Dear news media and DC establishment types, I’m here to say one thing: we don’t care. There’s a lot of clamoring about what President Donald J. Trump did on Friday night: give at least 12 inspectors general the axe. They heard those two famous words: ‘You’re fired.’ Yet, some note that this violated policy, as the Senate must be informed of such termination within 30 days (via WaPo) [emphasis mine]:
The White House late Friday fired the independent inspectors general of at least 14 major federal agencies in a purge that could clear the way for President Donald Trump to install loyalists in the crucial role of identifying fraud, waste and abuse in the government.
The inspectors general were notified by emails from the White House personnel director that they had been terminated immediately, according to people familiar with the actions, who like others in this report spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private messages.
The dismissals appeared to violate federal law, which requires Congress to receive 30 days’ notice of any intent to fire a Senate-confirmed inspector general.
[…]
Most of those dismissed were Trump appointees from his first term, which stunned the watchdog community. One prominent inspector general survived the purge — Michael Horowitz at the Justice Department, an appointee of President Barack Obama who has issued reports critical of both the Biden administration and Trump’s first administration.
[…]
“It’s a widespread massacre,” said one of the fired inspectors general. “Whoever Trump puts in now will be viewed as loyalists, and that undermines the entire system.”
The emails informing the watchdogs of their dismissals rippled across the agencies Friday. Another fired inspector general learned of his ouster by reading the email for the first time while on the phone with a Washington Post reporter who had called to ask about it. The person reacted by saying the new administration “does not want anyone in this role who is going to be independent.”
And? Again, we don’t care—and we all know what the DC swamp definition of “independent” means, which is protecting bad Democrats from accountability. Trump appointees don’t say much, as there have been plenty who have screwed us over. The old way of doing things is over. It’s Trump’s time; let him work.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member