, this would be muck raking, with Trump you are merely being accurate.
27
I prefer to call fish-belly-white people, Caucasians like me, the melanin-challenged. It's a reminder that, not only is our skin color not superior to that of black and brown people, it's inferior: We lack protection from the almighty sun, making us more susceptible to skin cancer. Our racial gene is recessive, too. Good luck trying to outbreed the world.
As for our brains being better than the non-whites, compare the current POTUS with his predecessor. I rest my case.
37
Jeff Sessions, of all people, is the little Dutch boy with his finger in dike.
9
Sessions can fawn with the best
But "honor" he cannot arrest
Were segregation on notice
He'd do for his POTUS
As years of bigotry attest.
Confusion is what Trump always sews
His rear end is what is most close
Self-preservation
Comes before the Nation
But spelling is least of his woes.
443
It’s so sad. Jeff Sessions is unreliable, Roy Cohn is busy representing Satan and Hermann Göring doesn’t answer his cell. You just can’t find good help these days.
How did those other presidents do it? Where are all those people who would throw a grenade for you, and then fall on it if you told them to? Who ironed out the messes and distracted the media when those presidents did idiotic things, or didn’t read or understand the memos, or when their various in-laws and sycophants couldn’t do the job?
A president is supposed to be loved unconditionally! But the fake-news media is always looking for dirt, and then broadcasting it when they find it. You try to point out the big covfefe that’s going on in this country, and all they do is laugh and run stories about missppeliing stuff. I’ve got people who are supposed to spell for me!
If it wasn’t for the Playboy Bunny distractions, or the porn star affairs, or the fecal depression comments or the N.R.A. waffling, people would be focused on my old pal Vladimir. Sure, he’s bragging about having nukes that could wipe us out, but come on. It’s Vlad. He might invade a country, but he's not going to mess with elections.
But no. They want to talk about Vlad's meddling, as if I needed his help to win by the largest landslide in the entire 100 years of American history! Over a million people showed up for the inauguration! It’s a fakt!
1182
Dude, you've got the magic hands. You must have paid dearly for your Muse; she never leaves your word-processor. I would like to borrow her or it sometime.
17
gemli
Eric Holder was on Real Time with Bill Maher Friday night and I was minded of Trump’s hissy fit over how Holder had protected Obama!
“President Donald Trump told The New York Times in an interview[...] that Eric Holder ‘totally protected’ President Barack Obama while serving as attorney general.
Trump added that he had ‘great respect for that,’ lamenting that it was 'too bad' his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, recused himself earlier this year from the Justice Department's Russia investigation.
"I don't want to get into loyalty, but I will tell you that, I will say this: Holder protected President Obama. Totally protected him," Trump said, adding: "When you look at the things that they did, and Holder protected the president. And I have great respect for that, I’ll be honest."
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-has-great-respect-for-eric-holder-p...
It’s difficult to just read Trump’s broken syntax while attempting to understand what he is trying to say.
14