So they kick someone out because they are unpleasant to be around, but keep the guy around that beat two of his wives and only kicked him out when the public found out?

from CNN

In those few months on the job, Ricardel generated a long list of enemies and developed a reputation for shouting at subordinates, plotting against White House officials she disliked and leaking stories about her administration opponents to the press. One source familiar with the situation said Ricardel's firing is due in part to her "bullying" of aides both above and below her.

So she was unpopular. Am I getting this right: Ricardel's boss, Bolton, apparently didn't a) see this coming, b) value one of his own enough push back. Was she that bad? He allowed his department -- the most important in the country -- to be publicly owned by one dedicated to ceremony and protocol. If this is right, that's nuts.

I wouldn't call Bolton's department the most important. He's just an aide to the White House, and one of like ~20 people on the National Security Council. If his office were to go away entirely, I'd be pretty confident in SecDef, Homeland Security Advisor, Secretary of Homeland Security, the AG, the Joint Chiefs, DNI, CIA et al., being able to competently advise the President on matters of national security. And I don't believe he has any real resources under his chain of command. E.g. the AG, in a crisis, can deploy the FBI, SecDef can deploy troops, Homeland can deploy ICE, CPB, Coast Guard.

I think Bolton can only deploy reddit trolls.

But I agree this sounds like a failure of Bolton. It seems to have been brewing for months, and had come to his attention, and he chose to ignore it. He needed to go handle the situation by talking to everyone, or fire Ricardel himself. Instead he just had his status undermined by letting it get away from him. He doesn't know how to play the game of thrones. The best at it seems to be Stephen Miller, one of the last aides standing from inauguration day. Stay out of the public eye, whisper in the ear. He's the snake.