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The Horrible Legal Legacy of Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Originally published on Medium.com, March 7th, 2018, Restructured November 6th, 2020.

By Johnny RingoPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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For minority Democrats in Congress, rhetoric paints Trump as an architect of evil, or that’s what they’d have us believe. Immediately following Trump’s election, millions of women took to the streets in protest, but in protest of what? As a socialist, I think this shows a weakness in the Democratic establishment’s response to Trump, while simultaneously showcasing how fantastically that establishment has co-opted social movements like Occupy Wall Street, or more recently, #Resist.

Partially a rejection of the policy decisions of Trump, which have plenty of room for criticism, #Resist was quickly adopted by the Democratic capitalist establishment, including Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton, as a way for the DNC to piggyback themselves back into power. It was more than anything an aesthetic rejection of Trump as a person, as an incarnation of evil.

When in reality, the evil in the White House all along may not be Trump, but Jeff Sessions. As a graduate student of criminal law, I’ve followed Sessions closely. Sessions has been highly criticized for completely backwards policies on marijuana and replacement of Obama-appointed judiciaries with unqualified candidates.

Even worse were his attempts at self-defense in the Russia hearings, as well as the aggressive immigration policies he has recommended to ICE, his recent decision to expand civil asset forfeiture for people now suspected but not charged with crimes, and his obsession with black organizations being branded as terrorists without proof.

Sessions is incredibly silent and unconcerned with white supremacist terrorism, an active domestic threat. Sessions has been responsible for many of the worst policies to come from the Trump cabinet. His hypocrisy, his malice, and his inhumanity are clearly evident. Maybe Trump isn’t the bad guy. We’ll see what other horrors Sessions has in store over the years.

Addendum: This article was written years ago, as the Trump administration only began to enact draconian legislation and destroy legal protections for undocumented people, Muslims, and the African American and LGBT communities, among others. At the time, Trump continued to present himself as a professional, measured businessman, something the country continues to debate, though in my opinion this perception was nothing more than PR. Trump turned out to be just as bad, if not worse, than many feared he would be, and my moderate perceptions about Trump at the time were based upon the assumption that he was at all competent, an assumption that turned out to be laughably incorrect. Obviously, I am saddened and angered by the fact that Trump was ever elected to office, as he and his corporate cronies have done massive damage to the entire country. I was sadly wrong about Trump, but thankfully, I was not wrong about Jeff Sessions.

As terrible as Jeff Sessions was, William Barr has proven himself to be even worse. A wannabe fascist demagogue, Barr has attempted to squash federal investigations into white supremacist groups just like Sessions had, he has protected the president from prosecution (as Sessions very likely would have), and has locked up undocumented immigrants with utter glee. The entire Trump administration has shown itself to be a house of cards, an unsustainable collection of vultures capitalists, vile individuals looking to loot the country and walk away. Trump shows no accountability or competency, appointing corporate yes-men and sociopaths to the halls of power in the United States. "Drain the Swamp" turned out to be a joke, a dark insult to the vast majority of citizens who are aware of rampant corruption in government, and who want that corruption done away with, lanced like a rancid, weeping boil on the ass of the United States.

I have no confidence in the United States to continue on the way it has. I hold little if any hope for a potential Biden administration either, sadly, as individuals such as Kamala Harris rise to power. While liberals celebrate the likely inauguration of the first woman of color to be elected to Vice President, Harris has shown an abysmal track record of justice as former Attorney General of California. I can only hope that she will not continue Sessions' and Barr's legacy of bad faith, punitive, damaging legal decisions that will no doubt harm the most vulnerable in our society.

politicians
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About the Creator

Johnny Ringo

Disabled, bisexual American socialist and political activist. Student of politics, aspiring journalist, and academic. Bachelor’s of Science in Criminal Justice.

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