US Elections: Why Trump's Fire of Defense Secretary Mark Esper Is Just the Beginning of 72 Wild Days

According to CNN, this fact was not terribly surprising. Esper has been on Trump's naughty list for months now - ever since he opposed the use of the military to quell the sometimes violent protests that erupted in major American cities after the death of George Floyd in May. Several weeks before the election, Esper had a pre-written resignation letter. So he knew his day was coming.

The removal of Esper, then, isn't terribly notable in itself. (In ANY other administration, firing the secretary of defense in a tweet would be a massive story, of course. So would a president on his fourth secretary of defense in two years.).

But what Esper's firing means is, according to CNN, something worth watching, because it marks the first movement in what could very well be the wildest, most uncontrolled 72 days in modern American political history. Here's why: While Trump still hasn't conceded the election -- and his top campaign officials insisted at an all-staff meeting on Monday that he's still very much alive in the race -- reality has and will continue to set in with the coming days and weeks he just won't win. And that's going to be a very hard pill to swallow.
"Winning is easy," Trump told his election day campaign staff. Losing is never easy. For me it is not. ".

Therefore, continues the aforementioned source, losing will make Trump very angry. And embittered. And vindictive. And less willing to even try to paint within the lines of acceptable behavior. Which means Esper's is the tip of the spear when it comes to what we should expect from Trump between now and January 20, 2021. If you thought the president was free until now, well, in the words of the Joker, you don't. seen nothing yet.

In the run-up to the election, Trump repeatedly attacked FBI Director Christopher Wray for his failure to effectively investigate alleged corruption within the bureau. The Washington Post reported in late October that Trump was considering removing Wray after the election, a move that could also endanger Attorney General William Barr, a Trump loyalist who fell out of favor with the president over investigation delays. of possible wrongdoing in the FBI's counterintelligence investigation during the 2016 election. Axios also reported in late October that Trump may fire CIA chief Gina Haspel.

More layoffs on the way?

The elimination of the heads of the Department of Defense, CIA and FBI — not to mention, potentially, the Department of Justice — could be just the beginning of a government-wide cull of those deemed insufficiently loyal to Trump. According to a senior administration official speaking with CNN's Jake Tapper, "John McEntee, director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, is spreading the word throughout the administration that if they hear of anyone looking for another job, they'll be fired."

And then will come the pardons and the commutations. As Mark Osler, a professor of law at the University of St. Thomas, wrote on CNN.com on Oct. 29:
"Win or lose, President Donald Trump may well seek to pardon his family members, administration officials, and possibly himself -- even, as Gerald Ford did for Richard Nixon, before any of them are convicted of anything. ."

Yes. Especially when you consider that Trump commuted the sentence of his longtime Svengali politician Roger Stone in July — not to mention the likes of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

And then there are other actions - whether through executive order or on the regulatory front - that we might not even be thinking about right now. And we may not even realize that Trump has noticed until he is formally out of office at noon on January 20th.

The issue here is simple: Pandora's box is open. The genie is out of the bottle. Pick your favorite cliché, but they all add up to the same thing: a president who has always seen his job as a way to reward friends and punish enemies will now have a 10-week period that will be increasingly free of consequences for him. the perception that he will not win a second term sets in. The only thing that could tie Trump's hands is his interest in running again in 2024. But his most loyal supporters would likely view any actions taken by Trump in his final days as a fitting send-off for the establishment on both sides.

Donald Trump in a good mood - and somewhat restrained by his advisers and future political concerns - is a scary thing. An angry Trump with too much power and no qualms about how he uses it? This is downright frightening, concludes the CNN analysis.