He has become so comfortable with corruption that he assumes it is normal...
He fired anyone that wasn't equally corrupt and incompetent...
Remember how the conservative pundits here and in the media assured us that the adults in the room would stop him if he tried to do anything crazy?
Well he fired all the adults- he is totally unchecked.
I am sure many in his circle knew how damning the 'transcript' (It is explicitly NOT a transcript) was... they either were too cowardly to speak up, or made the decision that it was time to let Trump slit his own throat.