Last one out of Donald Trump’s collapsing White House, turn out the lights

| 7:30 pm EDT April 7, 2019
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

This morning Mick Mulvaney appeared on cable news and implied that because Donald Trump is in such a position of strength, House Democrats won’t succeed in their quest to seize his tax returns. Nevermind that these words were coming from Trump’s Acting White House Chief of Staff, because Trump is in such an untenable position of weakness, no one is willing to become his permanent White House Chief of Staff. As if to underscore Trump’s vulnerability, this evening he just lost another cabinet member.

Cabinet members nearly always “resign” even if they’re really being fired, so we have no way of knowing if Kirstjen Nielsen resigned voluntarily today as Homeland Security Director, or if Donald Trump fired her. All we know is that he wants people who are “tougher” against immigrants, which is nothing short of chilling when you consider how horridly evil Nielsen was to immigrants and their children.

Although Trump just nominated current Border Patrol boss Kevin McAleenan as his new Homeland Security Director, we don’t know if Trump will even bother to put McAleenan up for Senate confirmation, or if he’ll simply leave McAleenan in an “acting” capacity indefinitely. Complicating things further, Trump just withdrew his own ICE Director nominee two days ago, creating even more instability. Of course immigration is far from the only part of the Trump administration that’s suffering from a massive personnel vacuum.

As of right now – not counting people who are serving in an “acting” capacity – Donald Trump currently has no Secretary of Defense, no Secretary of the Air Force, no Homeland Security Director, no FEMA Director, no ICE Director, no Secretary of the Interior, no United Nations Ambassador, no White House Communications Director, and no White House Chief of Staff. And that’s not a comprehensive list.