Up until today, I would have said Trump was keeping Sessions to avoid a confirmation fight in the midst of tax reform, health care reform, and/or immigration reform legislation battles. Trump didn't want to give Democrats leverage to tie an upcoming AG confirmation with concessions to legislation.But now...
Tax reform is done; health care reform is stalled; Democrats are weakened on immigration reform due to their misguided government shut-down and their abhorrent State of the Union behavior; and Democrats are distracted by "the memo" and upcoming abuse of power revelations.
The time may be ripe for some Cabinet replacements. I'd rather see Trump and McConnell take on some Cabinet nomination fights now while there is a lull in legislation fights, a ramp-up in oversight committee investigations into Democrats, and especially before any expected SCOTUS seats open up.
That was right after the SOTU. Just in the past week, we saw the Grassly memo, the Schiff prank, some FBI departures, the Warner attempted collusion...
And still, McConnell makes nice to Schumer on a "compromise" budget deal!
So... I think Trump doesn't trust McConnell to manage a Cabinet confirmation fight, because McConnell is the kind of schoolyard bully who doesn't mind picking on his own but runs from fights with rivals.
Trump will have to live with the Cabinet he has, unless he's forced to fill a vacancy. McConnell is just too unreliable an ally.
-PJ
Republicans are simply not equipped to press the advantage. It must be something in the water in DC, because Republicans refuse to play their strong cards EVERY time.
-PJ