Trump has an accurate sense of which moves could finish him off, and he avoids those moves. He knows he probably wouldn't survive firing Fauci, so he very probably won't do it. But he'll dangle the idea of firing Fauci, to scare us, and distract us from his failures and scandals.

Those of you saying "he's definitely about to fire Fauci" are the same people who spent three years saying "he's definitely about to pardon his co-conspirators." Trump dangles phony threats in order to manipulate you. Don't play along so willingly.

If Trump fires Fauci, his approval rating will go hurtling downward, and McConnell will have to consider selfishly ousting Trump in the hope of salvaging the senate majority in November. Trump understands this. He's counting on you not understanding it, so he can scare you.

It's always the same damn thing. Trump makes imaginary threats he knows he could never pull off, and he counts on you cowering in fear anyway, so he can control you with it. The day you stop cowering over the imaginary stuff, is the day Trump loses his ability to manipulate you.

I don't want Trump to fire Fauci, because that would probably cause even more people to die in this pandemic. But if Trump does fire Fauci, his already-weak odds of reelection will drop even further. Trump knows this. Again, he's counting on YOU not knowing when he's bluffing.

Trump has always wanted to pardon the likes of Stone and Manafort more than anything in the world. You know why it hasn't happened? He knows it could finish him off. But he also knows that all he has to do is make the empty threat, and you'll cower in fear every time.