Trump is America's Worst Enemy

Trump preemptively removing an Inspector General is as clear an admission as you could hope to find that corruption will be the default setting for the $2 trillion bailout, just like it has been for everything else in this administration. https://t.co/wMGHO4E331

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) April 7, 2020

After the CARE bill (is that the acronym?) was passed (the $2 trillion dollar one, I mean), Mitch McConnell said he was sending the Senate on recess and when they returned, their only business would be judicial appointments.

Recently I saw that McConnell is concerned (again; he had a come to Jesus moment before he called the Senate back to pass the big bailout) about small business, and wants to pass ANOTHER bill.  Nancy Pelosi, of course, is talking about more help, too.  But it's McConnell that matters here, because the Senate is not only part of a bicameral legislature, but because the Senate alone has the power to confirm Presidential appointees to offices.

And comes word today Trump wants to fire 7 IG's (all of them? I dunno; it's a helluva lot, anyway) and replace them.  No doubt he can appoint "acting" IG's (who knows?  Somebody does, but not me.).  But IG's will require Senate approval.  7 at one go makes Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre look like an Easter egg hunt on the White House lawn.  7 draws attention, and demands a Senate response.

Especially since that $2 trillion dollar package required an IG oversee the distribution of some funds, and only an IG can be appointed by....other IG's, to fill that role.

Now you see where the magic number comes from, and why Trump suddenly wants to go on a firing/hiring spree.

Can acting IG's fulfill that purpose under the statute?  No.  They have to be current IG's.  So Trump's plan (?) is to have the Senate confirm his appointees ASAP.  Can the Senate confirm Trump's lunatic IG's fast enough?  Not fast enough to get the money spread around, that's for sure.  The SBA is already crashing, and it's doing things by the book and the letter of the law.  Trump wants somebody to do what he wants done, and how quickly can he get that?  Not fast enough to keep heat off the Senate from American bidness, which is all Mitch McConnell cares about (he sure as hell doesn't care about people).

And what about those judicial appointments Mitch McConnell does care about?  When does the Senate get back to those?

Trump is his own worst enemy.  And America's worst enemy just now; not coincidentally.