Patterico's Pontifications

11/17/2020

Trump Fires Head Of Election Cyber Security for Doing His Job

Filed under: General — Dana @ 6:00 pm



[guest post by Dana]

Of course, he did. I MEAN, WHAT CHOICE DID HE HAVE???!!!

Christopher Krebs, who led the federal government’s election cybersecurity efforts, has been fired by President Donald Trump.

Krebs, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, had recently butted heads with the White House over his agency’s Rumor Control blog, which rebuts a list of false claims about election fraud and hacking — many of which have been touted as real by Trump or his lawyers after he lost the election this month.

Trump tweeted Tuesday night that Krebs had put out a statement concerning the election that was “highly inaccurate,” apparently a reference to a joint statement Thursday from CISA, the Election Assistance Commission and groups that represent the chief election officers in every state. The statement read, in part, “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”

And of course, in Trump’s mind there were plenty of enemies to blame:

Amusingly, Krebs, who told others that he expected to be fired for telling the truth, remained wittily unconcerned about Trump’s reaction:

As a reminder:

Trump appointed Krebs, a former policy director at Microsoft, director of what is now CISA in 2017, in the wake of Russia’s 2016 election interference campaign and the outgoing Obama administration’s declaration that elections systems would become critical infrastructure.

So Trump appoints a qualified person for a job. Said employee successfully completes the task before him. The results, however, do not favor Trump. The employee is then publicly bad-mouthed by the President who is mad that the results don’t favor him. The President then fires the employee. For doing his job. Objectively. And successfully.

This is how it goes in Trump’s world: a decent sort gets hired to do a job, they stand up for the truth, no matter who it hurts. They get thrown under the bus, publicly shamed, and are then terminated. This is Trump’s exclusive recipe for making America great again…

–Dana

UPDATE BY PATTERICO: I would like to see President Biden re-hire folks like Krebs, or Alexander Vindman and his brother, who were fired by Trump for speaking truths Trump did not want spoken.

37 Responses to “Trump Fires Head Of Election Cyber Security for Doing His Job”

  1. This is so typical of him.

    Dana (6995e0)

  2. “Honored to serve. We did it right. Defend Today, Secure Tomorrow.”

    That’s class.

    nk (1d9030)

  3. A smart, upright guy who can keep his wit and wits about him in the face of public shaming by a sitting president makes for a rather appealing fella.

    Dana (6995e0)

  4. Trump’s a garbage person interested only in being perceived as a success.

    Time123 (53ef45)

  5. Standing up to Trump from within his administration, to the point where he wants you fired, is a badge of honor. Far too many went the Jeff Sessions route about it instead of recognizing this is a good place to be.

    And in the converse, all those losers who didn’t stand up, I know they can’t be trusted. I am rapidly becoming a democrat voter, like a bona fide conservative democrat who will just leave the races blank before I vote GOP. DCSCA tells me I own Biden. I think that’s right. I recognize more of myself and my values in an idiot like Biden than a republican party that licks boots. My vote might count more in democrat primaries than it ever did in general elections.

    Dustin (4237e0)

  6. Far too many went the Jeff Sessions route about it instead of recognizing this is a good place to be.

    Because they still wanted and needed to curry the king’s favor to advance their own self-interests…

    Dana (6995e0)

  7. Four years spent trying to fire Trump and shame his supporters is a shaky foundation from which to pout about the treatment of Krebs.

    My guess is he’s been freshly crossed off AOC’s and Jennifer Rubin’s deplorables black list, so don’t waste your tears on Mr. Krebs.

    beer ‘n pretzels (042d67)

  8. Biden should announce that Krebs’ job is restored if he wants it, and there may be some other Trump firees in that position as well.

    Paul Montagu (77c694)

  9. don’t waste your tears on Mr. Krebs.

    Krebs is the winner. Trump and his fans are the losers. It’s called an election. That Trump and pals are lashing out so angrily, so unpatriotically, that just highlights it for us. Something very good is happening.

