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Trump Filled Executive Branch With Loyalists, Gutted Personnel Office, Now We're Screwed
Trump is attempting to reshape the federal workforce into one in which loyalty to the president is the most important qualification.
Loyalty over qualification is a hallmark of authoritarianism.
In a moment when the White House might need to quickly vet and appoint critically needed personnel, the Presidential Personnel Office, the department designed to perform exactly that function...has been gutted and turned into a vehicle for enforcing loyalty and carrying out vendettas.
Over the past few years, Trump has put a premium on having people at executive branch agencies who prioritize his personal political agenda over national interests. As a consequence, several federal agencies are without a deep bench of experts in leadership roles and, in the midst of the greatest public health crisis of our lifetimes, could require a swift infusion of additional talent.
What's the worst that can happen? Oh, this.
Before the covid-19 crisis, the widespread number of vacancies across the executive branch were well known. Trump has tried to place the blame on Senate Democrats, but the reality is that he hasn’t bothered to put forward nominations for close to 150 key federal positions.
He has said he doesn’t want to fill all the vacant positions and has admitted to preferring temporary, “acting” officials in senior roles, who aren’t subject to Senate confirmation, and therefore not vetted for the benefit of the public and less accountable to Congress.
Because of rapid turnover in his administration, some individuals in key administration positions — like the FDA commissioner, who oversees efforts to bring new coronavirus tests and treatments to market — are new on the job.
For example, the Department of Homeland Security is rife with vacancies. If the FEMA administrator were to become incapacitated or need to be replaced, there is no deputy administrator currently on the job, and it’s unclear whether a vetted or competent official is ready to come off the bench.
Here's some examples of the most insane Trumpers destroying the Federal workforce that devotes their lives to the prosperity of our country.
...top officials are seeking to align the federal workforce more squarely with Trump’s political agenda, rankling longtime civil servants. The drive has been spearheaded by John McEntee, the 29-year-old head of PPO and a fierce Trump loyalist. Veteran officials in Cabinet agencies accusing McEntee of installing unqualified appointees in key posts.
OPM is currently headed up by acting director Mike Rigas, who assumed the role in mid-March... Rigas has worked as the deputy director of OPM for the last two years and is also an alum of the Heritage Foundation. The arrival of Rigas comes amid a push by McEntee and his allies to install other Trump loyalists across the executive branch.
How about some more college seniors hired to destroy our country?
PPO recently brought on a fourth college senior to be a Trump administration official, after previously hiring a George Washington University senior to be one of McEntee’s right-hand man, an Iowa State University senior to be deputy White House liaison at the Department of Commerce and a University of Virginia senior to temporarily help with paperwork for DOD appointees.
The fourth college senior is Jordan Hayley, a Liberty University senior majoring in history and international relations who started in February as PPO’s external relations director.
And let's just point blank ask people applying to be public servants or current ones who are seeking promotion to literally spell out exactly what they've done for Trump:
In recent weeks, PPO required some Cabinet departments to fill out a new form for political appointees... The form asks appointees: “What have you done to advance the president’s agenda?" and also instructs agencies’ White House liaisons to fill out a portion of the form, including asking about what the person did to “advance the president’s priorities.”
Sources:
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/21/democrats-blast-trump-federal-workers-coronavirus-199026