Trump Fires Defense Secretary In A Tweet
Mark EsperCredit: Wikipedia
November 9, 2020

In a desperate bid for attention, Donald Trump pulled the plug on Defense Secretary Mark Esper Monday morning via tweet.

Poor guy needed someone to say he's still a powerful man, even as his power wanes away and he faces numerous legal battles in states he can't avoid.

Esper and Trump have been at odds for awhile, and Esper was reported to have prepared a letter of resignation after the election, but Trump just wanted the petty joy of firing him because he could.

Interestingly, Esper's successor should not be Christopher Miller, according to several experts, but instead the Senate-confirmed Acting Deputy Defense Secretary.

Esper broke with Trump in June when he refused to call out the military to quell protests and racial unrest. His willingness to rename military bases which were named after confederate generals was the last petty straw. And as Julia Ioffe notes, the bull in a china shop is thrashing about.

To which Charlie Pierce notes, quite correctly:

I'm sure there will be more of this. Trump, like other Republicans before him, will burn it all down before handing it off to the Democrat.

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