The “fired” people — the Inspectors-General — have written back to Trump pointing out that his order to terminate them was illegal, and they’ll be coming back to work.
(That’s what Norm Eisen just reported today on Jen Psaki’s show on MSNBC.)
That’s good news. We have seen all too much acquiescence in Trump’s lawless and destructive launch of this new Presidency. America needs to stop Trump, which means either defeating him or making him earn every inch of his assault on the Rule of Law.
These Inspectors-General — who will hang onto their jobs as long as they can, because they understand that their oversight provides a bulwark against corruption and criminality (like what Trump intends, and is already demonstrating) — have taken a stand against Trump’s lawlessness.
This act of resistance can be added to the decision of the judge to block Trump’s presidential fiat removing a piece of the Constitution he didn’t like (birthright), declaring it “blatantly unconstitutional” and telling the lawyers on Trump’s side, “I have difficulty understanding how a member of the bar would state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order. It just boggles my mind.”
Signs of resistance. Stand up to Trump. Stop him (if possible). At least dramatize Trump’s attempts to seize dictatorial powers by making a fight over every piece of ground.
It is hard to know how to present the present political battle. MSNBC has made, I believe, the wrong decision: too much of the coverage is designed to evoke outrage at the latest outrageous thing that Trump has done. They’ve lost viewership, and I can understand why.
They’re still doing good work, reporting important things.
But I’ve cut back on my own watching because it is too damned ugly to look at all the terrible things that are happening because — in the 2024 Election — the American people handed the powers of the presidency (plus whatever additional powers he will usurp) to Donald Trump.
So I can understand why a great many people on the pro-Democracy side are avoiding the news because it’s just too painful to behold the ongoing vandalism of so much that’s best about America.
There’s an alternative way of covering this battle against lawless power, even in this bleak environment,
MSNBC could shift the presentation toward stories like the IG’s standing up against Trump’s lawlessness, in firing them without going through the legally required process (including telling providing the Senate with reasons for these Inspectors-General being fired).
They are heroes of the resistance even if it turns out that they are just buying time. It may well be that they get fired a month hence: if Senate Republicans were willing to confirm Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, it’s hard to imagine what they wouldn’t rubber-stamp at Trump’s behest. Including the firing of the IG’s (however hollow and bogus the “reasons” given).
But they are heroes of the resistance even if they only slow down the advance of Fascism, for everyone who stands up against Trump, and for the Rule of Law, dramatizes that Americans can and will fight to preserve our democratic standards. And inspires other people to emulate their example — i.e. to fight against the demolition of American Democracy — rather than the disgusting examples of Bezos and Zuckerberg, who capitulated without a fight.