Trump says off-the-cuff things all the time, especially at rallies, but there are plenty of reasons to believe this one is true. The president has repeatedly dismissed the doctor’s advice, and has bridled against any kind of coronavirus policy, even as Fauci has grown more outspoken. During a call with campaign staff in October, Trump complained that he wanted to fire Fauci, but he was too popular: “Every time he goes on television, there’s always a bomb. But there’s a bigger bomb if you fire him.” If Trump is reelected, however, he’ll be much less worried about popularity. The president can’t fire Fauci directly—he’s a civil servant—but he could instruct his appointees to do so. And if they don’t? He’ll fire through them, Nixon-style, until he finds one who will.
If you don’t believe me, look at his plans for other appointees. Also yesterday, the FBI announced that it was investigating an incident in which ruffians in trucks, bedecked with Trump flags, tried to run a Biden-Harris bus off the road in Texas. Trump immediately smacked down the bureau in a tweet.
“In my opinion, these patriots did nothing wrong,” he wrote. “Instead, the FBI & Justice should be investigating the terrorists, anarchists, and agitators of ANTIFA, who run around burning down our Democrat run cities and hurting our people!”
FBI Director Chris Wray has already popped up on lists written by well-sourced reporters of top-priority firings if Trump is reelected. You may recall that Wray ended up in that job after Trump fired James Comey in May 2017, in one of the most damaging decisions of his presidency. The job holds a 10-year term, and although presidents have the power to fire FBI directors, they usually have not used it. But Wray would likely be shown the door because he has proved too impervious to political pressure for Trump’s taste. (Unlike Comey, Wray didn’t even produce a splash October surprise on the Democratic candidate.)
Another likely target is Defense Secretary Mark Esper. As at the FBI, the trajectory of the role during the Trump administration is instructive. The first Pentagon head was James Mattis, who was widely respected in Washington, and resigned in late 2018 in a disagreement with the president over Syria policy. He was replaced by Esper, who was widely viewed as an empty suit—a literal lobbyist for the weapons giant Raytheon whose major qualification was a long-standing friendship with the secretary of state, and dependable Trump sycophant, Mike Pompeo.
But Esper has also proved too independent. The bar isn’t high: He simply distanced himself from Trump’s ill-advised June clearance of Lafayette Square outside the White House, and only after the fact. Even so, rumors of Esper’s postelection demise have circulated ever since.
