Right, but it’s not Willy-nilly. There is a process and chain of command, etc. It’s not something someone in the state department wakes up and decides, eh, I don’t like what Castro said. Let’s sanction them now. No, they have to offer reasons and go through chain of command.
You seem to be conflating "protected" with "requiring diligence before action is taken". You simply can't fire someone for being in a protected class. No amount of "process and chain of command, etc" is going to change that. It's not like you can't be fired by a manager willy-nilly for being black, but if it goes all the way up to the CEO it's totally fine.
