Rebecca Kelly Slaughter was a powerful - but low-profile - bureaucrat when a New York Times news alert popped up on her phone blasting to the world her firing by President Donald Trump. The Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission had found out only minutes earlier.

Her phone began blowing up as she stood outside her daughter’s school during a rehearsal of “Beauty and the Beast Jr.” Slaughter, who mostly avoided the media, was soon participating in an impromptu news conference on her phone as the musical carried on inside.

When her daughter stepped offstage, Slaughter pushed through a crowd so she could be the first to spill the news to the girl. The fifth-grader burst into tears before asking, “Are you going to fight back?”

“Probably,” Slaughter replied.

Thrust into the spotl

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