As soon as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security distributed a statement defending the integrity of the 2020 election, calling it “the most secure in American history,” two things were certain: President Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud were exposed as totally false. And somebody was going to get fired.
The other shoe came thudding to the floor on Tuesday evening when Trump announced the abrupt dismissal of Christopher Krebs, America’s top cybersecurity official.
“The recent statement by Chris Krebs on the security of the 2020 Election was highly inaccurate,” the president tweeted, “in that there were massive improprieties and fraud — including dead people voting, Poll Watchers not allowed into polling locations, ‘glitches’ in the voting machines which changed … votes from Trump to Biden, late voting, and many more. Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated.”
Twitter dutifully attached its “This claim about election fraud is disputed” label to the tweet but it doesn’t begin to cover the lies, distortions and wild claims that have now been debunked and/or thrown out of court.
Sure, the 2020 election saw minor errors and inconsistencies, which have occurred in our elections since the founding of the republic. Yet, a full two weeks after the election, the Trump campaign has not provided one piece of hard evidence to overturn Joe Biden’s decisive victory.
The firing of Krebs, a former Microsoft Corp. executive who was nominated by Trump in 2018 to become the first director of DHS’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, is solely about trying to prop up a discredited narrative by a sulking incumbent who can’t accept his defeat.
Krebs, 43, has been widely praised for his work, especially for the two years he spent preparing the states to handle the challenges of the 2020 election. That includes hardening systems against Russian interference and setting up a “rumor control” website to guard against disinformation.
The biggest threats have turned out not to come from foreign governments but from our own, with Trump constantly portraying the system as “rigged” or “corrupt,” beginning when he launched his first campaign in 2015.
Praise for Krebs was somewhat bipartisan, with most Republicans remaining mute as has become their troubling custom in matters relating to Trump. Only now, for instance, are some Republican leaders finally beginning to tentatively acknowledge the blindingly obvious reality: Biden will be president come Jan. 20.
Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a GOP member of the Intelligence Committee, said Krebs “did a really good job — as state election officials all across the nation will tell you — and he obviously should not be fired.”
Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine who led a commission on improving cybersecurity, was more specific.
“Of all the things this president has done, this is the worst,” he said. “To strike at the heart of the democratic system is beyond anything we have seen from any politician.”
King called Krebs one of the most competent people he had met in the government. “In this administration, the surest way to get fired is to do your job.”Sen. Angus King, maine independent
“In this administration,” he said, “the surest way to get fired is to do your job.”
