You may have heard the news today that Trump fired the independent Inspector General in charge of monitoring the $2 trillion coronavirus relief fund.
I want to explain why this is a Very Big Deal.
When I worked in the Department of Education many years ago, I learned that the I.G. was nonpartisan and was respected and revered. As a political appointee, you knew that the I.G. was in charge of monitoring ethics and professional standards. He or she was not an omsbudsman, but the keeper of the rules and the law.
Trump fires Inspectors General as if they were his personal employees. Just last Friday, he fired the I.G. for the Director of National Intelligence, presumably for daring to do his duty during the Ukraine investigation. Trump wants everyone in the government to be loyal to him, not to abstract notions of ethics and norms. If anything shows his contempt for the law, it is this. Trump treats the federal bureaucracy as it is were his personal staff. No one dares to do their duty; their duty is to obey their Leader. He aspires to be a tinhorn Dictator of a Banana Republic, and Senate Republicans protect him.
By KYLE CHENEY and CONNOR O’BRIEN
President Donald Trump has upended the panel of federal watchdogs overseeing implementation of the $2 trillion coronavirus law, tapping a replacement for the Pentagon official who was supposed to lead the effort.
A panel of inspectors general had named Glenn Fine — the acting Pentagon watchdog — to lead the group charged with monitoring the coronavirus relief effort. But Trump on Monday removed Fine from his post, instead naming the EPA inspector general to serve as the temporary Pentagon watchdog in addition to his other responsibilities.
That decision, which began circulating on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning, effectively removed Fine from his role overseeing the coronavirus relief effort, since the new law permits only current inspectors general to fill the position.
“Mr. Fine is no longer on the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee,” Dwrena Allen, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon inspector general’s office, confirmed. She added that Fine will return to his Senate-confirmed post as principal deputy inspector general of the Pentagon.
Fine’s removal is Trump’s latest incursion into the community of independent federal watchdogs — punctuated most dramatically by his late Friday ouster of the intelligence community’s inspector general, Michael Atkinson, whose handling of a whistleblower report ultimately led to Trump’s impeachment.
Trump has also begun sharply attacking Health and Human Services Inspector General Christi Grimm, following a report from her office that described widespread testing delays and supply issues at the nation’s hospitals.
“Another Fake Dossier!” Trump tweeted, mentioning Grimm’s tenure as inspector general during the Obama administration. He didn’t mention, though, that Grimm has been serving as a federal watchdog since 1999, spanning administrations of both parties.
Trump’s targeting of Atkinson drew an unusual rebuke from Michael Horowitz, the inspector general of the Justice Department who also oversees a council of inspectors general. Horowitz said Atkinson handled the whistleblower matter appropriately and defended the broader IG community.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on Lloyd Lofthouse and commented:
Donald Trump acts like he is a tinhorn Dictator of a Banana Republic, and Senate Republicans are protecting him.
Trump is a mobster, and he governs like one.
Lawless, and with a chief law enforcement officer, head of the DOJ, and a majority of Supremes, perfectly happy with that. Lloyd nailed it. This is how a Banana Republic operates.
We all know Mnuchin will oversee it, or his Goldman cohorts will get the gig.
Why not Jared Kushner take charge of the $2 trillion?
or Eric or Don, Jr., or Ivanka. I know! Why not his handler, Comrade Vlad?
Attacking, undermining, and firing inspectors general is nothing new for this criminal mob. That makes the new oversight committee Speaker Pelosi even more important. I wish someone smarter than me can come up with an acronym for TRUMAN because that would be a great name for the committee.
https://www.citizensforethics.org/five-ig-vacancies-coronavirus-response/
…Pelosi put together…
corrupt “mob”
Dr. Amy Acton, Dewine loyalist, cancelled the Ohio primary in the eleventh hour (she prohibited gathering to vote but, exempted churches). Media told citizens the Sec. of State would send out post cards about absentee balloting. The deadline for the ballots is April 28. I don’t know any Ohioans who have received the post cards as
of April 8. If voters get the postcards at this late date, there’s still a 3 part process involving ballot mailing. What does a Republican voter suppression scheme look like when coupled with theocracy.
