U.S. President Donald Trump reads an executive order before signing it at Homeland Security headquarters in Washington, U.S.
By : Ahmad al-Farraj
Over the past week, after long hearings, unjustified postponements and a heated debate between Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, the Council voted to approve the appointment of Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General.
All the Democrats, except for a single senator, voted against the appointment. But since the Republicans are the majority of the senate with 52 seats out of 100, the confirmation had been approved. Traditionally, all the candidates of the new cabinet are approved with a large majority rate.
With President Trump the situation is different, as a result of the sharp ideological splits between the conservatives and the liberals in the American society, especially with regard to the new Attorney General, so what is the reason behind this?!
Some civil rights groups and black rights organizations accuse the new Attorney General of racism. He is from the state of Alabama, in the deep conservative American South. Alabama has a long history with racial movement before the adoption of the Civil Rights Act in the sixties of the last century .It is also one of the states that seceded from the United States, after President Abraham Lincoln decided to abolish slavery, more than a century and a half ago. The new Attorney General already served as US Attorney for Alabama, before he was elected as a member of the Senate on behalf of the same state.
His opponents claim that his career echoes a clear intolerance toward other racial groups and bigotry. Trump nominated Sessions for the Justice department, because the latter was very loyal to him since the first day of his candidacy. Indeed, Sessions attended some of the gatherings of Trump electoral campaign and even took part in the events, so the nomination is rightfully his.
The problem, as I have repeatedly emphasized, is that Trump came from outside the institution, and promised to shake Washington to its core to serve the American public.
Ahmad al-Farraj
To be objective, the Democrats failed, during the confirmation process of the new Attorney General, to prove any racist charges against him. Moreover, some black testimonies were in favor of Sessions and stressed that he was not a racist. As a matter of fact, his career was characterized by trying to preserve the values of justice and equality. Thus shutting down the controversies around him led a systematic smear campaign against him, headed by African American Representative John Lewis, who testified against his colleague in the Senate in a rare, once in a lifetime phenomenon!
The ferocious campaign led by the Democrats against Trump and his candidate for the Ministry of Justice, is not the first of its kind. It is a part of a systematic campaign against Trump and his Cabinet since he won the presidency. A campaign supported by Media titans. Most of Trump’s candidates faced the same fate. The state secretary of Education, the Treasury Secretary of State and The Secretary of State for Health all stood against stormy interrogations in the Senate. But Sessions faced the most stubborn savage inquiry of all.
As a follower of American affairs I can say, that these campaigns would not have happened if the new president came from within the official establishment in Washington. The problem, as I have repeatedly emphasized, is that Trump came from outside the institution, and promised to shake Washington to its core to serve the American public. This is the reason for the fierce campaigns against him by politicians and the media. So stay tuned because there are blustery times ahead and the battles are not finished yet.
Ahmad al-Farraj….
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in the Column section are their own and do not reflect RiyadhVision’s point-of-view.
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