Nancy has already written two pieces today about President Trump’s purge at the Department of Homeland Security, but I also have a few things to say about this fiasco, For starters, the president botched the plan by announcing an illegal replacement for Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. I could almost forgive Trump for this because he hit a snag that did not apply when he skirted the Senate confirmation process to appoint Mick Mulvaney to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Matt Whitaker to head the Department of Justice.
In those cases, he relied on separate clauses in the Vacancies Reform Act (although, in the latter case, it also required a dubious legal opinion from the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel). These exemptions enabled him to make temporary appointments of someone other than the next in command. What he didn’t realize is that the law which created Department of Homeland Security specifically supersedes the Vacancies Reform Act and states unambiguously that the order of succession must be followed. In this case, since there is no confirmed Deputy Secretary, the position must go to the Undersecretary for Management.
Claire Grady, who is the acting deputy, was actually confirmed as the Undersecretary of Management, so Trump has no authority to place anyone else in the job. And that means that if he wants Customs and Border Patrol Director Kevin McAleenan to head the department, he is going to have to fire Undersecretary Grady and leave all three of the top jobs vacant.
Unfortunately for Grady, despite coming up in the ranks as a civil servant, she enjoys no protection precisely because she was confirmed in her position by the Senate and thereby became a political appointee. If the Trump administration is feeling generous, they will at least find her a decent paying job as compensation for their screwup.
Republican senators are looking at the spectacle of this uncoordinated purge and they are not impressed. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas says “It’s a mess.” Committee on Homeland Security chairman Ron Johnson of Wisconsin says, “I am concerned with a growing leadership void.”
Finance Committee chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa was already seething about the president’s comments on wind power, and now he’s found another war path. Specifically, he’s trying to protect Lee Francis Cissna, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, who is rumored to be next of Trump’s chopping block at DHS. Cissna worked on Grassley’s staff when he was chairing the Judiciary Committee, which explains why the senator is so incensed about this obscure position. He has been trying to intervene with Mulvaney, who has moved on from his stint at CFPB to serve as Trump’s chief of staff.
Grassley blames the purge on Stephen Miller.
The GOP senator was also critical of Stephen Miller, a senior White House adviser who has been one of the leading voices within the administration that has lobbied for the wholesale housecleaning at DHS.
“I think it would be hard for him to demonstrate he’s accomplished anything for the president,” Grassley said. When asked to elaborate, the senator chuckled and added: “It’s pretty hard to elaborate on it when there hasn’t been any accomplishments.”
In fact, Miller is catching a lot of flak for being the driving force behind Trump’s obsession with immigration and the current purge.
Moderate GOP Rep. Tom Reed of New York said he would prefer to focus on issues like infrastructure, drug pricing and health care in the 2020 election cycle, saying the issue of immigration is being kept alive “for political purposes.”
Reed also took a veiled shot at Miller: “One hard-liner is not going to dictate the outcome of this.”
As for Trump, most Republican lawmakers are keeping their criticism muted, but Senator John Thune let his displeasure slip when he observed, “He thinks it’s a winning issue. It works for him. It may not work for everybody else.”
There has been a concerted effort among Republicans in the Senate to stop the carnage, and no shortage of people who raced to the microphone to defend Kirstjen Nielsen from White House attacks.
“I thought that Nielsen was doing a fantastic job,” added Joni Ernst of Iowa, the No. 5 Senate GOP leader. “I would love to see some continuity. I think that’s important.”
…“Strikes me as just a frustration of not being able to solve a problem. Honestly, it wasn’t Secretary Nielsen’s fault. It wasn’t for lack of effort on her part. I don’t know if there’s anybody who’s going to be able to do more,” said Cornyn.
The bottom line is that there is growing chasm between the White House and the congressional Republicans. They don’t think the president’s immigration freakout is good politics for them and they are in no mood to enable him by going through confirmation processes for the entire leadership of the Homeland Security Department. All they see is impulsiveness, spite, radicalism and incompetence.
