Trump fires his “mentally retarded” Cabinet secretary. Who called him that? Trump.

September 18: On This Day In 2018

Trump picks an accused racist: In 1986, Jeff Sessions was nominated to be a federal judge in Alabama. However, his candidacy was voted down by the United States Senate Judiciary Committee due to allegations of racism against him. Nevertheless, upon his election, Donald Trump fought hard to ensure that specific guy would become the nation’s Attorney General.

Trump had to "fight hard" because, as Trump himself explained, during the confirmation process Sessions “did very poorly. I mean, he was mixed up and confused, and … he was giving very confusing answers. Answers that should have been easily answered.” Despite his being obviously unsuited for the role of the nation’s top lawyer, the GOP-led Senate caved to Trump’s wishes and confirmed the guy as AG.

(Why was Trump so insistent it had to be Jeff Sessions? Maybe nobody qualified wanted to work with Trump? That, and also Sessions was the first senator to endorse Candidate Trump.)

Trump continued to mock his own pick: He later called his own key Cabinet member “a dumb Southerner,” “mentally retarded,” and an “idiot.” “I don’t have an Attorney General,” Trump moaned OTDI 2018. 

Trump finally fired Sessions the day after the 2018 midterm elections. Yet another of Trump’s “only the best people.”

BTW: Trump's phraseology is now seen as pejorative, and isn't used so much these days. Fourteen years ago, in a ceremony attended by members of the Special Olympics, Obama and the bipartisan Congress passed "Rosa's Law;" it officially changed mentions in federal laws of "mental retardation" to, instead, "mental disability." So Trump, if he had cared enough to use current terminology, would have referred to Sessions instead as "an individual with an intellectual disability."

For more info about this hurtful phrase: www.r-word.org

Dive Deeper

• The Guardian reports on his confirmation

• CNN compiled this partial list of Trump’s insults of his own AG

• CNN details Sessions’ departure

• The AP quotes Trump’s complaints

• The interview with Hill TV includes Trump’s evaluation

• Pic: Gage Skidmore

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On This Day In The Trump Administration: Trump fires Jeff Sessions