    Dustin (4237e0)

  10. Four years spent trying to fire Trump and shame his supporters is a shaky foundation from which to pout about the treatment of Krebs.

    Oh I’m pretty sure no one is pouting about the treatment Krebs received. It was expected. And should be expected (like Krebs) by any employee who sticks to the truth, no matter if it hurts the President of the United States. It’s unsurprising. What this does, however, is to reinforce Trump’s inability to accept defeat and the need to blame others for any defeat. Anything but accept responsibility for his own actions, words, and decisions that lead up to his defeat.

    Dana (6995e0)

  11. What this does, however, is to reinforce Trump’s inability to accept defeat and the need to blame others for any defeat.

    “Trump Russia Collusion”

    beer ‘n pretzels (042d67)

  12. What Dustin @9 and Dana @10 said.

    Krebs is the winner, Trump is the whiner. Krebs is showing class, Trump is showing crass. Krebs is not crying, he’s smiling, and Trump is reliving his childhood trauma from when mommy scolded him for spilling his juice on daddy’s favorite chair.

    nk (1d9030)

  13. “Trump Russia Collusion”

    You bought him, you own him.

    nk (1d9030)

  14. A government bureaucrat gets fired!?!

    No tears.

    ___

    @5. Welcome to Joe Biden’s America, Dustin; say hello to Cynthia:

    https://www.ispot.tv/ad/nBpP/geico-involved-hoa

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  15. Not to mention that Krebs genuinely has the hair Trump pretends that he has.

    nk (1d9030)

  16. Because they still wanted and needed to curry the king’s favor to advance their own self-interests…

    Listen to the Nixon tapes… lots of favorite and familiar names kissed the king’s azz and did same.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  17. In other news, the current seven day rolling average of daily deaths, per Worldometer, for the U.S. is 1188, which is higher than at any prior period since late May. And one notices our current president doing damn all to deal with this, or even notice, save for crediting himself for inventing vaccines.

    But I assume his supporters will claim that, as during the impeachment, it is impossible for our current president to think about more than one thing at a time, and right now he must focus on yelling fraud about the election and punishing all his enemies.

    Victor (4959fb)

  18. Krebs should send Trump a thank you note and list his firing on his resume.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  19. Krebs should send Trump a thank you note and list his firing on his resume.

    Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/17/2020 @ 10:07 pm

    Agree that his firing would be a stellar addition to his resume. Good for Krebs. History will remember him kindly.

    That the GOP by and large coddled this petulant Present during his lame duck portion of his presidency will be one of the worst acts of cowardice ever in US history.

    HCI (92ea66)

  20. Ga. sec. of state says trump defeated himself! 24,000 republicans who voted for trump in the primary didn’t vote in the general election. Voting is a public record. When republican party contacted these voters and asked them why they didn’t vote most said trump told them not to vote by mail and they were to afraid to vote in person. Hoisted on his own petard! Other states similar.

    asset (855a4c)

  21. I’m kind of surprised he lasted this long after publicly disputing Trump’s fraud claims.

    But Trump doesn’t rush to fire people. He ruminates. He really does.

    It had to wait until people started citing him as evidence that Trump was wrong.

    By the way, I heard on the CBS Evening News last night that Trump hadn’t tweeted anything all day and had no publicly announced meetings.

    He is planning to pull out as many troops as he can from Afghanistan and Iraq without creating a 1975 Saigon situation – at least before he leaves office. They prevailed on him to set a date of January 15 for the completion of whatever he is doing (probably by deliberately offering that option) so at least nothing’s going on during the inauguration.

    Sammy Finkelman (f6c6ee)

  22. Ga. sec. of state says trump defeated himself! 24,000 republicans who voted for trump in the primary didn’t vote in the general election. Voting is a public record. When republican party contacted these voters and asked them why they didn’t vote most said trump told them not to vote by mail and they were to afraid to vote in person. Hoisted on his own petard! Other states similar.

    asset (855a4c) — 11/18/2020 @ 12:43 am

    Makes sense. He’s a short sighted blowhard who cares only about how he’s portrayed in today’s media. It’s not in him to think about the impact of his words and actions several weeks later. It’s part of what makes him incompetent.

