Trump takes on Justice

Donald Trump simply can’t get beyond the fact that he is merely president of the United States and not the head of some banana republic — where every head bows down and every official pays homage.

Once again yesterday Trump berated Attorney General Jeff Sessions using his usual weapon of choice — Twitter.

Trump wrote: “Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!”

That at least half of what Trump alleges is false seems not to matter to him. But it should to the rest of us. There is no “massive” abuse of the FISA court, but rather an entirely partisan dispute about whether prosecutors accurately described the so-called Steele dossier when asking for a surveillance warrant on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. The inspector general can develop cases for criminal prosecution, and while the current IG was appointed in 2012 during the Obama administration, he had previously served during the George W. Bush administration as well.

But whenever Trump is clearly frustrated — as he is now — that he doesn’t rule the world, that this remains a nation of laws, he lashes out via Twitter.

Sessions, who has been among his favorite scapegoats, responded yesterday, saying, “We have initiated the appropriate process that will ensure complaints against this department will be fully and fairly acted upon if necessary.

“As long as I am the attorney general, I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor.”

The president could, of course, simply fire Sessions, just as he did then-FBI Director James Comey — because that worked out so well for him, no?