Does anyone think Trump *wouldn't* have fired Sally Yates....

[Tommy_Carcetti]

...even if she had never publicly raised the issue about the travel ban?

I think her raising the issue about Flynn sealed her fate. The travel ban was just the icing on the cake.

The great thing was, by publicly refusing to support the travel ban and getting fired later that evening, she managed to turn it into a huge news story that got all of the media's attention.

Otherwise, they probably would have kept her on until Sessions got confirmed, and then quietly nixed her. She could have still brought the issue about Flynn to the media's attention, but she would have been far less of a big name. Most people would have just shrugged at the notion of some person who was briefly acting attorney general being quietly fired.

Her refusal to enforce the travel ban, besides being the absolute right, moral and ethically principled thing to do, was an added stroke of genius on her part.

[LisaM]

1. People in this country voted for someone who got his kicks on reality TV firing people....

in a recession.

Just toss that around in your brain for a bit.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

2. There's a wierd duplicity with the Madman and firing people.

If you cross him and show your "disloyalty", he'll not only fire you but humiliate you in the process.

If, on the other hand, you are considered "loyal", he'll be very hesitant to fire you, even if such a firing is warranted. Remember, Flynn was not technically fired but actually resigned, and he continued to defend Flynn even after he left the administration.

In other words, whether he decides to keep you employed or not has absolutely nothing to do with your actual job performance and capabilities. It's all about loyalty.

[LisaM]

3. That may be, but the premise of "The Apprentice" made me uncomfortable.

I think that was part of the design of the thing, but the fact that people actually enjoyed watching this is really, really frightening.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

4. Much of "Reality TV" is crass and disturbing that way.

I think the only Reality TV competition type show I watch on a regular basis is "Face Off" on the SyFy network where they have people competing to do various movie makeups.

The reason I can still watch that is that the contestants are generally very supportive of each other even though they are competing against one another. There will be times when they actually help each other out in the middle of a competition. There's none of the obnoxious manufactured drama or nastiness that you find on most other shows like this.

[LisaM]

5. Sure, but we don't generally elect the people on the shows to office.

The only other remote comparison I can think of is Jesse Ventura, who was involved in a form of reality entertainment, and he was an abject failure.