Trump Starts to Turn on the People He Handpicked

“After months of pushing out career government officials and Democratic holdovers, President Trump is starting to turn on some of his own picks,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“On Wednesday, the White House said it was firing Trump’s director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a top public health agency, one month after she was confirmed by the Senate. The White House said she wasn’t aligned with the president. Several other top officials at the agency resigned in response.”

“This week’s turmoil followed ousters at other agencies. Trump replaced the head of the Internal Revenue Service less than two months into the job because the appointee, Billy Long, clashed with officials at the Treasury Department. Two top Justice Department antitrust officials were removed from their roles after clashing with senior officials at the agency who they accused of cutting deals with favored lobbyists. One of them has publicly questioned the integrity of other Justice officials. The White House also removed the acting FEMA administrator after he said the emergency management agency should continue to exist, contradicting others in the administration.”

“In recent days, Trump also pushed his Treasury secretary to fire the agency’s second-in-command and installed a second deputy at the FBI after the White House soured on the first.”