Impulsiveness, spite, radicalism, and incompetence: the four elements of Trumpism.
The Four Horsemen of Trumpism!
Trump’s said quite openly that he prefers working with people who haven’t had Senate confirmation.
I’m picturing that not only are all his WH staff lawyers but advisors as well are working on his multiple legal entanglements so there’s no one left to actually check the logistics of how his temper tantrum purges won’t/can’t work.
Noting that there seems to be an absence of comment from either McConnell or McCarthy.
Do acting Cabinet Secretaries and Department heads get paid less than permanent appointees? If so, Fat Donny Two Scoops is no doubt pleased with himself for that.
“they are in no mood to enable him by going through confirmation processes for the entire leadership of the Homeland Security Department. All they see is impulsiveness, spite, radicalism and incompetence.”
At the end of the day though, what are they gonna do?
“It would be hard for [Miller] to demonstrate he’s done anything for the president.” Yes, Chuck, except keep Der Trumper’s approval numbers above 40% by keeping the executive’s focus on immigrant/Latino harassment–which was Trumper’s chief campaign theme and main reason for his “election” at the hands of spiteful rural whites in the Midwest, including (especially?) Iowa.
Joni Ernst: “I thought that Nielsen was doing a fantastic job.” One wonders how a quote like that will look with the passage of time, when the history of Der Trumper’s Kiddie Koncentration Kamps is (presumably) fully documented and revealed. But at least Sen. Joni has her finger better placed on the pulse of her Iowans than Dimwit Grassley, ha-ha. Yes, Joni, Kristen was doing just a fantastic job!
Kind of sobering to see media reports that Gruppenfuhrer Nielsen was fired for her concerns over demands from Der Trumper/Miller for even greater lawbreaking than she was willing to undertake! It seems incredible, but National Trumpalism probably will turn out to be even more of a lawbreaking regime than Bushco. But that’s what “rule of law” means to American “conservatives” in the 21st Century.
Anyway, wake me when Gravedigger McConnell’s fully complicit senate refuses to confirm a new DHS head who is obviously more of a “hard-line” National Trumpalist than Nielsen. But all this immigration chaos and confusion at least shows that the Glorious Trumper is fully engaged! In olden days, now is the time that foreign adversaries would take full advantage of a kingdom yoked with a mentally defective monarch…
>>wake me when Gravedigger McConnell’s fully complicit senate refuses to confirm
your new handle is RipVanWinkle.
However, will they do anything; take any substantive corrective action? No, because they are deathly afraid of the people Trump’s stupidity is ultimately done to please. They can voice their frustrations, issue “strong statements” and make veiled threats. We can read of their “growing concern.” But at the end of the day they support every idiotic thing Trump has done. Take the state of emergency Trump declared over funding for the wall. Some of these same senators say it’s stupid or even unconstitutional but have signaled they stand ready to back him on it in the senate.
When Trump said he could shoot someone on Fifth Ave and not lose support, he was referring to senate republicans.
Not to mention their uniform cover and support for the Barr whitewash operation.
Perhaps not exactly what the Founders had in mind when establishing 3 independent branches, haha. But “Party over Country” takes precedence, of course!
And now we witness the spectacle of Republiclown senators defending the loathsome Kirstjen “those cages aren’t really cages” Nielsen.
So Grassley is “seething”, Tom Reed is taking “veiled shots, and John Thune is “letting his displeasure slip”.
Oh no, what’s next? A sternly worded letter?
We can only hope that this makes things more difficult for them down the road. But one thing that will most certainly not happen, is that any of them will step away even one inch from Donald Trump. They will remain attached and undyingly loyal to him in every single way that matters.
Kirsten is a Nazi too. Good riddance.
I have no worries about stuff like this now that Romney is a Senator. I’m sure he is on it.
.
I am curious about something.
If a person is only `temporary’, or `acting’, could they even vote on removing him through the 25th amendment? I bet not.
