Just How Badly Does Trump Want Revenge?

One of the most fateful acts of Donald Trump’s first months in power was a firing—his abrupt sacking of FBI Director James Comey, whom he deemed insufficiently loyal. That’s how Trump came in, and it’s the way he seems to be going out: spiting those he believes wronged him over the course of his presidency.

Earlier this week, he announced in that he had “terminated” Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, “effective immediately.” He gave no reason because there really was no clear reason, though is that Esper was among the senior officials who opposed a White House push to declassify information about Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. (Right until the end, Trump remains fixated on showing that he won four years ago without Russia’s help.) What known is that Esper had repeatedly crossed the president, including by batting down his idea of sending soldiers