Donald Jong Trump, Tyrant

UPDATED BELOW

Were there any lingering doubts that Trump is NOT a cancer on the soul of our republic, Friday night’s Festival of Sadism removes them.

Andrew McCabe, a Target of Trump’s F.B.I. Scorn, Is Fired Over Candor Questions
By MATT APUZZO and ADAM GOLDMAN MARCH 16, 2018
New York Times

WASHINGTON — Andrew G. McCabe, the former F.B.I. deputy director and a frequent target of President Trump’s scorn, was fired Friday after the Justice Department rejected an appeal that would have let him retire this weekend….

This was the clear objective of The Tyrumph’s many appeals “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?” except, of course, there is not so much as the slightest iota of a scintilla of a doubt that he meant it precisely as it went down, and not, as King Henry II claimed, that overzealous courtiers “misinterpreted” his statement.

Perhaps McCabe is no Thomas à Becket. Then again, perhaps he is.

The putative “President of the United States of America,” marshaling all the awesome powers of his office, and all the personal vitriol of his enormous and atavistic id tweeted, crowing:

Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI – A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!
9:08 PM – Mar 16, 2018

This has all the hallmarks of a beer hall putsch, except that the beer hall is the White House.

Listen to the accusation: that James Comey (who arguably threw the election TO The Tyrumph) was corrupt through and through, and that Andrew McCabe (who is accused, at worst, of “lacking candor” in a supposed “leak” investigation, although when one balances the supposed transgression against the consequences — firing a man who was due to take early retirement on Sunday, thus, possibly depriving him of his earned pension for the rest of his life) is almost as terrible. Well, that smacks of a Banana Republic.

As do The Tyrumph’s repeated demands that the Justice Department investigate (and hopefully imprison) his defeated opponent — who he still seems to think he’s running against.

Think of it: McCabe was already taking early retirement and had stepped away from any and all positions of power within the FBI. The Tyrumph had WON. Had hounded or fired the entire top level of FBI management and inserted his own stooge. But that wasn’t enough for him.

With Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III’s own head on the chopping block, The Tyrumph demanded that Sessions FIRE McCabe. Why?

Best case is that he intended to “make an example” of all non-goose-stepping FBI personnel.

Worst case is that he intended to personally “get even” with McCabe over perceived slights, which cannot possibly fit the penalty that The Tyrumph actually wants: the crippling of McCabe’s ability to draw other than Social Security and Medicare from his retirement. And to live out his existence on cat food.

Make no mistake: human beings don’t matter to a sociopath, and they do not matter to The Tyrumph.

This is part and parcel of his not-so-stealth campaign to purge the Federal bureaucracy of all dissenting voices, pervert the civil service back into a “spoils” based patronage system and establish his utter hegemony within the former “rule of law.”

He has arguably trampled on his oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies, domestic and foreign” (emphasis on “foreign“), engaged in a campaign of terror and intimidation within the Federal machinery he is supposed to “administer” and openly trampled on the notion that his office is NOT a vending machine to extract as many emoluments as possible from. He has engaged in clueless nepotism, bullies porn actresses into silence (just filed a $20 million COUNTER-lawsuit against Stormy Daniels and is attempting to move the cases into FEDERAL courts, which, arguably, he has much more control over than state courts*) and endlessly bullies anyone who dares speak against his clueless tyranny.

[* oddly, he SIGNED this lawsuit, even though he didn’t bother signing his “Dirk Diggler” non-disclosure “gag” agreement with Ms. Daniels.]

Trump may play golf, but WE’RE behind the 8-ball

No: we must face facts. We now live in an oligarchy (as a famous Princeton study found) and our losing-the-election-by-3-million-votes “victor” pretends that he rules with a mandate indistinguishable from the divine right of kings.

(Never mind the hilarious imputation of “us guys” solidarity with the “the hard working men and women of the FBI” like they were his coal-mining buddies. Satire fails us here, as the reality far out-absurds any possible attempt at reductio ad absurdum. The American frog, he be a-boiling at this juncture.)

And he plays golf on the taxpayer’s dime now for over 100 days of his leprous maladministration.

If, at this point, you haven’t gotten the point, there is no point in going further.

Mr. McCabe promptly declared that his firing, and Mr. Trump’s persistent needling, were intended to undermine the special counsel’s investigation in which he is a potential witness.
Mr. McCabe is accused in a yet-to-be-released internal report of failing to be forthcoming about a conversation he authorized between F.B.I. officials and a journalist…. In an interview, Mr. McCabe was blunt. “The idea that I was dishonest is just wrong,” he said, adding, “This is part of an effort to discredit me as a witness.” [New York Times, ibid.]

Gee.

This also falls in line with The Tyrumph’s continual attempts to hollow out the federal bureaucracy as he has hollowed out the State Department, leaving our national security and engagement in the world in tatters. The ultimate effects of this last are going to dog us for many years to come, alas. And the GOP has mindlessly, cheerfully followed along at every step, cowed into willing submission (when they ought to know better) by their fear of the Mythic Trump Base, who control the GOP primaries even though they represent a small, fanatical fringe that in no wise represents the vast majority of Americans.

There was NO REASON to fire an employee on Friday who was retiring on Sunday, OTHER than for intimidation and institutional sadism.

Sorry. Decent human beings understand that.

Which leaves Donald Jong Trump, Tyrant, out of the loop.

And no, I’m not playing nice. Increasingly, the following tragic proposition becomes painfully self-evident: if Republicans had souls they wouldn’t be Republicans.

Courage. (We’ll need it.)

UPDATE 03-17-2018 @ 1:45 PM PDT

The Associated Press reports [emphasis added]:

… Former CIA Director John Brennan … responded Saturday to a tweet Trump sent hours after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that he had fired Andrew McCabe. Trump has repeatedly accused McCabe of dishonesty.

Brennan tweeted to Trump: “When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America…America will triumph over you.” […]