Sen. Jeff Sessions this week touted Donald Trump’s campaign as the political triumph of his own economic policies over the GOP ‘geniuses’ who predicted that Republicans couldn’t win the White House without passing a comprehensive immigration bill.
At a “populism and U.S. politics” event Thursday evening, Sessions noted that Trump’s campaign has thrived on issues like tougher immigration laws, and being tougher on trade.
“That’s been the debate going on publicly and not so publicly within the Republican conference for quite a long time now,” he said. “And we have a contest that arguments are being tested out in the market. And who has gone to the top and who is staying at the top?” he asked, referring to Trump.
“I think that it validates maybe even more than I suspected the hunger of the American people for someone who listens to them.”
Sessions’ criticism of trade deals, some of which he voted for, and his call for lower levels of legal immigration have generated skepticism among Republican colleagues, who question the wisdom of the policies and worry that such a platform would alienate swing voters and minorities.
But Sessions mocked the Republicans who said that’s the best way forward.
“After the last election, there was this shocking bit for Republicans and there was a post mortem and a lot of people had ideas,” he recalled. “The geniuses that wanted to tell us how to win the next election said, ‘well you’ve got to be more moderate and you’ve got to have amnesty.’ That was their agenda.”
“There was a big meeting, I don’t know why they invited me, but this was the establishment view,” he added. “They had their pollsters and the politicians and they went around, and I questioned that. It was a little bit tense.”
Sessions argued that working-class voters decide elections, contrasting George W. Bush’s 2004 victory with Romney’s significant defeat among voters who made between $30,000 and $50,000 a year.
“The working American — Hispanic, immigrant, native-born, African American — is where the election is being lost and somebody needs to be talking to them about their concerns,” he said. “They’re worried about their job, their safety, the future of their job.”
