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For 11 years, Donald Trump starred in the hit NBC shows, The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice. Trump popularized the catchphrase “You’re fired” as he dismissed contestants throughout each season until a winner was selected in the final episode.
Trump’s role in that show ended in 2015 when NBC fired him for speaking the truth about illegal immigration. Ten years later, President Donald Trump is reviving his famous slogan and telling unneeded bureaucrats and political enemies, “You’re fired.”
On Friday, he revoked the security clearance and intelligence briefings for former President Joe Biden. Trump said he made the decision because Biden, “could not be trusted with sensitive information." I will always protect our National Security— JOE, YOU’RE FIRED.”
By making this move, Trump is giving Biden a taste of his own medicine. In February of 2021, Biden cited Trump’s supposed “erratic behavior” when he rescinded his access to national security information.
In an interview with the New York Post, Trump said that Biden is “not worthy of trust.” Although he said that Biden, who did not pardon himself, would not be targeted by the Department of Justice, “he’s certainly prime time for investigation.” Trump said that “it’s not good” what Biden “did to our country,” especially “allowing people to come into our country,” such as “murderers on the street.”
President Trump also revoked the security clearances of a host of his political adversaries, such as former Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who recruited signatures from 51 national security officials who falsely claimed that the Hunter Biden laptop had the “classic earmarks” of Russian disinformation. Trump revoked the security clearances for every “spy who lied,” including former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
He also rescinded the security clearances for former National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, former Justice Department official Lisa Monaco, who spearheaded the prosecution of the January 6, 2021, protesters, New York Attorney General Letitia James, who prosecuted a civil case against the President for supposedly inflating his wealth for bank loan applications, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who charged Trump in the ludicrous “hush money” case.
According to President Trump, this move will “take away every right they have” regarding access to national security information, and it will also prevent them from entering federal buildings.
Another person losing his security clearances and his personal detail was retired U.S. Army General Mark Milley, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. President Trump said Milley committed “treason” when he placed two calls to his Chinese military counterparts to “reassure” the country that Trump was not going to attack. Of course, the problem for Milley is that the calls were made without President Trump’s authorization or knowledge.
Trump also revoked the government-funded security detail for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and John Bolton, his former National Security Adviser. When asked by reporters if he was worried about potential harm coming to those individuals losing their security detail, the President responded, “You can’t have a security detail for the rest of your life because you worked for the government…They all made a lot of money. They can hire their own security, too.”
Along with limiting access to classified information and saving money on security details, the President has fired approximately 200 people in his first three weeks. The firings include a dozen Inspectors General working in various government agencies and departments. It also includes the National Archivist, and a Democrat member of the Federal Elections Commission and the National Labor Relations Board. He also fired members of the the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, the Wilson Center for Scholars, and the President’s Export Council.
The President also fired the Chairman and several members of the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The President said his decision was made because these members “do not share our vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.” He noted that “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP.” The President posted, “We will soon announce a new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!” Excellent selection Mr. President!
While these decisions are important, the most long lasting move the President made was to offer two million federal employees a chance to resign with eight months of severance pay. The deadline to accept the offer was originally February 6, but it was delayed by a federal judge.
Most federal employees received the offer, except for postal workers and various military and national security officials. As of Friday, 65,000federal workers had accepted Trump’s offer. If the buyout is eventually implemented, Forbes Magazine reports it “will be the largest single job reduction in U.S. history.”
The President is also reforming the Department of Justice, which had become politically weaponized during the Biden administration. The Justice Department fired a dozen career prosecutors who worked on politicized cases involving Trump. Former Acting Attorney General James McHenry said the firings were made because “these officials could not be trusted to faithfully implement the president’s agenda because of their significant role in prosecuting the president.”
The President also fired eight “senior FBI officials” who were involved in the weaponization of the January 6 cases. In addition, the names of over 5,000 FBI agents involved in the January 6 investigation were submitted to the Department of Justice.
While the names of these individuals will not be released to the public, the President emphasized that “some” of them will be fired. Due to his interactions with the Biden Justice Department, the President noted that “I got to know a lot about that world, and we had some corrupt agents, and those people are gone, or they will be gone, and it will be done quickly and very surgically.”
Regarding the Biden holdovers, “You’re Fired” has a nice ring to it.