    Time123 (7cca75)

  23. “Ga. sec. of state says trump defeated himself!”

    The GA secstate has nationally unprecedented numbers of under and overcounts in his precincts and thousands of votes being found weeks after the election even prior to any signature audits, I wouldn’t trust a single study he cites in defense of his own terrible job.

    Credible Detroit Election (521cff)

  24. LOL you and your VPN talking about trust

    Dustin (4237e0)

  25. CDE:

    The counting is done by the counties, not by the Secretary. It seems Floyd County (Trump Country in N Ga) fouled up:

    https://ktla.com/news/politics/georgia-officials-say-2500-uncounted-ballots-found-in-hand-tally-of-presidential-race/

    Also, discovered through the recount, was a voting card in Fayette County

    https://abc11.com/georgia-ballots-found-in-votes-2600/8049192/

    Appalled (1a17de)

  26. Makes sense. He’s a short sighted blowhard who cares only about how he’s portrayed in today’s media. It’s not in him to think about the impact of his words and actions several weeks later. It’s part of what makes him incompetent.

    Time123 (7cca75) — 11/18/2020 @ 6:43 am

    It’s like South Park a few years ago, Mr. Garrison trying as hard as he can to let hillary win, only this time Trump managed to figure it out. Make his idiot voters scared of voting in any form, lose to a candidate who wouldn’t even leave his home and campaign in the first place.

    I would cast Bill Murray and Steve Martin in the movie, if I could.

    I do want my pound of flesh. Being a nevertrumper is like how Shylock describes Christians teaching him about revenge. That didn’t work out so well I guess.

    Dustin (4237e0)

  27. Mail ballots are subject to different kinds of fraud than e-ballots on pilling place machines. B

    Pouncer (c67369)

  28. Asset, I’m interested in how you know which voters voted for Trump in the primary and then didn’t in the general.

    How does one figure out someone’s private votes. Can you link to where you are getting this?

    nate (1f1d55)

  29. UPDATE BY PATTERICO: I would like to see President Biden re-hire folks like Krebs, or Alexander Vindman and his brother, who were fired by Trump for speaking truths Trump did not want spoken.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  30. I hope NSA folks listening in on Biden’s conversations and the cyber security guys make it clear that the president-elect serves at their pleasure.

    beer ‘n pretzels (042d67)

  31. I wish some commenters would just say “this seems petty and I want more from my President”…just to reassure the rest of us that not everything is partisan in their world

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74)

  32. AJ, I think Whembly is saying something along those lines. And even though Trump put up a showing on election day, he still got his ass kicked by a candidate that barely showed up. That means millions of republicans voted against their own party.

    Dustin (4237e0)

  33. @30 — I think it’s safe to say that most of the regular commenters here do believe that it’s petty and that we should expect better from a president.

    Radegunda (20775b)

  34. 30.I wish some commenters would just say “this seems petty and I want more from my President”…just to reassure the rest of us that not everything is partisan in their world

    It’s likely most of the commenters here are smarter individuals than the pachinko balls that eventually make it to the CIS slot. They simply lack the means to run for the gig. Which speaks volumes about who and what truly controls and runs the game.

    … and Putin smiled.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  35. I wish some commenters would just say “this seems petty and I want more from my President”…just to reassure the rest of us that not everything is partisan in their world

    I think this is a given with most of the commenters here. At the very least he is petty and we not only should want more from our President but expect more from our President.

    Dana (6995e0)

  36. Credible Detroit Election (521cff) — 11/18/2020 @ 7:07 am

    The GA secstate has nationally unprecedented numbers of under and overcounts in his precincts

    I don’t know if this is unprecedented. These kinds of things happen, and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger predicted that things would be discovered. But it is not at a scale to reverse the results (Biden won by 0.28% -about one quarter of a percent) or even for Senator David Perdue to avoid a runoff with Jon Ossoff (He got about 49.7% of the vote.)

    and thousands of votes being found weeks after the election

    Only in one county, Floyd County (in the northwest corner of the state, where Rome is located) and in less than two weeks. And now also in Fayette County (about 20 miles southwest of Atlanta) where ballots were scanned but not uploaded. (Georgia has 159 counties.)

