Well, I can see from the state of this thread, as well as the current media cycle, that Trump's distraction from the systematic removal of any investigators who dare turn an eye of suspicion towards him or his cronies has worked very well.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/us/politics/pompeo-trump-linick-inspector-general-firing.htmlThis is the real story, the one that Trump wants to be quickly buried, and the media are doing an excellent job of obliging him by reporting breathlessly on how Trump takes hydroxychloroquine instead. This part of the article is arguably the most telling:
Mr. Trump, speaking about the latest in his series of firings of inspectors general around the government, said on Monday of Mr. Linick: “I don’t know him. Never heard of him. But I was asked by the State Department, by Mike” to terminate Mr. Linick.
Trump is already laying the groundwork to stab Pompeo in the back and blame everything on him. That's the kind of person he is, and it shows why he's fundamentally unsuited for any leadership position. The buck doesn't stop with Trump. He refuses to take responsibility for anything, unless it's something he's comfortable gloating about. There's always an excuse with him. Always an escape hatch. Always someone else to blame. Trump may abuse the powers of his office to protect cronies like Pompeo and Flynn from time to time, but ultimately, his only loyalty is to himself, and if he felt pressured enough - or even just not flattered or praised enough - he would betray Pompeo and throw him the wolves in a heartbeat. Trump lives in a Trump-centric world where other people are pawns to be exploited, abused, and discarded at whatever moment he decides would be most personally profitable for him.
And as hypocritical as it is for me after all that to then weigh in on the hydroxychloroquine story, I think it needs to be pointed out that even if Trump's doctor came out and explicitly said, "Yes, I prescribed President Trump hydroxychloroquine," we shouldn't believe him. He's been compromised. I can only assume that Trump has threatened to fire him if he gives honest assessments of his health instead of just saying what he wants to hear, and that's why we've been told that an obese slug in his seventies who never exercises and mostly eats garbage is actually in really good physical health, as well as mysteriously a couple of inches taller than what all available photographic evidence suggests his height really is. There's no reason to believe he'd be any more honest about this.