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CNN: The government had a model for handling Ebola. Trump has ditched it
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/26/politics/us-trump-response-coronavirus-ebola/index.html
Analysis by John Harwood, CNN
Updated 10:01 AM ET, Wed February 26, 2020
<snip>
The President has previously speculated that warmer spring weather will kill off the virus by itself. To chair an administration task force on the crisis, he chose Alex Azar, who already has a full-time job as Health and Human Services secretary.
"It's challenges like this that require you to have experienced, competent people in the government, and ... a President willing to listen," says Ron Klain, a veteran of Democratic administrations who knows the challenge well. In 2014, President Barack Obama tapped him to coordinate the aggressive US response that helped bring a deadly Ebola outbreak under control.
Instead, Trump has fired administration officials who testified in House impeachment proceedings and placed his 29-year-old former "body man" John McEntee in charge of presidential personnel. A one-time college football player fired from the White House in 2018 over gambling debts then considered a security risk, McEntee has begun reviewing whether more officials should be ousted for disloyalty to Trump. McEntee has also hired a college senior to fill a top role in his office, a source familiar told CNN on Tuesday.
Personal loyalty to the President has not been the organizing principle for the federal workforce since civil service reforms eliminated the "spoils system" in the 19th century. As Obama gave way to Trump in January 2017, his federal workforce chief urged further modernization of personnel practices to attract and empower high-skill workers for the digital age.
</snip>
Analysis by John Harwood, CNN
Updated 10:01 AM ET, Wed February 26, 2020
<snip>
The President has previously speculated that warmer spring weather will kill off the virus by itself. To chair an administration task force on the crisis, he chose Alex Azar, who already has a full-time job as Health and Human Services secretary.
"It's challenges like this that require you to have experienced, competent people in the government, and ... a President willing to listen," says Ron Klain, a veteran of Democratic administrations who knows the challenge well. In 2014, President Barack Obama tapped him to coordinate the aggressive US response that helped bring a deadly Ebola outbreak under control.
Instead, Trump has fired administration officials who testified in House impeachment proceedings and placed his 29-year-old former "body man" John McEntee in charge of presidential personnel. A one-time college football player fired from the White House in 2018 over gambling debts then considered a security risk, McEntee has begun reviewing whether more officials should be ousted for disloyalty to Trump. McEntee has also hired a college senior to fill a top role in his office, a source familiar told CNN on Tuesday.
Personal loyalty to the President has not been the organizing principle for the federal workforce since civil service reforms eliminated the "spoils system" in the 19th century. As Obama gave way to Trump in January 2017, his federal workforce chief urged further modernization of personnel practices to attract and empower high-skill workers for the digital age.
</snip>
