The Revenge Tour

trump promised he would seek vengeance on those who convicted or attempted to convict him on the many crimes he'd committed over the years, and while he's a known liar we all knew this was going to happen because trump is a tiny, spiteful, bitter man who must lash out against those who humiliated him in public (and to the history books). 

So it's one week into his second attempt to fleece and destroy the United States when trump got around to firing anybody he could who was involved in his insurrection and stolen documents federal cases (from Ryan Lucas and Carrie Johnson at NPR): 

The acting attorney general moved on Monday to fire several Justice Department officials who worked on the federal criminal investigations into President Donald Trump, according to two department officials familiar with the matter.

In termination letters sent to more than a dozen officials, acting Attorney General James McHenry wrote that he did not believe they "could be trusted to faithfully implement the President's agenda because of their significant role in prosecuting the president," one of the officials said...

The move comes the same day that Trump's acting U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., Ed Martin, issued a memo announcing a "special project" to review the department's prosecutions of Jan. 6 Capitol rioters, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

Martin instructed prosecutors to provide all information related to the use of a specific obstruction charge, including files, documents, emails, notes and other information. He also describes the use of the charge against rioters as a "great failure," according to the person who described the memo to NPR...

Martin is lying, because those obstruction charges worked in the court trials to convict 1,500 or so rioters who were violent towards law enforcement and threatening the safety of Congressional elected officials and staff. This is trump and his loyalists attempting to rewrite the facts into trump's fantasies. Back to the firings:

President Trump, has lashed out for years at the Justice Department, accusing it of unfairly targeting him and his supporters in what he claims were politically motivated investigations.

He was particularly angry about the two investigations brought by special counsel Jack Smith. One case revolved around Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and the other case stems from Trump's keeping of classified documents after he left office. Both cases were dropped after Trump won the election.

Department officials, including former President Joe Biden's attorney general, Merrick Garland, have rejected the allegations of weaponizing the department. They point out that the department prosecuted prominent Democrats during Biden's term, including the president's son, Hunter, as well as two prominent Democratic members of Congress.

The horrifying thing is, trump - and those lackeys who have their own agendas against American ideals - needs to accuse Democrats of "politicizing" the Justice Department because he himself wants to turn it into his own political enforcement tool. he needs to turn the courts away from holding him accountable for the many crimes he wants to accomplish back in the Oval Office, and to harass everyone else to keep them broken or too afraid to stop him.

Look at the other firings trump committed over the weekend, when he purged the Inspector Generals of most of the Executive branch agencies that will be most affected by trump's schemes (via Lucia Suarez Sang, Scott MacFarlane, and Nancy Cordes at CBS News):

The Trump administration purged at least a dozen federal inspectors general overnight Friday, multiple sources confirmed to CBS News. It is an unprecedented move that will likely result in legal challenges.

Speaking to reporters abroad Air Force One on his way to Florida, President Trump on Saturday described the firings as "standard" and a "very common thing to do."

But one of the fired inspectors general, Mark Greenblatt, who was nominated to be inspector general of the Interior Department by Mr. Trump during his first term, told CBS News in a phone interview Saturday that he was "stunned" when he received the notification.

Asked why he thinks Mr. Trump fired him and others, he responded, "The most charitable interpretation is that he doesn't believe in our independence or our fairness. The least charitable interpretation is that he wants lackeys to rubber stamp what he's trying to do."

"It's very bizarre," Greenblatt said. "There's no unifying theme as to why he chose this group of 17. It just doesn't make sense, to be completely honest. It does not make sense. No one can figure out what was driving the list."

Don't forget, it was an inspector general who provided direct testimony into trump's illicit phone call to Ukraine withholding funds, which led to trump's first impeachment trial. You can bet trump did not forget that slight either.

If there's any good news, it's that trump's firings may have been illegal, and could well raise the ire of even a Republican-controlled Congress:

The inspector general of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Hannibal "Mike" Ware, said the firings are legally dubious and will be challenged.

Ware, who was among those fired and who chairs the the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, argued in a letter to a White House personnel official that he "does not believe the actions taken are legally sufficient."

According to Ware, he and other inspectors general were sent an email from Sergio Gor, the director of presidential personnel, on Friday informing them that "due to changing priorities, your position as Inspector General...is terminated, effective immediately."

Ware, in his letter, which was obtained by CBS News, recommended Gor reach out to White House legal counsel to discuss the "intended course of action" as "we do not believe the actions taken are legally sufficient to dismiss Presidentially Appointed, Senate Confirmed Inspectors General."

Federal law requires the White House to give Congress a full month of warning and case-specific details before firing a federal inspector general.

The fired inspectors general include many who were appointed during the first Trump administration, according to one source. Ware and Greenblatt were both sworn in during Mr. Trump's first administration. Back in 2020, Mr. Trump fired five inspector generals.

Ware, who is also the chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, an independent oversight body, said in a separate statement that inspector generals are not "immune from removal." However, he echoed that unjustified removals are a "significant threat" to the jobs they're meant to do.

"Congress specifically established the authorities and structure of the IGs to safeguard their vital oversight role, by mandating independence under the IG Act," he said. "Removals inconsistent with the law are a significant threat to the actual and perceived independence of IGs."   

Ware also noted that Congress recently amended the Inspector General Act to require the president to notify Congress 30 days prior to the removal of an inspector general, as well as requiring a "substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons."

in short: trump has to show cause, direct evidence that all of these inspector generals were in violation of some other law, or performing at a level of incompetence that would justify removal. But trump doesn't have that: All he has are his grievances and his corrupt needs to behave without accountability to anyone.

The firings of career prosecutors at Justice may also be unlawful, but it depends on how the civil service protects their professional employees from wrongful terminations.

This is now all on a Congress that may be controlled by Republicans, and whether they are keen to at least push back against trump's aggressive assaults on the rule of law and threats to their own authority. This is also on a Supreme Court - also controlled by Far Right jurists - who already granted presidents - trump especially - with broader executive powers, to which they could justify these firings and allow trump to escape further accountability.

None of this would be happening, by the by, if 77 million of you sadists and assholes didn't vote for the Convicted Felon and Court-Confirmed Sex Offender.

You're going to see corrupt rule by the worst people now over the coming months, and it's a legitimate question if most of us will even survive any of it.

(on a personal note, this is blog No. 2491, I'm nine away from 2500 which should be celebrated in some way. Maybe if people would visit the Sunshine State Book Festival in Gainesville, FL this February 1st when I'll be there promoting my books! Ow stop hitting me...)