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Awful new details about Trump's purge should alarm us all
The Plum Line • Opinion
Awful new details about Trump’s purge should alarm us all
By Greg Sargent
Opinion writer
Feb. 24, 2020 at 9:58 a.m. EST
President Trump’s ongoing purge of his administration is rapidly getting worse, so it’s urgent that we accurately frame what’s really driving it, to avoid letting it get shrouded in a story line about Trump’s unchecked emotions and pathologies.
So let’s be clear: Trump is not merely purging officials to sate his anger at those who crossed him — that is, as backward-looking retribution against disloyalty.
Rather, the real driver here is that Trump is removing officials who committed the sin of trying to defend the rule of law from his efforts to corrupt it. This is forward-looking: It clears the way for more such corruption of the rule of law and sends a message to others about what awaits them if they stand in the way of this as it continues to devolve.
Two new reports about Trump’s ongoing purge underscore this with great clarity.
First, Axios reports that in the view of Trump’s aides, the president has “crossed a psychological line” regarding the “deep state.” He has concluded multiple agencies are filled with “snakes,” and he wants them rooted out.
Among these snakes: Jessie Liu, the previous U.S. attorney in Washington who recently saw her nomination for a post at the Treasury Department yanked by Trump amid criticism of her handling of cases involving the special counsel investigation.
{snip}
Greg Sargent
Greg Sargent writes The Plum Line blog. He joined The Post in 2010, after stints at Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine and the New York Observer. Follow https://twitter.com/theplumlinegs
Awful new details about Trump’s purge should alarm us all
By Greg Sargent
Opinion writer
Feb. 24, 2020 at 9:58 a.m. EST
President Trump’s ongoing purge of his administration is rapidly getting worse, so it’s urgent that we accurately frame what’s really driving it, to avoid letting it get shrouded in a story line about Trump’s unchecked emotions and pathologies.
So let’s be clear: Trump is not merely purging officials to sate his anger at those who crossed him — that is, as backward-looking retribution against disloyalty.
Rather, the real driver here is that Trump is removing officials who committed the sin of trying to defend the rule of law from his efforts to corrupt it. This is forward-looking: It clears the way for more such corruption of the rule of law and sends a message to others about what awaits them if they stand in the way of this as it continues to devolve.
Two new reports about Trump’s ongoing purge underscore this with great clarity.
First, Axios reports that in the view of Trump’s aides, the president has “crossed a psychological line” regarding the “deep state.” He has concluded multiple agencies are filled with “snakes,” and he wants them rooted out.
Among these snakes: Jessie Liu, the previous U.S. attorney in Washington who recently saw her nomination for a post at the Treasury Department yanked by Trump amid criticism of her handling of cases involving the special counsel investigation.
{snip}
Greg Sargent
Greg Sargent writes The Plum Line blog. He joined The Post in 2010, after stints at Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine and the New York Observer. Follow https://twitter.com/theplumlinegs
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