This past week, President Donald Trump continued on with his campaign against any official who dares to stand against his agenda. In a late Friday night move, the administration announced the replacement of an official at the Department of Health and Human Services who took the simple step of reporting medical supply shortages around the U.S. amidst the Coronavirus pandemic. Trump decried those reports as fake news, although they constituted basic, documented facts, and now, the official behind them — principal deputy inspector general Christi Grimm at the Department of Health and Human Services — is getting replaced.
The New York Times reports:
‘The White House waited until after business hours to announce the nomination of a new inspector general for the department who, if confirmed, would take over for Christi A. Grimm, the principal deputy inspector general who was publicly assailed by the president at a news briefing three weeks ago.’
At the briefing that the report references, Trump suggested that partisan animosity played a part in the reporting about the medical supply shortages. Those shortages were basic facts, but Trump alleged a partisan conspiracy anyway. In the time since, Trump, who is seemingly forever detached from reality, has also decried calls for increased Coronavirus testing capacity in the U.S. as a supposed “false talking point.” They’re not talking points! Trump is just trying to wish basic facts out of existence — or fire his way out of accountability for them.
Grimm is far from the first official to face removal after countering the president. Trump also recently fired Michael Atkinson from his post as the inspector general for the intelligence community. Months ago, Atkinson had forwarded the whistleblower complaint to Congress that helped kickstart the impeachment proceedings over Trump’s attempt to bribe Ukraine into investigating the Bidens. Atkinson had completely followed protocol with his work.
Trump attracted a lot of criticism for his replacement of Grimm.
Former Democratic Congressional candidate Dr. Kathie Allen, for instance, observed:
‘It doesn’t matter what prior administration you examine— Dem or Republican. There has never been one that made the needs of the American public such an irrelevancy. The self-interest, self-delusion, and truth-denying are destroying us.’
It doesn’t matter what prior administration you examine— Dem or Republican. There has never been one that made the needs of the American public such an irrelevancy. The self-interest, self-delusion, and truth-denying are destroying us.
— Dr. Kathie Allen #DemCast (@kathieallenmd) May 2, 2020
Another Twitter user, Arthur Dent, observed:
‘If you uncover incompetence, you are punished. If you cover up incompetence, you are promoted. Got it.’
If you uncover incompetence, you are punished. If you cover up incompetence, you are promoted. Got it.
— ᴀʀᴛ 🇺🇸 (@__Arthur_Dent__) May 2, 2020
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