The Stupidity of Jeff Sessions Could Single-Handedly Bring Down Trump

The corporate media would have you believe that the key to resisting Trump lies in the embrace of heinous individuals and institutions such as themselves, George W. Bush, and the CIA, as well as clownish figures manufactured by neocons such as Evan McMullin (formerly of both Goldman Sachs and the CIA). Ironically enough, though Trump supporters see these nefarious outside forces as the biggest threat to his administration, I believe that if Trump’s Presidency goes up in total flames it most likely will be the fault of the ridiculous fossil he chose as Attorney General, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III.

Personally, I don’t think Trump cares one bit about recreational marijuana, but if he’s foolish enough to let Jeff Sessions run wild with his petty and moronic little Drug War, he runs a serious risk of having his administration destroyed from within. While the deep state and its various rent-seeking institutions are indeed very powerful, they are not popular amongst the American public for very good reasons. While they will continue to shamelessly and relentlessly target Trump for the most absurd of reasons (such as Russia conspiracy theories), I don’t think these tactics can bring Trump down. In fact, these blatant attacks tend to solidify Trump’s support amongst his base.

Trump can get away with acting like an authoritarian goon when it comes to attacks against the deep state and its institutions, but Trump cannot get away with acting like an authoritarian goon against the American people. If he allows Jeff Sessions to make life miserable for the tens of millions of Americans who voted to legalize cannabis, Trump will have no one to blame for his spectacular collapse than himself.

Evidence that Sessions would march down this destructive path emerged last week with some absurd commentary from Sean Spicer linking recreational marijuana use to the opioid epidemic despite zero evidence to back this up. The monumental stupidity continued on Monday with some mindbogglingly inaccurate and hysterical statements by Sessions.

Business Insider reports:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he is “not a fan” of the expanded use of marijuana during an exchange with reporters on Monday, parroting the Trump Administration’s vow that there will be “greater enforcement” of federal marijuana laws.

“Most of you probably know I don’t think America is going to be a better place when more people of all ages and particularly young people start smoking pot,” Sessions said, per Politico. “I believe it’s an unhealthy practice and current levels of THC in marijuana are very high compared to what they were a few years ago.”

Sessions further said at a speech to state attorneys general on Tuesday morning that he’s not sure “we’re going to be a better, healthier nation if we have marijuana being sold at every corner grocery store.”

“…My view is that we don’t need to be legalizing marijuana,” Sessions said.

Silly me, I thought Republicans believed in limited government. Seems they draw the line at adults deciding what to ingest into their own bodies.

Sessions also called the argument that marijuana can be used to treat opioid addiction “a desperate attempt to defend the harmlessness of marijuana,” during his Tuesday morning speech, echoing Sean Spicer’s comments comparing marijuana use with opioid addiction at a press briefing on Thursday. 

Studies have shown that states with legalized marijuana have seen a drop in opioid-related fatalities

Also, see this: The Real Reason Pharma Companies Hate Medical Marijuana (It Works).

Sessions said that the memo is under review, though he did not clarify whether the Justice Department will commit to stricter enforcement in states where marijuana is legal, reportsPolitico

“We’re going to look at it … and try to adopt responsible policies,” Sessions said. 

Lawmakers from states with legal marijuana, however, have vowed to challenge Sessions on marijuana enforcement.

“My office will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that the federal government does not undermine Washington’s successful, unified system for regulating recreational and medical marijuana,” Bob Ferguson, Washington’s attorney general, said on Thursday.  “I will also be very clear with AG Sessions that I will defend the will of Washington voters,” Ferguson added. 

The people of Washington state will rally behind this in huge numbers. Sessions cannot win this petty, pointless fight.

Then, just when you think Sessions couldn’t be any more foolish…

Sessions further said that experts have told him there is “more violence around marijuana,” than one would think.

Tom Angell, of the pro-legalization group Marijuana Majority, told Business Insider that by discussing marijuana and violence, Sessions inadvertently articulated one of the strongest arguments for legalization: Regulated markets.

“The only connection between marijuana and violence is the one that exists when illegal sellers battle it out for profits in the black market,” Angell said. “A growing number of states are showing that legalization is generating revenues, creating jobs, and reducing crime.”

