Trump fired Alexander Vindman and had him escorted out of the White House. And also hinted that the army would be investigating him and taking terrible vengeance. Well, the army seems to think differently, as they are a corps with rules and honor (two things Trump isn't acquainted with). Vindman will still have a job with the army, though probably a quiet low-key job. I doubt he'll end up in the brig. Ambassador Sondland was also fired--for not being the liar Trump needed him to be. Sondland can go back to running his hotel empire and be a poster child for saying no to a job in the Trump administration.
Then there was the scandal about Roger Stone, the unofficial Trump adviser and go-between to Wikileaks. The prosecutors' sentencing proposal was quite harsh, maybe 7-9 years or more. The DOJ quashed it and substituted a different proposal--a mealy-mouthed leave-it-to-the-judge request. The prosecutors protested and quit. Big brouhaha, but now (a week later) probably nothing will happen. Barr complained that Trump's tweets make his job impossible. Big headlines, but nothing happened on that either. Maybe Barr told him is was for public consumption, and the move was inspired by Trumpian strategy. That's my speculation for how Barr got away with it. In any case, Barr still appears to be very loyal and running interference for Trump while trying to keep up appearances.
Besides Vindman and Sondland, there are other bigger purges starting, just like you'd expect with a dictator. Apparently you can't, as head of the intelligence services, tell Congress that the Russians are interfering again. Lose your job, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Loyalty trumps truth, so there is a new acting head, and he walks the walk of loyalty. How many more people with insufficent loyalty and misguided honor will be fired? We'll see. It seems to me that I could turn this into blistering anti-Trump commercials come election time. Probably someone will do it, right? The somber narration practically writes itself:
[Voiceover] President Trump values loyalty to himself personally over everything else. Tell the truth about Russian interference--you're fired. Tell the truth about quid pro quo with Ukraine--you're fired...
FIRED!!!!!
Image: abcnews.go.com
Update 4/3/20. Trump fired the Inspector General who didn't quash the whistleblower complaint about Ukraine, but instead followed the law and informed Congress. He did this on a Friday evening during a pandemic crisis.
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