DON'T FIRE SEAN SPICER

Oops -- this happened today:

... White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s behavior was worse than that of Adolf Hitler, “who didn't even sink to using chemical weapons.”

... “Someone who is despicable as Hitler who didn't even sink to using chemical weapons. You have to, if you're Russia, ask yourself, is this a country that you, and a regime that you want to align yourself with?”

... Offered an opportunity later in his briefing to clarify what he meant, Spicer only appeared to dig deeper.... The Nazi leader, Spicer said, “was not using the gas on his own people in the same way that Assad is doing” even though Hitler’s systematic murder of Jews — including many Jews in Germany — and other groups left more than six million people dead.

Charlie Pierce's reaction is understandable:

Fire the man. Or let him resign. I don't care. But do it now.

Do it for reasons that are nothing short of humane. He's overmatched out there, by his job, by the sheer venality and incompetence of the president* he serves, and by the English language. Fire Sean Spicer. Do it now, for his own good, before he says something that causes some group to storm the Press Briefing Room and light him on fire.

Nahhh. Spicer should stay. Sure, he's ignorant and incompetent -- but that means he's the ideal voice of the president he serves. A competent press secretary would be as out of place in the Trump administration as a French-trained sommelier at Burger King.

Will Spicer have to go now? Back in the days when Steve Bannon was on the ascent and the administration was putting out a Holocaust Remembrance Day statement that didn't mention Jews, I'd have said "Hell no." Now I assume it's up to Jared and Ivanka, partly because, well, everything is up to Jared and Ivanka in this administration, and partly because Trump will probably assume that no one is offended, or no one who matters, if those two aren't.

Although I suppose this might influence him:

After FOUR clarifications on Hitler/Holocaust comments, the Anne Frank Center says "Trump must fire [Spicer] at once" (via @PeterAlexander) pic.twitter.com/Wb5QY3bxL2

— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) April 11, 2017

But do you think, off the top of his head, that Trump knows who Anne Frank was?

On the other hand, Trump hates bad press, so he might want to replace Spicer. Hey, I hear Tomi Lahren is looking for work. At this point, though, I bet he'll probably just hire someone from Goldman Sachs media relations.