TGIF!
Unless, of course, you work for Donald Trump. In which case: So long!
The president has, in his relatively brief time in office, shown a penchant for firing people letting people resign as the country packs up for the weekend.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price was fired resigned last Friday.
White House deputy assistant to the president Sebastian Gorka was let go on August 25. A Friday.
White House chief strategist Steve Bannon was canned on August 18. A Friday.
White House chief of staff Reince Priebus departed on July 28. A Friday.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer left on July 21. A Friday.
Of the 11 Fridays between July 21, when Spicer left, and last Friday, Trump has gotten rid of a senior staffer or a member of his Cabinet on 45% of them. 45%!!!
Which brings us to today — a Friday, and a day filled with speculation that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is on the hot seat. There’s no certainty that Trump will get rid of Tillerson today, but history suggests that this Friday is about as high-stakes as it will get for the secretary of state.
Write CNN’s Elise Labott, Kevin Liptak and Kaitlan Collins:
“Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the stone-faced former oil executive Donald Trump tapped to serve as his global envoy, is increasingly seen by administration officials and diplomats as on his way out — just as flash-points from Iran to North Korea flare.
The impression that Tillerson’s days as Trump’s top diplomat are numbered was fueled this week by new reports of acrimony between the two men — principally, that Tillerson had questioned Trump’s intelligence to other top officials.”
The flashpoint this week came when Tillerson held a press conference to not deny reports that he had called Trump a “moron” in a moment of frustration over the summer. (Tillerson did deny that he had ever considered resigning.)
Trump, according to CNN reporting, “fumed that a supposed underling was insulting him to his cohorts.” And we all know that when Trump fumes, bad things happen to the people who work under/for him.
Asked Friday at the daily White House press briefing whether today would feature another resignation/firing, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders responded: “I don’t think so.”
Firing Tillerson would almost certainly cause a major shakeup within Trump’s inner circle as Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Chief of Staff John Kelly are very close. (Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker said that trio comprised the “people that help separate our country from chaos” earlier this week.) To get rid of Tillerson over Moron-gate could cause a crisis within his inner circle that Trump might struggle to recover from anytime soon.
Which, using Trump math, means it’s uniquely possible he dumps Tillerson by the close of business today.
While Trump’s Friday firings have drawn the most attention, he’s also used Friday to dump out loads of bad news.
(Trump didn’t invent that one; the “Friday news dump” has been around for a while.)
Here’s a quick list of bad news stories that Trump has sought to bury on Fridays:
* On January 27, Trump unveils his first “travel ban” that bans all travel into the US from seven majority-Muslim countries.
* On April 14, the White House announces its plan to keep all visitor logs secret.
* On August 25, Trump not only pardons controversial former sheriff Joe Arpaio but also signs an executive directive that bans transgender people in the military. (At the time, Hurricane Harvey was bearing down on Texas, with news networks covering that storm wall-to-wall.)
* On September 1, the Justice Department announces there is no evidence that President Barack Obama ordered a wiretap of Trump’s phone lines in Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign — a direct rebuttal of a Trump tweet in March.
Quite a list!
There’s no question that Trump’s twin addictions of social media and cable television — coupled with his, um, free spirit — has created a news environment like we’ve never seen before. Trump makes mountains of news every day. (Sidebar: If it’s a slow news cycle, it’s as though Trump senses it and launches a tweet or says something provocative.)
But, even so, Fridays stand out. Friday is the day when Trump says goodbye and good luck. The only question — or the only question today — is whether Tillerson is the next to join the club.