Nielsen was apparently clueless about more than her job

Ms. Nielsen had requested the meeting to plan “a way forward” at the border, in part thinking she could have a reasoned conversation with Mr. Trump about the role, according to three people familiar with the meeting. She came prepared with a list of things that needed to change to improve the relationship with the president.

  NYT

Had she never met the man?

Mr. Trump in recent weeks had asked Ms. Nielsen to close the ports of entry along the border and to stop accepting asylum seekers, which Ms. Nielsen found ineffective and inappropriate. While the 30-minute meeting was cordial, Mr. Trump was determined to ask for her resignation. After the meeting, she submitted it.

[...]

The president called Ms. Nielsen at home early in the mornings to demand that she take action to stop migrants from entering the country, including doing things that were clearly illegal, such as blocking all migrants from seeking asylum. She repeatedly noted the limitations imposed on her department by federal laws, court settlements and international obligations.

Those responses only infuriated Mr. Trump further. The president’s fury erupted in the spring of 2018 as Ms. Nielsen hesitated for weeks about whether to sign a memo ordering the routine separation of migrant children from their families so that the parents could be detained.

So I've got no sympathy. She could have taken notes from Jeff Sessions if she thought boot-licking would save her.

Multiple White House officials said she had grown deeply paranoid in recent months, after numerous stories about her job being on the line. She also had supported the Immigration and Customs Enforcement nominee Mr. Trump withdrew, Ronald D. Vitiello, and her support for him was described as problematic for her with the president.

HE nominates the guy, she supports the nominee, and then gets kicked in the teeth for it. I hope other administration folks are paying attention.

In early 2019, as the number of migrant families from Central American countries surged, the president’s fury at Ms. Nielsen did, too. He repeatedly demanded that she cut off foreign aid to Central American countries even though the funding was the responsibility of the State Department. She repeatedly deflected his demands.

He doesn't know who's supposed to do what. He just thinks he gets to call the shots and people do what he tells them to do.

One day after Ms. Nielsen traveled to Honduras to sign a regional compact with officials from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, Mr. Trump cut State Department funding for the countries.

As I said, I hope other administration staff are paying attention.

The president said in a tweet that Kevin McAleenan, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, would take over as the acting replacement for Ms. Nielsen, who became the sixth secretary to lead the agency in late 2017. But by law, the under secretary for management, Claire Grady, who is currently serving as acting deputy secretary, is next in line to be acting secretary. The White House will have to fire her to make Mr. McAleenan acting secretary, people familiar with the transition said. Ms. Grady has told colleagues that she has no intention of resigning to make way for Mr. McAleenan.

[...]

By naming Mr. McAleenan acting secretary, Mr. Trump is installing another veteran of previous administrations, not a loyal foot soldier of Mr. Trump’s campaign.

[...]

McAleenan [who is married to a Salvadoran immigrant] was also one of three Department of Homeland Security officials who had urged Ms. Nielsen to sign the memo authorizing the routine separation of migrant families at the border.

Trump doesn't know about McAleenan's spouse, does he? I wonder what she thinks of her husband's stance on southern border action.

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

UPDATE:

Nielsen’s resistance [to Trump's family separation policy] strained her relationship with Trump, NBC reported, adding that the outgoing secretary told the president she could not reinstate the policy due to federal court orders and an executive order he signed last year ending it.

Trump reportedly first began urging the return of the policy in January amid a spike in undocumented immigrants crossing the border and is convinced separating families is the most effective deterrent from migrants seeking asylum.

[...]

On Monday morning, CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin said Nielsen’s part in family separations would be her political legacy and that she would be remembered as “the woman who put children in cages.”

A portion of Nielsen’s testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee in which she argues over whether the conditions in which migrant children are detained can be considered “cages” went viral last month.

  The Hill