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