Holy crap. Trump has fired the acting Attorney General. And then fired the head of ICE. This follows an official dissent filed by career State Dept officials protesting the Muslim ban, and Spicer telling they'd better fall in line or else. And note that one of the features of these official SD dissents is that there will be no reprisals. The good news is that this might delay or even scuttle Sessions. That's still unlikely, but more possible now. So far this admin has been a really disturbing blend of malevolence and incompetence. Stay tuned.
I learned a new thing today. I did not know about Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre. Too young to live through it, and they didn't teach that far forward in history in school.
As several very smart people on my Twitter list of Very Smart Anti-Trump Conservatives (TM) have already pointed out: ANY AG who publicly disses ANY POTUS is going to be out the door within hours. The AG serves at the POTUS's pleasure. The power to fire the AG comes with the office. I'm not saying I'm opposed to what she did. On the contrary, I can think of a couple hundred congresscritters that I wish had 1/10th that much integrity. Acts of defiance like that are going to become more and more important, methinks. But the fact she was fired for it was a foregone conclusion. She knew she was out when she hit "send". And yes, I seem to be back, having discovered that the only way I can avoid this crap is to turn off everything in my life with a screen and move to Antarctica - which obviously ain't happening. I've got politics in my animation feed, politics in my Eurovision Song Contest feed (yes, the Europeans are all in a lather about this stuff too - on both sides), and don't even get me started with the family members on Facebook (who are now finding and reposting just as much liberal outrage noise machine BS as any crazy conservative kook uncle could ever dish out). Guess I'll just have to find some other way to solve my health issues. I'd better do it quick, while insurance is still a thing.
Oh, there's no question she had to know she'd be fired. But as you said, it was an important act anyway. It points out that presidents still have to follow the law. By pointing out that his executive order would probably not be found legal if challenged, she also makes the point that an AG SHOULD be telling his/her President this, if he suggests or orders something along these lines. Something Sessions would probably never do. For those who don't know the history of the Saturday Night Massacre, that was when Nixon ordered his AG to fire Archibald Cox, the Special Prosecutor looking into Watergate. The AG (Elliot Richardson) refused, and resigned. Nixon then ordered the Deputy AG, William Ruckelshaus, to fire Cox. Ruckelshaus likewise refused to do so, and resigned. Next in line was Robert Bork (yes, that Robert Bork). Nixon ordered Bork to fire Cox, and Bork did so. So in quick succession, Richardson, Ruckelshaus, and Cox were all gone (hence the "massacre" moniker). Richardson and Ruckelshaus showed integrity, as did Yates. Yes, there are important differences between the two situations. But certainly there a parallels too. As Jay Willis put it, “The Department of Justice is the agency within the executive branch that is charged with challenging the president’s missteps, ensuring that the rule of law does not bend to the president’s will. It was for this same reason that when President Nixon ordered Richardson and Ruckelshaus to illegally terminate Cox … they refused to do so and quit in protest on the same night.”