That might be the real reason to prefer appointed, and not confirmed, cabinet members. The magic number would be 13. But he would not need that many, because some fully support him no matter what.
.
Several points: first, one look at Neilsen’s record, especially at FEMA, makes any defense of her record pretty laughable. Let’s talk about her denial that cages are cages, for one thing.
Two, I’m waiting to see any actual action from these concerned Republicans.
Three, according to a graph presented yesterday on MSNBC, ALL management positions at DHS are currently either acting or unfilled. What do we think is going to happen if there’s a natural disaster or a terrorist act?
Well, it depends. Depends on whether it happens in a red state, or does it happen in a blue state (or a commonwealth full of brown skinned people)?
Based on recent experiences, that’s probably the only question which needs to be asked.
Puerto Rico seems like a good example.
Good points both, but my larger point is that there’s no one at DHS even marginally equipped to deal with either event.
Yep, DHS is not ready for any big of national emergency. That means the donald’s government will do nothing when the storm of the century hits.
Which is no different compared to C- Augustus. “Heckuva job, Brownie!!”
BooMan sez:
“Unfortunately for Grady, despite coming up in the ranks as a civil servant, she enjoys no protection precisely because she was confirmed in her position by the Senate and thereby became a political appointee. If the Trump administration is feeling generous, they will at least find her a decent paying job as compensation for their screwup.”
The Trump Administration doesn’t do “generous”. Or “feeling”.
My edits to this:
“Unfortunately for Grady, despite coming up in the ranks as a civil servant, she enjoys no protection precisely because she was confirmed in her position by the Senate and thereby became a political appointee. If the Trump administration becomes worried that Grady will cooperate with House Committee investigations, they will at least find her a shut-your-piehole job in the private sector as compensation for their screwup.”
History rhymes:
“How much money do you need?” the President asked Dean early in the March 21 conversation, according to the transcript.
“I would say these people are going to cost a million dollars over the next two years,” Dean replied.
“We could get that,” the President continued. “On the money, if you need the money you could get that. You could get a million dollars. You could get it in cash. I know where it could be gotten. It is not easy, but it could be done. But the question is who the hell would handle it? Any ideas on that?”
“Unfortunately for Grady, despite coming up through the ranks as a civil servant, she enjoys no protection precisely because she was confirmed by the Senate, and thereby became a political appointee. She will now pay the price for letting ambition overcome ethics and discover what happens to those whom swear fealty to the current administration.”
.
Wonder how Congressman Reed feels about Jordan’s and Meadows’ attempts to sabotage the Oversight Committee’s investigation?
Nice little purge before the 2020 election at the DHS.
What Departments are under the DHS?
I keep getting the coding wrong, so just google ‘agencies under dhs secretary’. The Wikipedia article has a listing of them.
ICE, CPB, Immigration and Naturalization Service, FEMA, Coast Guard. I’m sure there are others but those are what come to mind.
It was a major mistake to put all these agencies under one department. The management burden alone is crazy.
All they see is impulsiveness, spite, radicalism and incompetence.
Senate Republicans are looking in the mirror?
Canceling all foreign assistance to these three northern triangle countries is also going to make the migration even worse.
USAID, through its contractors and NGOs, has been training the police and the judiciary and developing effective border protection strategies, helping to protect vulnerable populations, especially women and indigenous people like the Mayans. They’ve also been supporting watershed protection, agricultural improvements, including valuable cash crops like and bananas (Hondura was the original banana republic) and helping them to adapt to climate change, which is yet another destabilizing force in these countries.
In addition, Congress determines the foreign operations appropriation, not Trump. He can’t just cancel this program. If the US Government community (State, USAID and USAID-funded American contractors and grantees) was under an active security threat situation, he could suspend the program temporarily but he can’t just end the assistance program because he is peeved.
I’m a bit surprised that neither house of Congress has pushed back against Trump (at least I have heard nothing about it).