President Donald Trump speaks to the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association, Friday, April 26, 2019, in Indianapolis. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP)

For 14 seasons, Donald Trump basked in his role as the unitary executive host of “The Apprentice,” wielding the reality show’s signature catchphrase — “You’re fired!” — with moral clarity and undisputed power.

But since riding his television fame to the White House, a very different Trump has emerged, one oddly reluctant to exercise his fabled boardroom bravado in the Oval Office.

Consider the tweets posted this week by the man whose real genius may have been to recognize how easy it would be to span the gulf between reality television and political reality.

As has been incorrectly reported by the Fake News Media, I never told then White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire Robert Mueller, even though I had the legal right to do so. If I wanted to fire Mueller, I didn’t need McGahn to do it, I could have done it myself. Nevertheless,.... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2019

....Mueller was NOT fired and was respectfully allowed to finish his work on what I, and many others, say was an illegal investigation (there was no crime), headed by a Trump hater who was highly conflicted, and a group of 18 VERY ANGRY Democrats. DRAIN THE SWAMP! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2019

.....Despite the fact that the Mueller Report was “composed” by Trump Haters and Angry Democrats, who had unlimited funds and human resources, the end result was No Collusion, No Obstruction. Amazing! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2019

Trump’s commentary comes, of course, in response to the release of Robert Mueller’s redacted report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and the president’s efforts to keep it covered up. Specifically, Don McGahn, the former White House counsel, testified under oath to Mueller that Trump had called him on two occasions and “directed him to call” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to have Mueller “removed.”

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As Fox News legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano put it Thursday, those orders constituted just two of the instances in which the Mueller report showed Trump had indeed obstructed justice.

Setting aside the legal peril McGahn’s account represents for Trump, what stands out in the president’s explanation is how little he resembles his “Apprentice” persona. Trump has spent much of the past two years railing against Mueller as “highly conflicted,” part of a “gang of Democrat thugs” and James Comey’s “best friend.” And yet, the president couldn’t bring himself to say, “You’re fired!” to the man in charge of the “total witch hunt” that was “ruining lives.”

If, as Trump stated in Thursday’s tweets, believed he had the “legal right” to fire Mueller, why didn’t he? Why let his investigation continue to ruin the lives of his underlings? Furthermore, if the “end result was No Collusion, No Obstruction,” why is Trump trying to prevent McGahn from testifying before Congress?

White House counsel Don McGahn listens as Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018. (Photo: Saul Loeb/Pool/AP)

Trump did, of course, fire Comey on May 9, 2017, although event itself wasn’t exactly a face-to-face, boardroom affair. The FBI director, in fact, learned about his ouster from television during a visit to the bureau’s Los Angeles field office.

Initially, Trump denied that he had canned Comey over the investigation into his campaign’s possible collusion with Russia, citing a letter Rosenstein had been ordered to write that said Comey had mishandled the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

Days later, however, Trump reversed himself and admitted that “this Russia thing” was the real reason for Comey’s dismissal.

“And, in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.’”

Then the president turned his ire on Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who had recused himself from the investigation into Trump’s ties with Russia. Acting in his stead, Rosenstein appointed Mueller as special counsel.

“How could you let this happen, Jeff?” Trump demanded, according to the Mueller report. “You were supposed to protect me.”

“Oh my God. This is terrible,” Trump continued. “This is the end of my presidency. I’m f***ed.”

As Attorney General William Barr noted in releasing Mueller’s redacted report, Trump “was frustrated and angered by a sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency.” But it wasn’t until the day after the 2018 elections that Trump dismissed Sessions, after a long Twitter campaign to mock and demean him, in what was widely viewed as an effort to get him to quit on his own.

Trump’s supporters may argue that, in the long run, Trump is indeed making good on his promise to drain the swamp. After all, McGahn, Comey and Sessions are all gone now. Rosenstein is on his way out and Mueller’s report has so far failed to elicit any protest from Republicans against the president’s scorched-earth campaign against congressional oversight.

A still-small but growing number of Democrats, however, say the behavior chronicled in Mueller’s report, and the White House’s defiance of congressional subpoenas, are more than reason enough for him to be fired.

Ultimately, though, it may be left to voters to decide whether to renew Trump’s current reality show for another four years.

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