“You’re fired”

On incompetence, unprofessionalism and the failure of an authoritarian brand

It’s not a good look for America.

A six month old baby teargassed. [Source, Source]

A grandfather who is a U.S. citizen dragged out of his house in his underwear (it’s -7° here in the Twin Cities) in what is, no surprise, a false arrest. [Source, Source]

ICE agents ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Wilmar, MN then came back and arrested its employees. [Source, Source]

Meanwhile, it turns out nine of the 13 “worst of the worst” criminals ICE claims to have picked up during Operation Metro Surge were already in prison. Some for years. [Source]

Oh, and my Minnesotan friends — of all ethnicities — are now carrying their passports to the grocery store because, “you never know.” [Source]

This is what the Trump brand has become.

And it’s a failure.

If Trump, Noem, and ICE were contestants on “The Apprentice,” Trump would fire Trump

What we’re seeing on the streets of my hometown is federal incompetence, accompanied by unprofessional violence. What we’re hearing from those who’s positions we fund are lies and excuses. [Source]

There was a time on a brand-building TV show where those behaviors were grounds for firing.

The optics are terrible. And we’re all paying for them.

📸 David Guttenfelder for The New York Times

Video from CBS News

📸 Kerem Yucel for Getty Images

There are no editors to clean up Trump’s mess this time.

Even with access to the latest, no-doubt pricey surveillance tech [Source, Source, Source] and budget for ill-fitting Nazi cosplay costumes [Source], our federal employees continue to screw up.

And we all continue to pay for every minute of the tragedy.

Good luck taking this show to Philly.