You may have heard the news today that Trump fired the independent Inspector General in charge of monitoring the $2 trillion coronavirus relief fund.

I want to explain why this is a Very Big Deal.

When I worked in the Department of Education many years ago, I learned that the I.G. was nonpartisan and was respected and revered. As a political appointee, you knew that the I.G. was in charge of monitoring ethics and professional standards. He or she was not an omsbudsman, but the keeper of the rules and the law.

Trump fires Inspectors General as if they were his personal employees. Just last Friday, he fired the I.G. for the Director of National Intelligence, presumably for daring to do his duty during the Ukraine investigation. Trump wants everyone in the government to be loyal to him, not to abstract notions of ethics and norms. If anything shows his…