Trump reportedly thinks Jeff Sessions is poorly educated and talks funny

President Trump "loves the poorly educated," as he so bluntly reminded supporters in a 2016 speech. But he's making an exception for non-Ivy Leaguer Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

The Justice Department head just can't catch a break with the president. He's been slammed as "weak" on everything and is even hidden from the Trump at Cabinet meetings. That's because Trump apparently hates Sessions, right down to his "marbles in his mouth" Southern accent, aides tell Politico.

Ever since the attorney general recused himself from the Justice Department's Russia investigation last year, paving the way for the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Trump has consistently hated on Sessions. What started as petty tweeted insults has turned into declarations that Sessions "never took control of the Justice Department," as the president told Fox & Friends last week. Even Sessions' former GOP friends have turned against him.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Now, it's apparently gotten down to personal attacks on Sessions' Alabama roots. Trump has told aides that he wants Sessions, who was born in Selma, Alabama, to avoid TV appearances because he "talks like he has marbles in his mouth," Politico reports. He also doesn't like that Sessions went to the University of Alabama, preferring Ivy League associations over the Crimson Tide. Trump has aired these gripes to "any senator who will listen," a GOP aide tells Politico.

It's a funny complaint coming from the president who's publicly touted his Southern supporters as "the true elite," Daily Intelligencer's Jonathan Chait opines. But behind the closed castle doors, Chait says Trump just "cannot stand the stink" of the working-class people who support him.