Today in Stalin's Krem- . . . Uh, Trump's White House

The firings haven't been as random as we thought -- although if we'd thought a bit more closely, this would come as no surprise:

A trove of e-mails obtained by House Democrats reveal efforts by top State Department officials — working hand in hand with the White House, outside conservatives and right-wing media — to sideline and demote career civil servants who are seen as disloyal to President Trump.

The report on the emails set off alarm bells across Washington, D.C. and prompted Democrats on the House Oversight Committee to demand that the State Department hand over records of internal communications on the issue. Department officials have reportedly labeled certain career staffers “troublemaker,” “turncoat” and “Obama/Clinton loyalist” because of their work for past administrations.

But independent watchdog groups tracking the issue tell TPM the problem is not confined to the State Department, citing similar acts of retaliation against career staffers throughout the government.

The first thing this calls to mind, of course, is Stalin's purges of the 1930s. (And do remember that we still have Guantanamo, just in case. Our very own gulag.)

And lest you think this is just Trump being Trump:

A slew of bills recently introduced by House Republicans would implement the weakened employee protections now in place at the VA and other government agencies.

The Labor Department Accountability Act and Education Department Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act replicate the VA’s legislative language almost exactly, giving the secretaries at those agencies more authority to swiftly  suspend, involuntarily reassign, demote or remove employees.

The Promote Accountability and Government Efficiency (PAGE) Act would classify all new federal hires as “at-will” employees, meaning they could be “removed or suspended, without notice or right to appeal, from service by the head of the agency at which such employee is employed for good cause, bad cause or no cause at all.”

And the Modern Employment Reform, Improvement, and Transformation (MERIT) would allow Cabinet secretaries to fire any employee, provided they give a notice in writing, and would limit the employee’s ability to appeal the case to the MSPB.

I love the names they give these bills -- just they opposite of what they're really about.

Trump's doing what the Republicans want -- have wanted, for years: a) they don't like laws that protect workers, of any kind, at any time; b) they're authoritarians at heart, or at best, oligarchs -- conservatives have never gotten over expanding voting rights to non-landowners, former slaves, and women (their response, of course, is to try to make it impossible for undesirables to vote); and c) they don't want to govern, they want to rule.

The other thing that popped into my head as I was reading this was that piece from The Mikado: "I have a little list./They never will be missed --/No, they never will be missed. . . ."

There had damned well better be a Blue Tsunami this November, or we are royally screwed. Although at the rate things are going, November may be too late.