It grows tiresome to continue chronicling the bluster and misdirection of Donald Trump – especially at a time when our country so needs a real leader. But here we are – still without a real leader. Instead we have one who doesn’t even know what he doesn’t know.
Take for instance his temper tantrum Monday – ostensibly over TVA’s outsourcing of IT workers in Chattanooga and Knoxville. Trump told reporters at the White House that he was firing TVA chairman James “Skip” Thompson and former TVA Chairman Richard Howorth from the nine-member board. And he said he may fire more board members if they continue to support the outsourcing plan and current TVA president Jeff Lyash. Spoiler alert: It is Lyash whom Trump really wants to fire, but he can’t. The TVA board members (all of whom were and must be Senate-approved presidential appointees) hire and fire TVA CEOs.
Sure Trump’s action sounds dramatic, and TVA now says it’s restudying the outsourcing plan, but this is a many-layered, albeit shallow, mess. Thompson’s term expires in 2021 – just five months away, right? And Howorth’s term ended in May. He’s only still serving because Trump’s appointment of board members to replace him and two other vacancies) has been so slow.
Trump soured on Lyash, calling him “ridiculously overpaid,” after Lyash ignored Trump’s bullying tweets earlier this year to save coal and coal power plants. Lyash and TVA opted instead to shut down the last unit at its Paradise coal plant in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s state of Kentucky. And when Trump responded with a call to cut Lyash’s pay “by a lot,” board chairman Thompson sent out a memo to TVA’s more than 10,000 employees and contractors and said Trump’s effort was “ill informed.” The board, he said, stood behind Lyash and the TVA team.
As the highest paid federal employee, Lyash earns a $920,000 salary as part of a pension, relocation and incentive package that could top $8 million if he stays five years. As president, Trump is paid about $400,000 year.