It's so simple they can't figure it out

I know the answer to this one:  Impeach him.

If the man is abusing his authority, that's an impeachable offense.

Consider what’s happening this week with the Department of Homeland Security. On Sunday, right after announcing that Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen would be resigning (almost surely at the president’s insistence), President Donald Trump announced that he was naming Kevin McAleenan—the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection—as acting secretary. After apparently discovering that federal law requires that the under secretary for management—Claire Grady—become acting secretary in such a case (because there is currently no Senate-confirmed deputy secretary), the White House announced on Monday that it was removing Grady (a Trump appointee), apparently for no other reason than to clear the way for McAleenan.

The Federal Vacancies Reform Act is the law that allows the president to bypass the background assumption that, when a government office is vacant, the next person in line to hold that office can exercise its functions on an “acting” basis. Thus, it was the FVRA that allowed the president to name Mick Mulvaney acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau even though that agency had a Senate-confirmed deputy director. It was also the FVRA that allowed the president to name Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general even though Rod Rosenstein was the Senate-confirmed deputy attorney general. And Trump presumably intended to use the FVRA to appoint McAleenan over Grady as acting DHS secretary before he realized a different statute got in the way.

Vacancies are inevitable in the executive branch. Even if the government tries to avoid long periods with unfilled offices (which used to be norm for the secretary of defense—an office that has now been vacant for a record 99 days), some departures will always be unplanned. But it is not inevitable that the president should be able to fill vacancies however he sees fit and for however long he desires.

The Constitution is quite clear that the Senate is supposed to play a role—“advice and consent”—in the conformation of senior government officers. The more Trump relies upon the FVRA to fill vacancies on a temporary basis, the more he is depriving the Senate of its constitutional role—and in the process, of opportunities to vet his nominees, to reject those who are unqualified, and to conduct meaningful oversight of the executive branch.

  Slate

That's the point.

The article offers some good suggestions about filling vacancies, but they require rule changes - or maybe constitutional changes. They'd prevent future presidents from pulling this kind of shit, but right now, the answer is: impeach the motherfucker.

Continue reading.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.