As CNN reports, Trump has given Atkinson 30 days to clear his desk. Whether or not he will bother to fill the role is unclear. Several other inspector general slots are currently sitting empty. There is now no inspector general at the Department of Defense. No inspector general at the Treasury. And, critically in the midst of the ongoing crisis, no inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services. Those are just a fragment of the areas where the answer to “Who watches these people to see that they’re following the law” is “absolutely no one.”

In signing the recent coronavirus stimulus bill, Trump even added a signing statement saying explicitly that he would not bother to brief the inspector general that the bill requires, or respond to issues that the inspector general surfaces.

Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell may love packing the courts with conservative judges, but when it comes to the people who are supposed to provide a check on abuse of office, Trump wants nothing to do with them. And he’s doing his best to make sure there are none of them to worry about.

Removing Atkinson comes after Trump has made literally hundreds of changes within the Intelligence Community, conducting a series of purges to ensure leadership at the FBI, CIA, NSA and other agencies puts protecting Trump first, and concerns about the nation somewhere far down the list. Concerns about following the rules are … what rules?

Responding to the firing of Atkinson, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff described Trump’s actions as "another blatant attempt by the President to gut the independence of the Intelligence Community and retaliate against those who dare to expose presidential wrongdoing.”

Schiff also called this an act of “retribution against a distinguished public servant for doing his job and informing Congress ...” Which is, of course, exactly the point of Trump’s action. It might be seen as a signal to others, if there were any others left to signal.