Alabama Sen. [crscore]Jeff Sessions[/crscore], who hasn’t endorsed anyone in the Republican presidential race, praised Donald Trump on Tuesday for “expanding the tent” of the Republican Party.
Appearing on Laura Ingraham’s radio show, the Alabama senator said: “Well, you mentioned the Trump phenomenon. I think indeed he is reaching people we have to have come into our party.”
“Working Americans of all stripes,” he said. “These are people who make below $50,000 a year. The country isn’t doing well for them right now. People may be getting rich in Wall Street but not the average worker. And he is appealing to them. And a lot of those have been going over to Democrats. But they can be brought back.”
“They say we need to expand the tent,” Sessions added. “Well, I think he’s expanding the tent in that regard.”
Sessions, who helped Trump develop his immigration plan and who had a top staffer join the New York businessman’s campaign, cautioned the candidate about his recent criticism of George W. Bush. In the recent debate, Trump accused Bush of lying about going to war in Iraq and said the former president failed to keep the country safe.
“He’s got to be — we got to be careful about this messaging, we don’t want to offend good and decent Americans who supported President Bush,” Sessions said. “So I worry a little bit about that.”
Ingraham told Sessions that candidates like Jeb Bush believe he can grow the party because of their brand of compassionate conservatism is about employing a “softer dialogue” and not being “so harsh.”
“I don’t like that philosophy,” Sessions said. “What that’s saying is if you get more moderate, then you win elections. I’ve heard that argument for years. But…swing voters, the people that vote for different parties each time, they’re not all moderates. I mean, they’re upset about things. They think there’s too much corruption, they think nobody cares about people like them.”