Donald Trump, after declaring Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election, began reshuffling his administration.

So, the head of the Pentagon, Mark Esper, was dismissed, as the president announced via Twitter.

“I am delighted to announce that Christopher Miller, the highly respected Director of the National Counter-Terrorism Center (unanimously approved by the Senate) will become acting secretary of defense.

The decision takes effect immediately.

Chris will do it GREAT!

Mark Esper dismissed.

I would like to thank him for the work done, ”wrote Trump.

On the day of Esper's dismissal, the head of the State Department, Mike Pompeo, announced another upcoming reshuffle - in November, the United States Special Representative for Syria, James Jeffrey, will leave his post.

Pompeo added that the duties of the special envoy for Syria will be performed by Assistant Secretary of State Joel Rayburn.

At the same time, the coordinator for the fight against terrorism, Nathan Sayles, will be appointed as the US envoy to the coalition to fight IS *.

Problem position

Recall that Mark Esper, a former Secretary of the Army and top manager of the Raytheon Corporation, took over as head of the Pentagon in the summer of 2019 after a series of resignations and reshuffles in the Trump administration.

He replaced Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan in this post, whose candidacy the president had to withdraw after it became known about the FBI investigation into Shanahan's quarrel with his ex-wife and a possible case of domestic violence.

Shanahan denied all charges.

However, the scandal was made public in the media, and it cost him the post of head of the Pentagon.

At the same time, Shanahan himself was appointed acting.

Secretary of Defense in 2018 - when former US Marine Corps General James Mattis left the post.

The popular military leader wrote a letter of resignation and published an open letter criticizing Trump after the 45th US president decided to withdraw US troops from Syria.

  • Mark Esper

  • Reuters

  • © Erin Scott / File

The American media have repeatedly noted that relations between Donald Trump and Mark Esper have deteriorated over the past year.

Thus, the former head of the Pentagon did not agree with the president's plan to withdraw troops from Germany and refused to confirm Trump's words that the reduction of the American contingent is a "punishment" for Berlin.

In August, Esper again denied the statement of the head of state.

These were Trump's words that the devastating explosion in Beirut was a "monstrous attack."

The day after Trump's report, the head of the Pentagon said during a press conference that, according to all available data, the explosion was an accident.

Then the American media, in particular the Bloomberg agency and the USA Today newspaper, reported that Trump was unhappy with Esper and that he could be removed from office after the presidential elections in November.

White House and Pentagon officials said no reshuffle was planned.

However, the most significant conflict was between Esper and Trump over the continuing protests in American cities after the death of George Floyd.

The head of the Pentagon publicly expressed disagreement with the president's statement about the possible use of the American army to suppress protracted unrest.

In addition, Esper supported the US Congress in the issue of renaming military bases named after the leaders and military leaders of the Confederation.

Trump was vehemently against this.

Esper also apologized for participating in a photo shoot with the president in Washington, DC at Lafayette Square, which police cleared out of protesters using tear gas.

A variety of reasons could have led to Esper's sudden dismissal, says Andrei Sidorov, head of the department of international organizations and world political processes at the Faculty of World Politics at Moscow State University.

“The Secretary of Defense has repeatedly set up Trump, so he dismissed him and decided to ruin his reputation.

I do not exclude that Trump wants to demonstrate that he is still president, therefore, he dismisses those who, for some reason, are unpleasant to him, "the political scientist emphasized in a commentary on RT.

To be continued?

Trump's decision to fire Esper has been criticized by Democratic politicians.

Thus, the head of the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith, said that it was motivated primarily by insufficient personal loyalty to the president.

“President Trump’s decision to fire Minister Esper out of harm's way is not only childish, it’s reckless.

It has long been clear that President Trump cares most about loyalty, often at the expense of competence.

But in the period of the transfer of presidential power, the competence in the ranks of the governing bodies is of paramount importance, ”The New York Times quoted the congressman as saying.

In turn, Senator Mark Warner, who heads the Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that the dismissal of the head of the Pentagon would negatively affect the transfer of power and the national security of the United States.

“Additional turmoil in institutions designed to protect our national security is the last thing our country needs.

President Trump should not provoke further destabilization during the remainder of his tenure by removing any of the persons appointed by the Senate for intelligence and national security positions, ”NBC quoted Warner as saying.

At the same time, Mark Esper may not be the only member of the Trump cabinet to be removed from office.

In October, Axios reported that, in addition to Esper, after his election victory, Trump was planning to dismiss CIA Director Gina Haspel and FBI Director Christopher Ray.

  • CIA Director Gina Haspel

  • Reuters

  • © Joshua Roberts

In the case of the CIA chief, according to Axios, Trump was unhappy with her protest against the publication of classified documents regarding Russia's "interference" in the 2016 elections.

The FBI director, in turn, incurred the president's ire by not opening an investigation into Hunter Biden and his overseas business ties, and by not firing bureau employees who exceeded their authority in investigating Trump's "ties" with Russia.

After the news of the dismissal of the head of the Pentagon, the version of the imminent dismissal of the heads of the CIA and the FBI was again voiced by the host of the CNN television channel Jake Tapper.

A senior administration official tells CNN that Defense Secretary Mark Esper, whom President Trump just fired via tweet, is worried that the president will next fire FBI director Christopher Wray and CIA director Gina Haspell.

- Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) November 9, 2020

"A senior administration official told CNN that Defense Secretary Mark Esper, whom President Trump just fired via Twitter, is worried that he will next fire FBI Director Christopher Ray and CIA Director Gina Haspel," the journalist wrote.

By the dismissal of Esper and the "announced" dismissal of the heads of the FBI and CIA, Trump wants to show opponents that he still controls the domestic and foreign policy of the United States, Andrei Koshkin, a member of the Academy of Military Sciences, emphasized in an interview with RT.

“This is connected with domestic political events, the holding of elections and demonstrates that Trump wants to show the whole world that he controls the United States and, no matter what, will prove his case in the Supreme Court.

Trump, despite the fact that many congratulate Biden on his victory, thus forced to discuss his actions as president, "- said the political scientist.

According to Andrei Koshkin, the heads of the Pentagon and the special services did not show much enthusiasm for promoting Trump's political platform and fulfilling his tasks.

However, over the remaining two-plus months before the end of his presidential term, Trump is unlikely to be able to influence the political course of the United States with the help of the dismissals of security officials, the expert said.

“Trump can make a personnel reshuffle in the remaining time, but it will be difficult for him to implement any initiatives,” the expert explained.

Yuri Rogulev, director of the Franklin Roosevelt Foundation for the Study of the United States at Moscow State University, agrees with this opinion.

According to him, "with the change of the Minister of Defense and the possible resignation of the heads of the special services, one should not expect any new undertakings."

"Even if Trump wants to carry out some kind of program, reform, he will not be able to do this, since the Congress, in which the composition is now changing, will not meet him," the political scientist said in a conversation with RT.

Of course, now all Trump's actions are associated with the past presidential elections, in which the Democrat Joe Biden was declared the winner, added Andrei Sidorov.

“Trump could have been told how some officials relate to him and the election results, whether they lost faith in him or not, so he could impulsively take such a step.

Or he has a plan, and thus he wants to show that all other officials need to demonstrate loyalty, because he will be able to win the courts and stay in the White House, ”the expert concluded.

* "Islamic State" (IS) - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of December 29, 2014.