Not for nothing, but Richard Spencer’s* “yes, I understand you just fired me” letter makes Mattis’ resignation missive look like a polite Christmas card.
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) November 25, 2019
It’s as close to a double-barreled f**k you as one can get in this genre of official correspondence.
*not the Nazi one pic.twitter.com/rDfVre9y7T
There are multiple stories about regarding the "resigfiring" (the term for when one has been advised to resign in a way that is clearly getting canned) of Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer, but I think it's pretty clear from this letter that he is acknowledging that he has in fact been fired: "I acknowledge my termination...." but is acknowledging it because he differs from the Commander in Chief (Trump) on what constitutes "good order and discipline" and what is best for the morale, conduct, and obligations of military code in general.
There is a good aphorism that a fish rots from the head down. An efficient manager or line officer wants to maintain a good standard of conduct among their personnel as an example to one another. When the conduct of any person become so noxious that their own co-workers (or comrades in arms) are frankly alarmed by that person's performance that they report it, it is an issue that is best handled by those who understand that a failure to address poor behavior is tantamount to a reward for bad behavior--it does not broadcast good values, and suggests that comradery is equal to covering up one another's dirt. It makes favorites and scapegoats. It makes a hero of people who do wrong shit and assigns blame to people who point out wrong-doing. It is, in a way, the big dog beats little dog world of Trumpism.
I understand why Trump wanted to pardon the telegenic little girl killer, because this is that kind of swaggering horseshit that passes for machismo in his world. And I guess I understand how go-along-to-get-along humps are going to clap like monkeys that Trump asserted his will. Maybe he doesn't give a damn about why such codes of conduct even exist, anymore than he understands why things like torture and brutality count against the side that uses them. Our first president understood the responsibility he bore for what was committed under his command. I do not think Trump understands that leadership is responsibility: to him, it is a postponement of his own responsibilities and an ability to confer an escape from responsibility or culpability to others. He certainly has people around him who reinforce this view.
He will be dealt an acknowledgement of his own, and I hope soon. He is absent order or discipline.
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