Signs of trouble on Team Trump? Jeff Sessions could be in trouble; Michael Flynn could be toast [View all]

[DonViejo]

TUESDAY, JAN 31, 2017 08:05 AM EST

Sessions looks worse in the wake of Sally Yates' firing; Flynn may be too erratic even for the Trump White House

HEATHER DIGBY PARTON

Late on Monday night, President Trump fired Sally Yates, the acting attorney general left behind by the Obama administration. Citing both the law and the Constitution, Yates had ordered the Department of Justice not to defend his ban on Muslims from certain countries entering the United States. Republicans all applauded the firing, calling her insubordinate because it was her job to carry out his orders, no questions asked. Democrats hailed her as a hero for asserting the independence that’s supposed to be conferred upon the office. To back this up they produced footage of Sen. Jeff Sessions himself — yes, now Trump’s attorney general-designate — telling Yates during her confirmation hearing that she was obligated to say no if she believed the president’s order were unlawful.

-snip- (video of Sessions questioning Yates)

At this point it would behoove the Senate to think very, very hard about confirming Sessions as the new attorney general. It’s hard to imagine that he would ever say no if Donald Trump wanted him to execute an unlawful order. On the other hand, it’s also hard to imagine that Trump would ever ask him to execute an unlawful order that Sessions didn’t enthusiastically agree in advance should be executed, so perhaps it’s a moot point. Nonetheless this crisis should induce Democrats to stiffen their spines and vote against Sessions. According to this Washington Post article, this is just a preview of what’s to come:

The early days of the Trump presidency have rushed a nationalist agenda long on the fringes of American life into action — and Sessions, the quiet Alabam­ian who long cultivated those ideas as a Senate backbencher, has become a singular power in this new Washington.

Sessions’s ideology is driven by a visceral aversion to what he calls “soulless globalism,” a term used on the extreme right to convey a perceived threat to the United States from free trade, international alliances and the immigration of nonwhites. …

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http://www.salon.com/2017/01/31/signs-of-trouble-on-team-trump-jeff-sessions-could-be-in-trouble-michael-flynn-could-be-toast/