 Mason Tvert, the director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a statement that it’s “hard to imagine” why the federal government would want marijuana to be produced and sold by criminals rather than “tightly regulated, taxpaying” businesses.

While Sessions clearly has no idea what he’s talking about, the policy is even more idiotic from a strictly political perspective. Feds cracking down on states where the people have chosen to legalize cannabis is incredibly unpopular. In fact, I’m not sure there’s an issue that would unite more Americans than the belief that the feds should mind their own business on this issue.

As I noted in last week’s piece, Trump’s Policies Are Authoritarian, Not Populist:

While Spicer emphasized the difference between medical and recreational marijuana, he overlooked a more important distinction: between opposing state laws that allow recreational use of marijuana and supporting federal intervention aimed at overriding them. That distinction is clear in the latest Quinnipiac University poll, which finds that 71 percent of Americans “oppose the government enforcing federal laws against marijuana in states that have already legalized medical or recreational marijuana.” By comparison, 59 percent think marijuana “should be made legal in the United States.” That means many Americans who oppose legalization nevertheless think states should be free to adopt that policy. A disproportionate number of those people are members of Trump’s party: While only 35 percent of Republicans in the Quinnipiac poll supported marijuana legalization, 55 percent opposed federal interference with it.

CBS News poll conducted last April found even stronger Republican opposition to the sort of meddling Spicer predicted. Asked if “laws regarding whether the use of marijuana is legal” should be “determined by the federal government” or “left to each individual state government to decide,” 70 percent of Republicans said the latter, compared to 55 percent of Democrats (who as usual were more likely to favor legalization). These results make sense to the extent that conservatives take seriously their avowed commitment to federalism, which Trump also claims to support. At the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump said he favored medical marijuana but had concerns about broader legalization, a decision he nevertheless said should be left to the states. “If they vote for it, they vote for it,” he said. Trump confirmed that position at a 2015 rally in Nevada: “In terms of marijuana and legalization, I think that should be a state issue, state by state.”

The poll results above are significant. Even those who don’t want it legal where they live, are in favor of leaving others alone.

Unfortunately for us all, the extent of Jefferson Sessions’ incompetence extends far beyond recreational cannabis policy.

The Hill reports:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions warned Tuesday that violent crime is on the rise in the U.S. and said he will form a task force aimed at restoring law and order before the problem spirals out of control.

According to prepared remarks he plans to give at the Winter Meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General, Sessions acknowledged that overall crime rates in the U.S. are hovering near historic lows.

However, Sessions warned that there are clear warning signs — “like the first gusts of wind before a summer storm” — that the nation is at a tipping point and that the trend is about to reverse.

I find this all very peculiar. White collar, corporate/Wall Street crime is at multi-century highs, but Jefferson can’t be bothered by that. Instead, he wants to allocate resources to a potential problem that many emerge. Very strange indeed.

Sadly, I think his prediction may end up being accurate. The U.S. economy has been completely strip-mined by billionaire oligarchs, and when the chickens come home to roost and the economy craters, increased violence is certainly not out of the question. The only problem here is that by focusing on that reactionary violence, and not the root cause of it (elitist criminality), you mere address the symptom, not the problem itself. Where’s the big task force for white-collar criminals? You know the group of people who actually pose the greatest threat to the Republic.

I won’t hold my breath, because like Trump, Sessions likes to punch down. Both men would prefer to focus on punishing average Americans minding their own business when it comes to their “law and order” push, rather than taking on the high-level crooks. My bet is we won’t see any bank executives jailed under Trump, but the private prisons will be filled with petty criminals who don’t pose a systemic threat to anything. I’ve never hoped to be more wrong about anything.

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In Liberty,
Michael Krieger

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24 thoughts on “The Stupidity of Jeff Sessions Could Single-Handedly Bring Down Trump”

  1. I totally agree with this post. Having worked in law enforcement, I know a lot of moderate conservative types, some of whom voted for Trump and others who either voted third party or who abstained this past November. None I have talked to buy into the Russia conspiracy nonsense, and though I have not discussed the issue of a potential Trump crackdown on recreational marijuana I imagine most of them would say that law enforcement has far bigger priorities.