    There were about 5 million votes cast, Trump and Biden are separated by about 14,000 votes, and the extra 5,400 or so votes closes the gap by about 1,100 or 1,200.

    See https://www.wsbtv.com/news/politics/another-georgia-county-has-uncovered-2700-missing-votes-secretary-states-office-says/5W734FA755CK3NCR4P7A27DXVM

    I also looked at a New York Times article in the Tuesday paper. And did some calculations.

    Floyd County went heavily for Trump, but the 2,600 ballots found (less than two!) weeks after the election would move the needle by only 800 or 900 votes.

    The formula is Percentage ballots cast for leading candidate – 50% x 2. Or if 66% went for Trump , you subtract 50% to get 16% and multiply by 2 to get 32% – it moves the margin by about 1/3 of the votes added.

    You could also subtract the remaining percentage necessary to reach 1.0 from the percentage.

    If 80% of the 2-party vote were for Trump, you would take 60% [80-50=30×2=60 or 80-20=60] of the total as the fraction of the new votes to add or subtract from the margin.

    If 60% did, it would move the margin by just 20% – if they were split 50-50, it wouldn’t move it at all.

    The Secretary of State’s office called for the elections director in Floyd county to step down, and an investigation has been opened.

    In Fayette County 2,755 votes were scanned onto a card, but never uploaded into the statewide system. He says there were several backups designed to catch this issue and that it falls to workers who didn’t follow procedures. They say it would have been caught anyway before final certification. Of the 2,755 votes from Fayette County that are now being added to the total, 1,577 were for President Donald Trump, 1,128 for Joe Biden and the rest [50] were for Jo Jorgenson or write-ins. That works out to Trump getting around 58% of the 2-party vote, and gaining about 1/6 of the total of 2,705.

    There is also a possible missing memory card with 224 votes on it in Walton County (approximately 30 miles due east of Atlanta) that was never uploaded.

    A slight majority [57] of the 110 other counties that had completed their recount (which is technically an audit with a 100% sample) by 7:30 pm yesterday, Tuesday (they are due by midnight Wednesday, today) had zero deviations from their original ballot count. 21 were plus or minus one off from the original ballot count, and 32 counties were off by single digit numbers [n <10] and are being investigated. Correcting these minor discrepancies nets out for Biden.

    There are also two separate investigations going on in Fulton County (includes Atlanta) that don't deal with vote counting: one about how a water leak was handled; one about how election monitors were treated.

    even prior to any signature audits,

    You can’t disqualify any vote that’s been accepted, because it’s now been separated from the signature on the envelope it came in, although maybe you can look at the envelopes just to know. You might be able to accept some other votes and maybe they did even in some counties.

    Georgia counties will recertify their votes if any corrections are to be made, then the state will certify its vote on Friday November 20, and then any second place finisher who is within half a percentage point (Trump is) can request an official recount (what’s been going on now is technically an audit, albeit one with a 100% sample) but that recount will be done solely by machine, through scanners.

    Sammy Finkelman (bc65ac)

  37. 26. Dustin (4237e0) — 11/18/2020 @ 8:01 am

    Make his idiot voters scared of voting in any form

    Including possibly the Governor of Georgia, but the CDC carved out an exception for them, and said people in Covid quarantine could go out to vote in person if they didn’t have an absentee ballot or were afraid it would arrive too late.

    Now the truth is a high percentage (maybe 10%) of absentee ballots are regularly spoiled, especially by first timers, so it would be better to vote in person. Dem votes were lost that way, although maybe not so much in Georgia because Stacey Abrams really educated people as to how to do it after 2018.

    Donald Trump was planning to vote absentee in Florida in the general election but changed that to early voting (which he endorsed) in order to set an example.

    Sammy Finkelman (bc65ac)


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