You’d think that a U.S. president would have a rather solid grip on leadership abilities to the point of their administration truly running like — in Donald Trump’s description — a “fine-tuned machine.”
The reality of the Trump administration couldn’t be further from the truth. Just look at the president’s personal Twitter account to see evidence of this.
Now, there’s a new report from The Washington Post that underscores just how ridiculous things have gotten inside the Trump administration.
We are already familiar with the president’s inclination towards childishly calling his opponents’ names. For instance, he’s long referred to Hillary Clinton as “Crooked Hillary.” Among the other examples of this behavior is the fact that he’s routinely dismissed Democratic U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas,” using the slur even while speaking in front of Native Americans.
Now, according to The Post, Trump has developed a nickname for his attorney general, former Alabama U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions — Mr. Magoo.
The publication reports:
‘Behind the scenes, Trump has derisively referred to Sessions as “Mr. Magoo,” a cartoon character who is elderly, myopic and bumbling, according to people with whom he has spoken. Trump has told associates that he has hired the best lawyers for his entire life, but is stuck with Sessions, who is not defending him and is not sufficiently loyal.’
That’s right; the president of the United States has reached the point of mocking at least one of his own chief staff members by allegedly calling them by the name of a cartoon character. That is hardly an environment that could be considered to be conducive for the advancement of the cause of the average American. Can you imagine President Obama calling his attorney general Mr. Magoo?
Trump’s grievances with Sessions stretch back months.
Last year, after it was revealed that Sessions had secretly met with the now former Russian ambassador to the United States, he was pressured to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. After all, his meetings meant that he could be considered a subject of that investigation.
It was after that recusal that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who eventually appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller to his present position of overseeing the Russia investigation, took over. Mueller has brought charges against, among others, four former associates of the president at this point, forcing the president into an ever-more defensive position and prompting his apparent speculation that the whole thing could have gone differently up to this point if only Sessions hadn’t recused himself.
More recently, the president has gone after his attorney general over not addressing concerns over the government having allegedly carried out politically motivated surveillance on a former Trump adviser as aggressively as the president would like.
He posted a message on Twitter to that effect Wednesday.
To be clear, it’s not as though the claims of improper and politically motivated surveillance on the Trump team have even appeared on the national stage in a fashion to make them seem genuine. Most recently, the claims were bolstered by a hotly contested memo produced by the long disgraced House Intel Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes.
Featured Image via Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images
