“Good enough for government work” is not a mentality that will get you far in Donald Trump’s White House.
Officials in the billionaire businessman’s administration were once again reminded over the weekend that job performance is the only thing that matters when it comes to working for the American people and that nothing short of perfection will be tolerated.
Take it from former Secretary of Homeland Security Kirsten Nielsen herself. During an interview on Fox News last October, she was asked about her job security and President Trump’s evaluation of her future. “Everything is on the table,” Nielsen admitted.
Nielsen submitted her resignation over the weekend, and four other DHS personnel were either fired, moved, or promoted. The shakeup comes shortly after President Trump announced on Friday that he would withdraw the nomination of Ron Vitiello to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), explaining that he wants to go in a “tougher direction” with a new nominee.
In the wake of Nielsen’s departure, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, Kevin McAleenan, has been promoted to acting Secretary of DHS.
The sudden staffing changes shocked the open borders loving political establishment in Washington, who were apparently uniformly aghast that we have a President so serious about keeping his promise to the American people to clean up the mess at the southern border and end illegal immigration once and for all, that he would actually fire ineffective members of his Administration. After all, until President Trump came along, Washington was the perfect place for anyone looking for job security.
Things are different now, however. Poor performance is no longer overlooked, much less rewarded.
Over the past 16 months, the illegal immigration crisis has only become worse, not better, under Nielsen’s watch and because of that, President Trump is right to want to change course and find a replacement who will more effectively secure our southern border.
In spite of the absurd claims by Democrats and their allies in the establishment media that there is no crisis at the border, More than 76,000 migrants were apprehended crossing the southern border in February, the highest total for that month in more than 10 years. March was even worse, with more than 100,000 illegal immigrants contacted or apprehended at the border. At the current pace, Border Patrol officials project that a staggering 1.2 million illegal immigrants will enter the country in 2019.
With the U.S. economy booming for the first time in over a decade and warm weather approaching, every indication is that the situation is going to get worse in the coming weeks and months.
While former Secretary Nielsen certainly doesn't deserve all of the blame, as she was undoubtedly hamstrung by the failure of Democrats in Congress to make common-sense revisions to statutes that have severely limited the ability of our law enforcement agents to do their jobs, the bottom line is that she and her team simply couldn’t get the job done, so the President is going to replace them with people who can.
The American people elected President Trump because he promised to end the illegal immigration crisis and finally secure our border — not so he could make friends in Washington by protecting the careers of government appointees and bureaucrats. Demonstrating once again that he’s nothing like typical establishment politicians, Donald Trump took that responsibility seriously by putting his foot down, cleaning house and charting a new path forward to keep our country safe.
While this might come as a shock to Democrats in Congress and the talking heads on CNN, “Good enough” just isn’t good enough when it comes to protecting our border or our country as a whole. The American people deserve better, and this President is fighting to make sure we get everything we deserve and more.
Andy Surabian is a Republican strategist and former special assistant to President Trump and deputy strategist in the White House.