Phyllis Fong, a 22-year veteran of the department, had earlier told colleagues that she intended to stay after the White House terminated her on Friday, saying that she didn’t believe the administration had followed proper protocols, the sources said.
In an email to colleagues on Saturday, reviewed by Reuters, she said the independent council of the inspectors general on integrity and efficiency “has taken the position that these termination notices do not comply with the requirements set out in law and therefore are not effective at this time”.
I don’t want to criticize her too strongly because I absolutely think she did the right thing by ignoring the bullshit firing Friday night and going into work Monday, but why isn’t she commenting publicly on this and why are we only finding out days after the fact that this happened?
She could be seeking legal counsel, and their first rule is usually “shut the fuck up” until they get their ducks in a row.
I think that ship sailed when she told her coworkers that she was going to ignore Trump’s illegal order and continue coming into work, at this point more publicity on this is only going to limit what they can do to her
Just because she made a mistake in the beginning doesn’t mean that she should start making more mistakes now.
I don’t think she made a mistake by resisting Trump’s illegal firing order, that’s probably the smartest way to deal with a fascist American empire because it’s not like appeasement or running is any guarantee so you might as well resist, but now that she’s landed on the administration’s radar anyway it would be in her own interest and the country’s to push back publicly. It’s not like they’re going to forgive her for keeping quiet now and the more people who know her name the more political capital it will cost them to go after her.
Non partisan bureaucrats/government workers are important for a functioning government.
Had she come out loudly and vociferously condemning the Trump Administration they would have just accused her of being another partisan making it easier to dismiss her.
I’m sure privately she is pulling no punches. But it’s up to us to be outraged and incensed for them in this case and push the issue. These are people who did their job. Serving the public regardless of who was in power. And we all will be the ones to suffer from these fascists. Not just her.
Except they already dismissed her at that point, any possible influence she could gain by keeping this quiet was already gone
I don’t think that’s very helpful, we need public resistance
My therapist would tell you I’m doing my part and then some
She was doing her job up until the point she failed to keep the public informed about what was happening with their government
Totally agreed, a lot of us are at risk of suffering a lot more than a job loss and security escort
Dismissed her illegally. This is only just the start. And everything she is done at this point has been to strengthen her standing legally. While I don’t think much more unfortunately come of this. There will be plenty of government legal professionals helping and watching closely. Because they know they are being eyed on The Chopping Block as well unless they lick the taint.
If we need public resistance then let’s resist as the public. Calling for a private citizen to do the acts everyone else should be doing is just inane and counterproductive. But normal for so many of the counter productive Palestine shouters. Which help me refresh my memory. I seem to recall that you were one of the very vocal ones. Calling out and condemning people for asking people to vote for Harris against the actual fascist etc. How’s that all working out for you? Palestinians safe?
I’d like you to consider something for me. Perhaps there is more to resistance and pushing back than being loud visible obnoxious and divisive. Sometimes you need to remain a calm, composed. Keep your powder dry and know when and how to fight your battles.
As this is dragged through the courts and litigated. She will be a very sympathetic figure to many. Every time she shows up in the headlines it will reflect badly on this Administration. And because of her behavior she will be a lot harder to dismiss than someone like yourself. But it is absolutely necessary for someone like us to help keep this in the right guys and in the media. To keep people talking about it. They would love for it to be overwhelmed and forgotten amongst the Litany of other offenses.
How is the public supposed to tell journalists what happened in a USDA office this week? Most of us weren’t there.
There’s a lot of news happening all at once. Overwhelming is the goal.
No, we didn’t miss it, it’s only just being reported on today, and even then only because anonymous sources told us about it.
Fong should have made a public statement or held a press conference Monday afternoon raising the alarm on this, fascists have a harder time doing their worst when everyone’s watching and they’re forced to keep justifying their unhinged behavior. If nothing else, she’s already going to be punished like she did this anyway.
Overwhelming journalists too. She made her statement on Saturday.
I don’t see how she could have made a statement Saturday about being physically ejected from her office on Monday
Sorry, I misread or misunderstood something. She announced her intention to stay on Saturday, and was walked out Monday. The news picked it up today, Wednesday.
Like I said, there’s so much going on, and only so many journalists. They may not hear about it from someone at USDA immediately. It’s unlikely Fong would have called them up herself.
Which is where she’s making a mistake with how she’s approaching all of this. I think she’s done better than most just because she did try to resist in the first place, but she needs to stay the course and speak out, if only because she’s already done enough to land on the administration’s enemies list and it will be more difficult for them to do things to her if the entire country is watching.