It was an honor to serve, Mr. President, and to reset your totally clean slate ...

How many ways can you not say tumult, dysfunction and confusion? The White House, and all the president’s ex-men, have employed a number of honey-coated phrases to describe the resignations, firings and defenestrations that have occurred during President Donald Trump’s first six months in office, including Monday’s shake-up:

▪  “A clean slate.” “Anthony Scaramucci will be leaving his role as White House Communications Director,” the White House said in a statement Monday after Scaramucci was forced out by new chief of staff John F. Kelly. “Mr. Scaramucci felt it was best to give chief of staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team. We wish him all the best.”

▪  “Clear the slate.” Scaramucci, upon taking over as White House communications director on July 21, said he respected press secretary Sean Spicer’s decision to resign (because he objected to working with Scaramucci): “Sean decided that he thought it would be better to and for me, as it relates to Sean, it speaks volumes to who he is as a human being, who he is as a team player. So, his attitude is, if Anthony’s coming in, let me clear the slate for Anthony. And I do appreciate that about Sean, and I love him for it.”

▪  “A totally clean slate.” Spicer “understood that the president wanted to bring in and add new people to the team, and Sean felt like it would be best for that team to start with a totally clean slate,” press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders (who replaced Spicer) said on July 21.

▪  “A new slate. “I wanted to give the president, and the new team, a new slate,” Spicer told CNN after resigning.

▪  “Just look at his great TV ratings.” “I am grateful for Sean’s work on behalf of my administration and the American people,” Trump said in a statement after Spicer’s resignation. “I wish him continued success as he moves on to pursue new opportunities - just look at his great television ratings.”

▪  “Hit the reset button.” “The president wanted to go in a different direction,” Reince Priebus told CNN on Friday, after he was driven out as Trump’s chief of staff and replaced by Kelly. “A president has a right to hit a reset button. I think it’s a good time to hit the reset button. I think he was right to hit the reset button.”

▪  “A tremendous asset.” The White House issued a statement after deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh, a Priebus protege, left her job in March after less than three months: “Katie Walsh has accepted a position with an outside organization. She has been a tremendous asset to the President and we are confident she will be so in her new role as well.” (Walsh’s departure, by the way, wasn’t a signal that Priebus was in trouble, a top White House official told Politico at the time: “Reince is not next,” the official said).

But, to be sure, it was great to be part of the administration. At least for a few days or weeks:

▪  “Honored to serve.” “I am tendering my resignation, honored to have served our nation and the American people in such a distinguished way,” wrote Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser, after being forced out for lying to Vice President Mike Pence. Flynn served for 24 days.

▪  “Great honor to serve.” “The reasons for my departure are personal, but it has been my great honor to serve President Trump and this administration,” wrote communications director Michael Dubke upon resigning in May, less than six months into the job. “It has also been my distinct pleasure to work side-by-side, day-by-day with the staff of the communications and press departments.”

Of course, these are the people the president likes, or liked. Other have gotten rougher treatment.

▪  “Not able to effectively lead.” “While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the bureau,” Trump told FBI director James B. Comey in a letter upon firing him in May.

▪  “Betrayed the Department of Justice.” “The acting attorney general, Sally Yates, has betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States,” the White House said in an official statement after Trump fired Yates in late January after she declined to enforce his travel ban. The statement continued: “Ms. Yates is an Obama administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration.”

This story was originally published August 1, 2017 at 12:21 PM with the headline "It was an honor to serve, Mr. President, and to reset your totally clean slate ...."