Well, here it comes. A peeved Donald Trump is launching one last administration purge, retaliating against his own sycophants and allies for not being sycophantic enough. By tweet, yet again, Trump announced that he had "terminated" Mark Esper as secretary of defense; the new acting secretary of defense will be Christopher Miller, the current head of the National Counterterrorism Center.
It is not precisely clear what Esper's thoughtcrime against Dear Leader was, but Trump has reportedly been unhappy with Esper's resistance to attacking American citizens with American troops because Donald Trump and his allies are fascists and very much wanted that to happen. It is likely, however, that Esper will not be the last to be purged. Donald now has only a few months to dish out vengeance and humiliation to every last person in Washington he harbors a grudge against, and because he is a walking, tweeting garbage fire of a human being he will likely make that his singular obsession.
Oh, and Trump might once again be doing this whole thing illegally. If Esper was indeed "terminated," as opposed to "has resigned," the line of succession would put his deputy in the acting role, not Christopher Miller. Expect the White House to either clarify why what Trump is announcing falls within the law—or not bother.