“You’re fired!” It’s the phrase that made Donald Trump famous back when he was the host of “The Apprentice” (and relatively harmless). Now that he’s the President of the United States, it’s a phrase that he seems to utter in the white house more than he ever did on the airwaves of NBC. The latest person to get the axe from his Cabinet is Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who’s been booted from the State Department just in time for the President’s hotly anticipated meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang.
Over the course of the past year and a bit that he’s been the President, Trump has lost a lot of personnel from his administration.
Some of them have been fired, while others have jumped ship on their own accord. There’s James Comey, the Director of the FBI, who was sacked by Trump for heading up the investigation into his campaign’s possible ties to the Russian government. This was a very controversial firing, since some are calling it “obstruction of justice,” which would mean grounds for impeachment.
And then there’s Sally Yates, who was acting as the US Attorney General at the time of Trump’s controversial immigration ban (which was seen by many as a “Muslim ban”). Yates was appointed by former President Barack Obama, and she ordered the lawyers in the Department of Justice not to impose the ban, as she was “not convinced that the executive order [was] lawful.” Trump fired her for her “betrayal” of the Justice Department.
Top Democratic Party Senator Chuck Schumer called the Sally Yates firing a “chilling” move by the President.
Remember the whole Michael Flynn debacle with Turkey?
Trump fired his national security adviser Michael Flynn for having shady dealings in Turkey and having lied to Vice President Mike Pence. They dressed it up as a resignation, but after all of those other revelations came out, it was pretty clear that he didn’t leave voluntarily.
Then there’s prosecutor Preet Bharara, who was ordered to resign by racist Attorney General Jeff Sessions (who ordered every one of the 46 prosecutors Obama appointed). Bharara chose not to, and was then fired by Trump. Bharara was one of the good guys, tackling Wall Street corruption and terrorism.
US Office of Government Ethics boss Walter Shaub resigned before the end of his term after serving under both Obama and George W.
Bush, because he didn’t agree with any of Trump’s policies (it’s almost like satire – the ethics guy quits because the current President is THAT unethical). White House Communications Director Michael Dubke quit his job in May for “personal” reasons, while praising the Trump administration and the great time he had working for them. Right.
Ex-RNC chairman Reince Priebus resigned as Trump’s Chief of Staff last summer during a huge power struggle within the White House. It was chaos! The resignation came pretty soon after Anthony Scaramucci gave an expletive-ridden rant to a reporter about Priebus, alleging that he leaked information to the press. White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci was fired after just 11 days in the job.
He said he expected to last longer – duh! Strategy boss Steve Bannon was fired on very sour terms indeed – lots of yelling and ill feelings.
Everyone’s favourite putz, Sean Spicer
The lovably dopey Sean Spicer, the Press Secretary who didn’t know about the Holocaust and coined the term “alternative facts,” resigned on his own terms (supposedly). By then, he’d become a laughing stock at the hands of Melissa McCarthy’s savage “SNL” parodies. Health Secretary Tom Price quit amid disagreements with Trump over Obamacare.
Omarosa Manigault quit after an argument at a Christmas party, and said that what she saw in Trump’s White House made her “very uncomfortable” and “unhappy.” FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe resigned after a long history of being slammed and criticised by Trump. Rob Porter resigned after several former partners of his accused him of domestic violence. Speech writer David Sorenson resigned for the very same reason. And now, Rex Tillerson’s gone.
