The retribution against Inspectors General by corrupt con man and lawless authoritarian Donald "Mango Mussolini" Trump continued late yesterday with the firing of State Department Inspector General Steve Linick by Trump flunkee Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Inspectors General are the "watchdogs" posted at Federal agencies to identify and investigate cases of waste, fraud and abuse, and clearly Trump wants to stifle further exposure of his administration's corruption. Linick was investigating Pompeo's inappropriate use of a political appointee at the State Department to run personal errands for himself and his wife when he was fired.
Linick joins former HHS IG Christi Grimm who was fired last month for stating that there was a severe shortage of testing kits and PPE at hospitals, a counter message to Trump's lies that there was an abundance of those items. Her firing followed that of Michael Atkinson, the IG for the Intelligence Community, who angered Trump by forwarding the whistleblower complaint by Lt. Col. Alex Vindman concerning Trump's shakedown call to Ukrainian President Zelensky, which led to Trump's impeachment.
With each firing of an independent IG, and their replacement by a Trump lackey, the Government moves closer and closer to being Trump's private fiefdom, where he is immune from criticism and above the law. The IGs are the public's eyes and ears for waste, fraud and abuse. Trump wants them shut so he can continue his abuses.
