2020 Presidential Election

[GMDino]

(05-22-2020, 02:09 AM)Dill Wrote: Profiles in courage:

This thread just got me to thinking about something--does anyone know if Trump has ever fired a secretary or a general or a Director or a Chief-of-staff face-to-face?

McChrystal was in the news last year for calling Trump "immoral" and a liar. Trump responded tweeting that the general let Obama fire him "like a dog."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/01/politics/trump-tweet-mcchrystal/index.html

And then retired Adm. McRaven had McChrystal's back. https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/01/02/general-mcchrystal-president-trump-mcraven-earlystart-sot-vpx.cnn.

McChrystal actually turned in a resignation, but not before Obama met him face to face to explain why he would have to go. Firing the DNI Blair was similar--ramifications are explored first, then the guy is called in, resignation follows with a legal/Constitutional rationale appropriate to doing "the people's business."

That reminded me--so many Trump guys learn about their firing on the news or in a tweet to the public. Comey was about to address an FBI gathering in FBI when his firing was announced on a tv in the room, and he was not even allowed to fly back to Washington on a government plane. Tilleerson was on a shitter somewhere in Africa when his tweet went public. Bolton was fired on Twitter too, has he announced he was quitting.  Is that intended as extra humiliation or is it that Trump really can't face people he is firing?  The firings often seem to catch Trump's own staff by surprise because they are so impulsive.

It's clear which style of firing shows more deliberation, but which shows more courage? Neither president avoids directly naming his target so naming cannot serve as criterion for distinction.

Is "showing courage" important for a president, and if so, how should that be done?  What counts as "courage" and what counts as "showing"?

 

More profiles in courage:

Trump went to Michigan yesterday and held a campaign rally photo op thinly disguised as a taxpayer funded trip to Ford Motor and then after he got back to the safety of his his WH bathroom started ripping the AG of Michigan.  He could have met with her while he was there but he wanted to show his "personal courage" of using her name on twitter instead.

He really earned that "Man of the Year" award from Michigan that he repeatedly says he won but that doesn't actually exist.  

We should ALL (and especially President Obama) strive to have the courage to hide behind our phones and attack people by name rather than meet with them when we have the opportunity!