With the help of Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Trump has assembled lists of government officials that he plans to remove and replace with trusted pro-Trumpers.
“I don’t think it’s a big problem. I don’t think it’s very many people.”
He wants “people who are good for the country, loyal to the country,” although as has been seen before he equates loyalty to country with loyalty to him.
Ever since the Republican senate followed through with their pledge to acquit him at his impeachment trial,he seems to have become obsessed withthe “Deep State”, those in his administration from Justice to State to Defense to Homeland Security that he thinks are “Never Trumpers”.
He wants them fired and replaced ASAP.
He is convinced that people within his administration, some very close,are undermining him.
Johnny McEntee, the 29-year-old who was fired in 2018 by then-Chief of Staff John Kelly because his gambling debts could make him a target for blackmail, but was recently rehired to a position as head the presidential personnel office, held a meeting of White House liaisons from cabinet agencies in which he askedthem to identify political appointees in their agencies who are “never Trumpers”. He told then that those identified as anti-Trump will no longer get promotions, and this would be accomplished by transferring them around agencies.
We have already seen this Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman who testified during the impeachment inquiry that Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was “improper”, the firing of U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland who also testified, while loyalists Hope Hicks and Johnny McEtee were rehired, and Ambassador to Germany Ric Grenell, got a major promotion to Acting Director of National Intelligence, a position in which he has no experience.
Obviously President Queeg’s paranoia has been increase after his senate aquital.