Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions is vying for his former seat in the U.S. Senate this year despite the explicit disapproval of his former boss, President Donald Trump. Sessions’ campaign is apparently hoping that courting anti-immigrant advocates will help him overcome Trump's opposition and win the July 14 Republican primary runoff.
Breitbart News Editor-in-chief Alex Marlow hosted Sessions on the June 19 edition of “Breitbart News Daily” to share his reaction to a Supreme Court ruling Thursday that blocked the White House’s efforts to dismantle the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which offers legal protections to children brought to the United States unlawfully. Anti-immigrant activists have fought for years against DACA. Chief Justice John Roberts ruled in the majority.
Marlow suggested that Roberts was increasingly “going left” on big decisions before the court to which Sessions agreed. “I hate to say that so badly,” Sessions said.
“The cases that are coming out now leave me in a position where I cannot have the same degree of respect for the Court that I would want to have,” Sessions said. “It is outcome-oriented too many times. And Alex, let’s be frank. Every dutiful, faithful American who watches this closely, every time they do this, it’s always it seems an advancement of the left.”
The duo continued to discuss immigration, criticizing Republican politicians who they said are not as tough on immigration issues as they should be. Marlow claimed that “the American experiment is in jeopardy” because there aren’t enough Republicans with hardline immigration positions. Among those Republicans, the duo insinuated, is Sessions’ Republican challenger Tommy Tuberville—whom Trump will rally support for in Mobile, Alabama, next month.
Sessions highlighted a remark Tuberville made that was supportive of Indian immigrants coming to work in the United States. Tuberville told Alabama Daily News in February that he did not support amnesty for undocumented immigrants because there are so many people trying to enter the country legally, including 400,000 Indian immigrants who “are well-trained, qualified, can come here and help make this country better.”
Of Tuberville’s remarks, Sessions said, “This is the mentality of the globalist.”
Breitbart News and Sessions have maintained a mutually beneficial relationship for years. While white nationalist admirer and senior White House policy adviser Stephen Millerwas working in Sessions’ U.S. Senate office in 2015, Miller gave editorial directions to staffers at the outlet. After reviewing leaked emails between Miller and a former Breitbart News editor, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported that Miller saw the outlet “as a way to promote his nativist, anti-immigration policies and to attack political enemies before millions of readers.”
Trump and Sessions, however, have a less than amicable relationship. In May, Trump tweeted that Sessions should drop out of his race and pray that Democrat Doug Jones loses his bid for reelection.
....price. You should drop out of the race & pray that super liberal @DougJones, a weak & pathetic puppet for Crazy Nancy Pelosi & Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, gets beaten badly. He voted for impeachment based on “ZERO”. Disgraced Alabama. Coach @TTuberville will be a GREAT Senator!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 23, 2020
Despite Trump's disapproval, Sessions has taken to flattering the president. In a tweet Saturday, Session praised Trump's performance at a Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma:
President @realDonaldTrump displayed tonight his incredible drive, understanding of the history and principles that made America great. Masterful! Unleashed! Winning message!! @JoeBiden cannot match this. Game on!
— Jeff Sessions (@jeffsessions) June 21, 2020
Last month, Right Wing Watch reported that Sessions had tapped far-right commentator Michelle Malkin to author a fundraising email in which Malkin lent credence to Sessions' anti-immigration positions.
"And Jeff is fully aware of the social costs of mass immigration, which have been overwhelming," Malkin wrote. "With Jeff Sessions in the Senate, we are going to take back America for Americans."
Sessions has also put forward his support from anti-immigrant figures including Mark Krikorian, executive director of the anti-immigrant think tank Center for Immigration Studies.
