Trump's Attacks on Jeff Sessions Anger Immigration Hawks
By W. James Antle III
Washington Examiner, May 28, 2020
. . .
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/trumps-attacks-on-jeff-sessions-anger-immigration-hawks
Trump's
attacks on Jeff Sessions anger immigration hawks
| May 28, 2020
12:00 AM
President Trump has made it clear that he doesn’t want Jeff Sessions returned to the Alabama Senate seat he held for 20 years, but the president’s Twitter tirades against his former attorney general could reverberate beyond the Yellowhammer State to produce a backlash among Trump voters concerned about immigration.
Conservative columnist Ann Coulter, once an
immigration-centric supporter of the president and author of the book In Trump We Trust, has called Trump a “blithering idiot,”
“complete moron,” “lout,” and the “most disloyal actual retard that has ever
set foot in the Oval Office” for attacking Sessions, the “ONE PERSON in Trump
administration who did anything about immigration.” Fox News host Tucker
Carlson has told an Alabama radio host that “Sessions
was Trump long before Trump” and had been “the single most impressive member of
the Senate.” Sessions announced his comeback candidacy last year on Carlson’s
show.
Sessions was the first senator to endorse Trump for
president in early 2016, having been persuaded that the businessman and reality
TV star was the best vehicle for his populist brand of conservatism. Trump
borrowed heavily from Sessions’s immigration policy handbook during the
campaign and plucked top adviser Stephen Miller from the 73-year-old
Alabamian’s Senate staff. But as Attorney General Sessions recused himself in the Trump-Russia investigation, paving
the way for the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller, he was forced
out of the Justice Department over a year later.
Trump hasn’t forgiven Sessions. He has not only endorsed
his Republican primary opponent, former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville, he has railed against Sessions
on Twitter, calling him “slime” who had his chance but blew it. “Alabama, do
not trust Jeff Sessions,” Trump posted. “He let our Country down.” Tuberville
edged out Sessions in the first round of voting thanks to Trump’s endorsement.
The two will face each other in a July runoff.
What impact Trump will have on that race is
unclear, but immigration hawks nationwide re
outraged. "I refuse to believe what’s happening to Jeff Sessions
right now is entirely due to recusal,” said RJ Hauman, government
relations director at the Federation for American Immigration
Reform. “It may be a factor, but don’t forget that those aligned
with big business and the GOP establishment have taken hold of
President Trump’s policy agenda and campaign strategy. So, no
surprise that the man who has long fought for an immigration
system that puts the American people first is being thrown under
the bus."
unclear, but immigration hawks nationwide re
outraged. "I refuse to believe what’s happening to Jeff Sessions
right now is entirely due to recusal,” said RJ Hauman, government
relations director at the Federation for American Immigration
Reform. “It may be a factor, but don’t forget that those aligned
with big business and the GOP establishment have taken hold of
President Trump’s policy agenda and campaign strategy. So, no
surprise that the man who has long fought for an immigration
system that puts the American people first is being thrown under
the bus."
Hardliners speculate that son-in-law and senior adviser
Jared Kushner, who sparred with the former attorney general over criminal
justice reform as well as immigration, played a role in Sessions’s demise. Now,
Trump’s choice, Tuberville, is not well-liked by immigration hawks.
“Even voters attracted to Trump because of his ostensible
hawkishness on immigration, but who don't closely follow
immigration politics and policy, are likely to be influenced by
Trump's ravings,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the
Center for Immigration Studies. “But for those who know the issue,
the vendetta against Sessions is just one more indication that
Trump isn't actually a restrictionist. I don't mean that he's lying
about supporting the wall, etc. — I think that genuinely
comes from his gut — but when it comes to the
level of legal immigration and guestworker
admissions, he's more in tune with Obama and
Jeb and Pelosi and Schumer than with
Sessions.”
hawkishness on immigration, but who don't closely follow
immigration politics and policy, are likely to be influenced by
Trump's ravings,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the
Center for Immigration Studies. “But for those who know the issue,
the vendetta against Sessions is just one more indication that
Trump isn't actually a restrictionist. I don't mean that he's lying
about supporting the wall, etc. — I think that genuinely
comes from his gut — but when it comes to the
level of legal immigration and guestworker
admissions, he's more in tune with Obama and
Jeb and Pelosi and Schumer than with
Sessions.”
Many MAGA activists are taking the president’s side in the
argument, however. Sessions’s replacement, Attorney General Bill Barr, has forcefully unraveled the Trump-Russia
investigation and defended the president’s prerogatives.
Aspects of the investigation, from warrants to surveil Trump campaign
associates to the case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn,
have since been revealed to be flawed. The Mueller report found no collusion
between Trump and Russia to swing the 2016 election.
The normally mild-mannered Sessions has surprisingly hit
back at Trump and defended his recusal as required by law and resulting in the
president’s exoneration. Trump’s interventions in Alabama politics have failed
before. He endorsed interim Sen. Luther Strange in the last Republican primary
for this seat, but voters chose the controversial Roy Moore instead. Almost alone
among national GOP leaders, Trump backed Moore in the special election, but he
lost to Democrat Doug Jones.
Sessions didn’t have a Democratic challenger last time he
ran for reelection and won 97.5% of the vote. Coulter has accused Trump of
risking “another Roy Moore fiasco” in the state, but local insiders think Trump
could fall on deaf ears again.
“Twitter is an echo chamber, and there are zero undecided voters on the platform,”
said Alabama-based Republican strategist Brent Buchanan. "It changes nothing
in the Alabama Senate runoff." Either Sessions or Tuberville should be
heavily favored over Jones later this year, with Trump at the top of the
ticket. It's a rare GOP pickup opportunity as the party defends Senate seats in
Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina and Maine.
“Trump's attacks hurt both Sessions and himself, but the
question is what's the net effect, and with whom,” said Krikorian. “In Alabama,
specifically, they probably hurt Sessions more than Trump, though I still don't
think they guarantee a win by Florida Man,” a residency-related nickname for
Tuberville.
By Ira Mehlman
ImmigrationReform.com, May 26, 2020
. . .
https://www.immigrationreform.com/2020/05/26/meatpacking-immigrant-advocates-immigrationreform-com/
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