Can we root for both sides to lose here? Or at least order up some more popcorn?

Now that the midterms are over and Republicans appear poised to take narrow control of the House, Joe Biden and his team want to get ahead of GOP investigations. One key area for Republican probes will be the border crisis, which has exploded and then festered ever since Biden took office. Republicans want to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for dereliction of duty, mainly to pressure him into resigning first.

Instead, the White House wants to push its appointee at Customs and Border Patrol out the door to protect Mayorkas. The only problem is … he won’t leave:

The Customs and Border Protection commissioner said Friday that he had been asked to step down but was refusing to do so, in what appears to be the Biden administration’s first attempted shake-up after the midterm elections.

The commissioner, Chris Magnus, who oversees much of the customs and trade policy and the country’s borders, said both Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, and the department’s deputy secretary asked him to resign or face being the first political appointee to be fired by President Biden. Mr. Magnus has been in the position for less than a year.

On Friday, in a message to Customs and Border Protection employees, Mr. Magnus wrote, “I have no plans to resign as C.B.P. commissioner,” according to a copy of the letter shared with The New York Times.

Er … is that how this works? Magnus is a presidential appointee. They can ask for a resignation, but Biden can also fire him. So what did they do when he refused? Um … this oughta do it, sure:

Mr. Magnus, 62, plans to go to work on Monday, he said. He added that the department already cut off his access to its Twitter account.

Quelle horreur! Is that really a punishment, though? Some people might consider getting locked out of Twitter a perk, frankly. (Although as Beege points out, it would be pretty low on the Meta scale. And no, steak ain’t on the Hot Air menu tonight either. I could rustle up some fish sticks. It’s Friday and I’m Catholic.)

Needless to say, this raises a couple of fun questions. First off, why would Magnus stick around where he’s clearly not wanted? It’s considered good form to submit your resignation when the president who appointed you requests it. However, Magnus may have some resentment in being made a scapegoat for Biden and Mayorkas — and may resent the PR campaign that launched last month to intimidate him into resigning ahead of the request:

Five current administration officials who work with CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus portrayed him as unengaged in his job, saying he often doesn’t attend White House meetings on the situation on the border, badmouths other agencies to colleagues and superiors, and has not built relationships within CBP and across other agencies to address the influx of migrants at the border. They complain he is unfamiliar with some of the operations of CBP and instead is focused primarily on reforming the culture of the Border Patrol, addressing its long list of allegations of racism and violence.

Some of the officials believe Magnus hasn’t prioritized addressing the high number of migrants attempting to cross the border, but instead has continually tried to shift blame to other agencies. As an example, two of the five current administration officials said Magnus brought his boss, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, pages of grievances about Immigration and Customs Enforcement. While CBP is responsible for securing U.S. borders at and between ports of entry, ICE is the agency responsible for arresting and detaining undocumented people within U.S. borders.

After a trip earlier this year to the border to meet with his Border Patrol colleagues, Magnus asked for an emergency meeting with Mayorkas and other senior DHS officials, during which he listed complaints about ICE that he’d gathered during tour stops from the Border Patrol’s rank and file, according to one of the five administration officials, who was familiar with the meeting.

“He’s not in the game,” said another one of the administration officials. “Every time there’s a meeting and he’s in it, we’ll get to a conclusion and Magnus will have some sidebar issue that he wants to raise and we’re all like ‘What the fuck is that about?’”

The attacks got personal, accusing him of literally sleeping on the job. Magnus suffers from multiple sclerosis, however, which makes him weary, but Magnus claims that he adjusts his meds to make sure he’s functioning at 100%:

Magnus also made the case that his critics were either unfair or uninformed. Six of those internal critics, for example, remarked to POLITICO that they had seen Magnus fall asleep during multiple meetings, including one earlier this year on how to handle the current swell of Venezuelans crossing the border. Magnus explained to POLITICO that he experienced brief periods of tiredness as a side effect of his multiple sclerosis, the neurological condition he was diagnosed with 15 years ago; and that he adjusted medication levels to deal with those side effects.

“Ironically, the most common complaint I’ve received from colleagues is about my tendency to ask too many questions in meetings and my desire to know what some believe is more than necessary on various topics,” he said, adding he intends “to remain fully engaged in the work of leading CBP and advocating on behalf of those who work here as well as for the American public.”

If that’s the case, then this leak from inside the Biden administration looks pretty underhanded. As leaks often are, of course. This also raises another question of whether Biden and Mayorkas want to push out Magnus as a way to blame him for everything that’s gone wrong, to discredit Magnus in case he goes to Congress with what he knows about the border crisis, or both.

That brings us to the second main question, which is — why not just fire Magnus? Biden has all the authority he needs to fire his own appointees, who serve at his pleasure. Mayorkas no doubt can act in Biden’s stead to carry out that termination. Instead, they’re cutting off his access to Twitter and resorting to lame org-chart shuffles to take Magnus out of the operational loop:

Mayorkas has since shifted Magnus’ duties and responsibilities to his deputy secretary, John Tien, and has deputy CBP commissioner Troy Miller, a career government official, running the agency’s day-to-day operations, according to three of the people.

One of the current officials said all CBP decisions now must first go through the DHS front office. In addition, all of Magnus’ direct reports are reporting to Tien and Miller, according to one of the other officials.

So Magnus can collect his salary and do nothing all day? That’ll show him!

By the way, while I was writing this, a source deeeeep within DHS provided me with exclusive video of the next steps Mayorkas and Biden will take with Magnus. Must credit Hot Air, and all that, plus wear 15 pieces of flair:

Maybe Biden should promise Magnus the right to keep his red stapler as a compromise?

At some point, the silly impotence of trying to push Magnus out will end as it should have last month, before the nasty leaks and innuendo. Biden will formally fire Magnus, and Magnus will then start chatting up House Republicans about his future testimony. If Biden and Mayorkas don’t like that, then they should adopt better border-control policies and keep Magnus inside the tent. If they did that, perhaps Magnus won’t be inclined to burn it all down.

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