Dewine- 9 kids- oath of office on 9 Bibles
Dewine appointee- Acton- 6 kids
This isn’t true about Dr. Acton. In the first place, she is Jewish and seems to belong to an inclusive Reform synagogue. There have certainly been problems with getting out the post cards, but it is not entirely unexpected given the circumstances and before assuming it is a conspiracy (which would have nothing to do with Dr. Acton), some of those problems may be alleviated before the actual primary date.
Ohio did the right thing by postponing the primary.
I posted it at Oped. https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Trump-Fires-Inspector-Gene-in-General_News-Diane-Ravitch_Law_Rules_Trump-200407-398.html#comment760593
The Trump Organization was a RICO. Now the federal government is.
OK, now it’s official, even brainphartzinger Biden would be better than this wannabe IL DUCE. Trump is a plague of incompetence, cronyism, corruption, nepotism, dystopia and kakistocracy on steroids.
Excellent summary, Joe! A most precise précis!
The Don, Cheeto “Littlefingers” Trumpbalone
The Teflon Don v2.0
I have looked at several reports from federal Inspector Generals. These were for the charter school reviews and civil rights data collection policies in the Department of Education. I found all of the reports fair-minded and also with sections where the IG was stiff-armed by people who would not provide requested information. Those reports were written before Trump decided that the IG has to be his personal supporters digging dirt on his actual or imagined enemies. The entire Justice Department and federal court system is being dismantled by the mobster in chief and his supporters.
This is truly frightening–the undermining of any rule of law that was left.
Post cards about absentee voting, promised after Dewine loyalist, Dr. Acton, shut down the primary vote the night before it was scheduled?
April 8- no post cards- deadline for voting, April 28. Dr. Action’s edict excluded churches.
Theocracy coupled with a Republican voter suppression scheme, no surprise.
I know Matt Taibbi lost status as a reporter when he did not vet a source properly. Nevertheless, he is an excellent investigative reporter. He wrote the following article about his concerns with the bailout money. This was written before the watchdog was fired. He explains that the public has good reason to be concerned about a bailout managed by Wall St. that will fuel another economic meltdown.https://taibbi.substack.com/p/resetting-the-bomb?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3WlKKB99SvlbRQAOs9rvzKSnZMhILJtowx5ujYVvuoUG4ttBxsPnPZaLA
At this point, I think it’s safe to say that the entire Republican party utterly lacks principles and has become, as Bob Shepherd rightly observes above, a corrupt enterprise. I don’t know how we get out of this situation. This pandemic has become a kind of Reichstag Fire for Trump and his administration.
These are scary, scary times.
Trumps Reichstag Fire moment. Sane, thoughtful people have to be very, very worried that this is, indeed, it.
Imagine detention centers for looters all around the country. Martial law. Trump getting to be like those whom he so admires–Kim and Vlad and Duterte and MSB and Bolsanaro and Modi.
Barr and Miller must be wetting themselves with excitement.
https://bobshepherdonline.wordpress.com/2020/03/15/press-conference-may-2020/
This is of a piece with Trump’s knee-jerk MO: dial back/ undermine govtl bureaucracy – via dereg exec orders where possible – meanwhile, head up all executive agencies w/ temp/ rotating dittoheads ensuring top-down decisions w/ zero pushback. Then – wing it.
Results irrelevant: spin, spin, spin.
Tha-tha-that’s it, folks! It’s all he’s got.
And what’s the message to the new IG? Is he a toady to start with or does the message “ignore the icky stuff or else” make it even less likely he will do his job?
Making an partisan appointment to what is supposed to be a non partisan post is ridiculous. The message to the other IGs is also clear – if you value your power and paycheck do what I want.
This is chilling.
And what’s the message to the new IG? Is he a toady to start with or does the message “ignore the icky stuff or else” make it even less likely he will do his job?
Making an partisan appointment to what is supposed to be a non partisan post is ridiculous. The message to the other IGs is also clear – if you value your power and paycheck do what I want.
This is chilling.
Goodbye, John Prine, beautiful, funny, warm, wonderful man. Thank you.
Another very sad fact of an incredibly sad time. Let’s hope he gets that nine-mile long cigarette now. And I’m going to have to try a vodka and ginger ale in his honor. Would have been nice to listen to the songs that came out this sad chapter, perhaps the last, in American history.
Just devastating news. This album has really been a part of my entire life. I got my first copy at age 12 and have been listening to it ever since–almost 50 years.
This took a little sting out of things just now for me:
Thanks, FLERP! Lovely.