Donald Trump Fires Cybersecurity Official Who Called Election the ‘Most Secure’ in US History, and Social Media Has Thoughts

President Donald Trump used Twitter to fire Chris Krebs, the director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Tuesday, leaving himself open to some angry comments. Krebs had recently criticized Trump for his continued false claims about fraud in the 2020 presidential election, which appeared to be the reason for his termination. Americans alternately condemned and mocked Trump for this move.

Krebs was the first ever director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a new division of the Department of Homeland Security. He set himself apart from other Trump administration officials when he released a public memo, stating that “there is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised,” according to a report by USA Today. Ironically, as soon as Trump tweeted that Krebs was wrong about the election, Twitter fact-checkers appended a warning to Trump’s tweet.

“All of the states with close results in the 2020 presidential race have paper records of each vote, allowing the ability to go back and count each ballot if necessary,” Krebs’ original statement went on. “This is an added benefit for security and resilience. This process allows for the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors.”

Krebs acknowledged his termination via Twitter with a tweet of his own, and a change to his bio on the platform. Many commenters praised him for speaking the truth, assuming he knew ahead of time that it would cost him his job. Meanwhile, many lashed out at Trump for defying the findings of his own appointed experts, and for his continued lies about the election results. Here is a look at the response on Twitter.

Bad Look

Both Trump supporters and Biden supporters commented that the firing of Krebs did not send the message Trump seemed to hope it would. By terminating a supposed expert that he himself appointed, Trump did little to inspire confidence that his claims of voter fraud were justified.

Thanks

Many commenters dropped by Krebs’ post to thank him for his work as a public servant. They called him “a TRUE patriot” and told him he had done the right thing.

Twitter Security

A growing number of critics are calling on Twitter executives to intervene and shut down Trump’s account on the platform. The responses to Krebs’ firing were no exception.

Typo

On Wednesday morning, Krebs noticed his own typo in his original tweet, and posted a self-effacing response to it. Supporters were undeterred, telling him that one spelling error would not impact his place in the history books.

Endorsements

Election officials and other public figures posted their endorsements of Krebs after his firing, including Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. Benson assured voters that Krebs’ work behind the scenes was integral to the secure election.

Embarrassing

Many commenters remarked that Trump’s continued lies about the 2020 presidential election are embarrassing — both for him and for the U.S. as a whole. Some even questioned whether these false accusations and conspiracy theories could be enough to have him removed from office before the inauguration in January.

Exhausting

Finally, many people commented that Trump’s relentless claims of unfairness are “exhausting,” and some even speculated that that is the point. Fox News contributor Stephen Hayes suggested that Trump was doing real “damage” to American democracy by making Americans so sick and tired of talking about politics at all.