    Hopefully, idiot Sessions will begin his crusade in deep red Alaska and get his rear end thoroughly handed to him. Just imagine a horde of Lower 48 ATF and DEA agents trying to enforce his idiotic crackdown up there where everyone is armed and people hate the federal government anyway–and pass the popcorn while you’re at it.

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  2. I have to support Sessions. Already we have seen “driving while “buzzed” is drunk driving”—and auto accidents are on the rise. Also, reports indicate the young kids are getting “buzzed”—-and in addition to car accidents, school grades are dropping even among the very young—“The blind leading the blind” They see their parents using pot and getting “high” and the kids too want some of the “fun”—-and the “stuff”is available (in too many instances) within their house and on the streets—-just like beer is now in many people’s refrigerators, or the parent’s home bar. Children (and many adults) have yet to discover that being buzzed and driving, get people killed. And as most areas, pot is available most everywhere. A hard fact of life is most heron addicts started with pot. Another is, female heron addition is about twice that of males. It appears (and I don’t know this to be a fact), that many males use pot to get females in a “better frame of mind” for sex

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    • I highly enjoyed your use of quotation marks in your post. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go smoke with a female friend. She usually hates me but with a couple of puffs, she’ll be all over me apparently.

    • The old belief that marijuana is a gateway drug goes away completely when you study the places that it’s legal. It can, however, be a gateway culture. When the guy you go to to buy pot is also selling meth and heroin, you enter the culture of illicit drugs and there may be some correlation between the two. When pot is “mainstreamed” that illicit culture surrounding it goes away and so does the gateway.

    • I’ve known people who have smoked marijuana 40 years without ever having an accident. And did you know in states where pot is legal use among teenagers has dropped? Legalization made it less dangerous and less attractive. Jeff Sessions is an idiot hell bent on hurting other people.

  3. If you think that marijuana is a serious issue and something that could take down the Trump administration, you are focusing on trivia. Msm also lacks a sense of proportion about issues.

    The vast majority of people don’t care if recreational marijuana is legal or illegal, or even if it exists or doesn’t exist, because they don’t use it. It has no effect on their lives. They care about jobs, security and prosperity.

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  4. Herman, the majority of people smoke marijuana. That is why it is passing in every state. It is the only thing that most Americans seem to agree upon.

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    • Obviously your circle of friends is a bit closed, as the majority of ‘people’ do not smoke marijuana (thank God). You know, Russia provides vodka to all of its citizens to keep them ‘dumbed down’ vs rising up against government. Guess you like being dumbed down? This is about rule of law against the federal statutes and when you overlook one you might as well overlook the rest. There are certain laws that must be common across all states until a common agreement is implemented, especially when it affects the safety of citizens. In the meantime, you continue smoking to alleviate your mental pain and anxiety, and stay quiet while things get fixed for the rest of us.

    • As someone who lives in Colorado and has personal experience with cannabis as well as many friends for almost 20 years that do, I can say that some of the most intelligent, productive, successful people I know are cannabis users. Moderate use is key, and as you state alcohol is a much more pernicious drug.

      Moreover, those of us who believe in limited government, and decentralization (you are clearly a big government statist) come to the obvious conclusion that the states should decide. Many have, and many more will, and there’s nothing Sessions can do about it.

    • David H. I agree. In both legal and illegal states polls show that the majority of “WE THE PEOPLE” would rather tax and regulate it. I know that my state-Louisiana–is literally drowning in dept. They are maxing out our taxes, cutting our healthcare and cutting our educational funding, BUT they are building private prisons like crazy and funneling money into the Dept. of Corrections. Right now they are letting the non violent drug offenders get out of jail during the day to work and they go home to jail every night. The inmate makes 25% of his paycheck and the private prison makes 75% of his money. I know this because my company has about 9 of them working here. We can’t offer them insurance or have any deductions coming out of their paychecks except taxes-but if they get sick–they are charges full price for the Dr. visit and care. It goes on their books. We truly have legal slave labor here in Louisiana!

