Only men and women with a low level of intelligence could possibly remain loyal to Donald Trump. What could be gained by serving in the Trump administration? We already know that Trump and his entire unqualified administration will be remembered as the most corrupt and incompetent to ever be allowed in the White House.

Trump’s most loyal supporter from day one was Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions. The senator from Alabama was a member of the orange bully’s campaign staff, and began lying for him in 2015. Trump rewarded Sessions with a nomination as Attorney General of the United States. Although he had been refused a federal judgeship for racist words and actions, the Republican dominated senate approved the nomination. Sessions immediately began removing rules imposed by the Obama administration and punished minorities more severely than whites.

When the Mueller investigation began, Sessions recused himself from the situation as required by ethics laws. He was personally involved in the campaign, having met with former ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Trump was angry, insisting that the AG fire Mueller. When Sessions refused his demand, he was ultimately fired. For Trump, loyalty is a one-way street.

Michael Cohen was one of Trump’s personal lawyers. When he was indicted, Trump turned against one of his most loyal employees. Cohen offered his testimony during the impeachment hearing conducted by the House. He became another man who paid a high price for remaining loyal to a criminal who refused loyalty in return.

There were many others. Dozens of White House positions remain unfilled in the West Wing. Most were “relieved of their positions,” and some displayed a desire to retain some of their dignity and resigned. Included are Omarosa Manigault, Sean Spicer, Don McGahn, Anthony Scaramucci, and John Bolton; all fiercely loyal to Donny Boy. More than 150 men and women have been forced out or resigned in just three years. This number does not include individuals from departments headed by members of Trump’s cabinet.

Rick Perry has announced his plan to resign as Secretary of Energy, a position he is woefully unqualified to hold. After today’s event in the White House, it is highly possible that Secretary of State, the second in Trump’s failing administration, Mike Pompeo, will be asked to leave. Trump threw another flunky ‘under the bus’ at a news conference. Can William Barr be far behind?

Trump fired Inspector General Steve Linick. Linick was employed to oversee events in the State Department. When he revealed the beginnings of an investigation into Mike Pompeo’s use of federal employees to work for and run personal errands such as walking his dog, he was subsequently fired. Pompeo is also under investigation for a sale of arms to Saudi Arabia worth eight billion dollars. Here are some of Trump’s lies about the situation.

“I don’t know. I don’t know anything about him. I don’t know,” Trump said of Linick, “other than the State Department and Mike, in particular, I guess they weren’t happy with the job he’s doing or something.”

When asked why Linick was fired, he said: “Mike requested that I do it.”

Trump and his cronies lie so frequently they forget. Pompeo previously told the media that he had no idea he was under investigation.

When Trump was informed that Pompeo had indeed uses a government employee as a personal servant, Trump replied: “I don’t think it’s that important,” Trump said of Pompeo. “They’re bothered because he had somebody walk his dog? This country has a long way to go. The priorities are really screwed up.” Can you say “corruption?”

I would not have expected any other response. For the last 40 months Trump has used the national treasury as his personal bank account, Air Force One as his private aircraft, his position to increase foreign business interests, ICE as his personal gestapo, and the secret service as his personal bodyguards on the golf course.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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Image courtesy of DonkeyHotey

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