President Donald Trump stunned the political world on Wednesday night when The New York Times published an interview in which the president slammed Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the investigation into Russian hacking.

Trump didn’t stop there.

He bashed his own attorney general’s testimony during contentious confirmation hearings earlier this year.

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The apparent reason for the animus? Trump is still stung by Sessions’ decision, made on March 2, to recuse himself from all Russia-related investigations.

The public thrashing in The Times was just the latest example of how Trump often uses the media to rebuke his own staffers — a very unusual strategy for most elected officials, let alone the president.

In April, Trump publicly dressed down aide Steve Bannon, who had been infighting with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

“I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late,” said Trump. “I had already beaten all the senators and all the governors, and I didn’t know Steve. I’m my own strategist, and it wasn’t like I was going to change strategies because I was facing crooked Hillary. Steve is a good guy, but I told them to straighten it out or I will.”

Then in May, Trump told reporters that his press shop was doing well, but spokesman Sean Spicer was taking a pounding from the media. Trump and his press office have since dramatically cut down on press briefings that are broadcast live.

“Trump staff volunteered for the job. As long as they stay, they must be okay with it.”

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Trump’s latest whack at one of his team members, through a newspaper, was the most harsh.

Sessions said Department of Justice guidelines forced him to act because he had acted as a surrogate on Trump’s campaign.

Trump was furious after the recusal, traveling to Mar-a-Lago that weekend last winter and stewing for days. It was about that time that Trump shot off his infamous tweet about former President Barack Obama wire-tapping Trump Tower.

A number of media outlets reported in the past few weeks that Trump is still upset about the recusal. Axios reported earlier this week that the first thing Trump thinks of when he sees or thinks of Sessions is the recusal — not a good sign. But no one expected Trump to confirm the feelings — to The Times, no less, a hostile media outlet.

Some pundits cannot figure out why Trump does it.

“Trump gains nothing from this except perhaps some venting as boss,” said Andrew Malcolm, a conservative columnist for McClatchy newspapers and a former bureau chief for The New York Times. “I’ve had a few bosses whose strategy was to keep everyone afraid, thinking fear drives them to strive harder to please or achieve. Have had more who were firm but understanding.”

The airing of the internal feud also left an awkward silence within the GOP. Few Republicans would defend either Trump or Sessions on the record when contacted by LifeZette. One top Alabama Republican official, who has known Sessions for years, declined to comment. And officials within the White House also declined to comment on Trump’s habit of airing dirty laundry.

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But attorney Sam Nunberg, a former adviser to Trump, said the Right needed to get over the fact that Trump gave the exclusive to The Times. And the Right needs to get over Sessions and his reputation as a loyal Trump supporter, said Nunberg, because Sessions played it wrong.

“[Trump] was right,” said Nunberg. “Why did Jeff Sessions have to recuse himself for the entire investigation, when [former Obama Attorney General] Loretta Lynch did not recuse herself? Sessions has created major problems for the administration, and that’s just the reality.”

Right or not, the fallout from Wednesday’s interview — which ran 50 minutes — was apparent all day Thursday.

First, Attorney General Jeff Sessions had to tell reporters at a morning press conference that he was not resigning.

Then Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the chief deputy White House spokesperson, had to face eager reporters awaiting an explanation on the criticisms. Sanders said the president has faith in Sessions and does not want to force him to step down.

“I think you know this president well enough to know that if he wanted [Sessions] to take an action, he would make that quite clear,” she said. “The president is disappointed in the decision, and I think he’s spoken about his feelings on this quite clearly.”

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Trump took heat all day, often from right-leaning outlets, which noted Sessions was one of the first Trump supporters, and that he was one of the most conservative members of the Senate.

The interview was “ill-timed, ill-focused,” according to Chris Stirewalt, the politics editor of Fox News, in an online column.

Stirewalt seemed stunned, as did many political observers, that Trump “revisited his disdain for Sessions, his first, most ardent, and most loyal supporter in the Senate.”

Fox News kicked off its 6 p.m. Eastern newscast with White House correspondent John Roberts saying Trump “beat the stuffing out of Sessions” in public.

McClatchy’s Malcolm said staff are likely used to the public thrashings by now.

“Trump staff volunteered for the job. As long as they stay, they must be okay with it,” he said.