  5. Good post, accurate to a fault. Sessions is brain dead without question and yes, repudiating what millions of Americans have voted for regarding the legalization of pot based on false data is a non starter without question. The question to ask here is, does Trump realize this or is his ego too large to acknowledge the danger here.

    One cannot make this up.

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  6. Would it not be a better use of government resources to work on getting the illegals out of our country and properly vetting the ones who are attempting to come here legally from the muslim-run countries of the world? He could get after the reefer populace later, after our borders and cities are secure.

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  7. Now kiddies, please stop playing with fire. The problems for medical use of marijuana are easily overcome. The consequences of marijuana for recreational purposes has been shown to be severe. We are seeing it in many of the ‘leaders’ coming up – now there is ‘brain dead’ and ‘stupid’

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    • Far from severe. I live in Colorado and you have no idea what you are talking about. Moreover, I could probably find 100 people in less than 24 hours who are 10x as successful and productive as you and use marijuana.

      Get a clue.

  8. Yep, Sessions is a moron and is flaunting that to the world. But I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that, on marijuana at least, these pronouncements will prove to be 99% hot air. Do you think that Colorado, which raked in over a hundred million dollars last year in marijuana taxes, is going to roll over for a bunch of fossilized feds who have a stick up their butt about everything? Ditto the other states where “recreational” use is legal.

    I expect some token gestures from Trump and his gang, nothing more.

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  9. The Constitution does not give the Feds any authority to control ANYTHING..except the BORDERS…all other items are controlled by the STATES…as in they did not grant the feds any power to regulate ANYTHING…..and the commerce clause ONLY covers items moving between states and if the States have a conflict with each other, then the Feds are there to try and settle a STATE vs STATE issue…thats it..period….imho…..

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  10. Mr. Krieger

    not saying Sessions is not a relic/lump of future coal, but you will have no problem finding stories to make Trump & his selected team look anti-We-the-people, particularly from pro-Deep State fake news promoters like Business Insider & The Hill.

    They specialize in subtle, toned-down propaganda such as those stories you’ve linked to.

    I don’t think anything will come of this backwards nonsense.

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  11. Michael, I think your perch in Colorado gives you a skewed perspective on the will of Trump voters. Colorado voted for Hillary. Even though most Americans favor MJ legalization or at least state-level decisions, I don’t think many of Trump voters care *enough* about this issue one way or another. If American’s favorite car color is white, they aren’t going to dump Trump if he prefers black.

    The 2020 election will be about people’s personal lives: have they improved or not after 4 years. Median wages, income distribution, jobs (Employment-Population Ratio), and healthcare expenses will be key.

    The 2018 elections will probably be about Obamacare, Infrastructure, and Taxes, as in, have the R’s made any *perceived* positive progress on these issues. It will be too early to judge the actual results of legislation. Just as long as significant bills have been passed, most Independants and Republicans will be happy.

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    • Btn-I have to disagree with you on the “will of the Trump voters”. Some of US/ME have NEVER voted republican in our lives but just could not stomach the thought of Killary getting elected. I have smoked pot for 30 years and am a 55 year old lesbian grandmother. I work and pay taxes! I took a chance that Trump truly loves America and wants to MAGA. I have bought mary jane illegally my whole life-except when I took a trip to Colorado–and will continue to do so if we NEVER legalize it. I would just like to live out my retirement years not being considered a criminal!

  12. meauxjeaux777, thank you for your input, but I think your post supports my assesment.

    I understand that Trump’s base is diverse and that many of them do support full pot legalization. However, the key is that very few of them view pot legalization as the **most important issue** – or even in the top 3.

    Take yourself as an example. Obviously a Democratic administration (ie, Hillary) would be much more likely to support pot legalization. Bill and Obama (if I remember correctly) even admitted to smoking pot in the past. Democrats are also strongly in favor of reducing criminal penalties and prosecutions for pot.

    Knowing this, you STILL switched parties to vote Republican – meaning that you yourself didn’t see the pot issue as one of the *major* issues of the election. If keeping pot illegal is solely enough for Trump to lose your support, then you most definitely voted for the wrong candidate.

    Reply

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