It was days before the Super Tuesday primaries in 2016 and whoever came out on top was certain to be the Republican Party nominee. Jeff Sessions did the unthinkable by many in Washington at the time. He endorsed Donald Trump for President.
Trump — the narrow frontrunner — was unpopular by a majority of Washington. The establishment was doing whatever possible to slow down his momentum. There was hope that Ted Cruz could have strong turn-out and steal away a few states including Alabama. But an endorsement from Sessions would pull Trump away in Alabama and across other southern states such as Arkansas, Tennessee, and Georgia, it was speculated.
Jeff Sessions was appointed to be Attorney General after the President won the 2016 Election but fired in November 2018. The former AG said, “As the world knows, the President disagreed with me on recusal, but I did what the law required me to do. I was a central figure in the campaign and was also a subject of and witness in the investigation and could obviously not legally be involved in investigating myself.”
The press release from Sessions went on to say that while the investigation was a myth, it would have been inappropriate for someone like him to intervene because of his close connection to the campaign. If he had intervened, it could have put himself as well as the President at higher risk of further investigation.
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Fast foward four years later, and Sessions is in a heated primary for his former senate seat. The seat was lost to Democrat Doug Jones in the December 2017 Special Election. Sessions finished 2nd in the initial primary and is facing off against Tommy Tuberville.
The President has weighed in on the race and endorsed Tuberville. He’s also heavily criticized Sessions for not doing more while AG.
But Tuberville is not the primary choice to push forward the America First agenda that elected Donald Trump in 2016. Sessions was the first member of Congress to endorse the President in 2016 and has been the most pro-nationalist/populist politician in recent memory.
While Tuberville supports many conservative issues, he is opposite of the President’s agenda on immigration and trade. He’s been accused of being pro-amnesty and going against the America First agenda that elected Donald Trump in 2016.
In a recording from August 2019, Tuberville said: “There are people coming across the border that need jobs, and we want them to come over here. We just need to know who is here, put the wall up — then let them come in and become citizens like we all became citizens.”
The former football coach has also hired a former aide from Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg lobbying group. Rob Jemser — a chief consultant — has advocated for amnesty to illegal immigrants as well as allowing tech companies to have an unlimited number of foreign tech workers imported. These imported workers undercut salaries in the field and take jobs away from newly graduated American students.
If the President truly wants to push the agenda he ran on, he needs an ally in the Senate in Jeff Sessions. Sessions has taken blame for his past mistakes and it’s time to move on. Still, it’s unlikely we see Trump forgive Sessions. Getting an America First agenda completed will require legislation to pass in the House and Senate. If Trump wants to see immigration reform and revamping trade deals you will need a vocal supporter like Sessions in the Senate.