in final days, stacking civil service with appointees that will be hard to get rid of

[Demovictory9]

In Trump’s final days, a 30-year-old aide purges officials seen as insufficiently loyal

WASHINGTON - Over the past week, President Donald Trump has axed his defense secretary and other top Pentagon aides, his second-in-command at the U.S. Agency for International Development, two top Homeland Security officials, a senior climate scientist and the leader of the agency that safeguards nuclear weapons.

Engineering much of the post-election purge is Johnny McEntee, a former college quarterback who was hustled out of the White House two years ago after a security clearance check turned up a prolific habit for online gambling.

A staunch Trump loyalist, McEntee, 30, was welcomed back into the fold in February and installed as personnel director for the entire U.S. government. Since the race was called for President-elect Joe Biden, McEntee has been distributing pink slips, warning federal workers not to cooperate with the Biden transition and threatening to oust people who show disloyalty by job hunting while Trump is still refusing to acknowledge defeat, according to six administration officials.

More firings are expected, White House and agency officials said, including a top cybersecurity official whose agency on Thursday disputed Trump’s unfounded claims of election fraud. While the motives are not always clear - is the White House pursuing last-minute policy goals or simply punishing disloyalty? - critics say the dismissals threaten to destabilize broad swaths of the federal bureaucracy in the fragile period during the handover to the next administration.

McEntee is not just firing people. The Pentagon general counsel this week hired former Republican operative and political appointee Michael Ellis as general counsel of the National Security Agency, making him a civilian member of the senior executive service. That gives Ellis civil service protections that will make it hard for Biden’s team to push him out. Several officials said McEntee also wants to help campaign allies secure jobs in the White House.

https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2020/11/13/in-trumps-final-days-a-30-year-old-aide-purges-officials-seen-as-insufficiently-loyal/

[GoCubsGo]

1. If Trump can fire civil servants, then so can Biden.

I'm not buying this "impossible to remove" narrative.

[Sherman A1]

2. They can be transferred out of the way.

I hear there are openings coming up in the Office of the Director of Paperclips 🖇.

[scarletlib]

4. That's the way to do it.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. "Some officials said they worry the new hires could destroy briefing documents prepared for the

incoming Biden administration."


Wouldn't that be grounds to legally and lawfully fire the new hirelings and McEntee? He would have told them to destroy necessary documents.

[GoCubsGo]

5. Yep, although if they weren't legally and lawfully hired in the first place, it should be no problem

How many of the people doing the hiring are not legally in those jobs to begin with (e.g., Cuccinelli, Wolf)? One would also suspect that they are giving security clearances to these assholes improperly. Revoke them. Problem solved.

[blueinredohio]

6. That should be grounds for prosecution.

[2naSalit]

17. +1

[mercuryblues]

7. There is a reason why you don't mess with some things

What is good for the gander is good for the goose


https://www.npr.org/2020/10/31/929597578/a-huge-attack-critics-decry-trump-order-that-makes-firing-federal-workers-easier

The executive order, issued last week, would affect the professional employees in policymaking positions at the very top of the civil service — people like lawyers and scientists who are are not political appointees and serve from administration to administration regardless of which party controls the White House.

The president's order changes that, creating a new category for them — "Schedule F" — and taking away their civil service protections. In a statement that accompanied the order, the White House took aim at those protections, saying they make it too difficult for agency heads to remove "poor performers." Without the protections, the employees can be more easily replaced.

This is one executive order that needs to stay on the book for a while. There is no reason the Biden team should kneecap themselves in getting rid of trump's political appointees.

[Laelth]

15. +1 n/t

-Laelth

[Maxheader]

8. If we lived in C.J. Cherryh's world of "Regenesis"..

We could [run tape] on them....

[beachbumbob]

9. there is ALWAYS a work round, I would simply repost them all to Afghanistan

[dreamland]

12. This is a great idea. Would love to see how many can stay in job then.

[Boogiemack]

10. Is the 90-day trial still in effect? is so, Wholla! None of these will have been civil servants fo

90-days, Release without cause maybe? Just a guess. Or a RIF where the last hired are always the first fired. All kind of ways to get rid of the trash.

[Boogiemack]

11. We all loyal Civil Servants to take note of whom is being pushed into their agencies within the

last six months. They will be Trump embeds who need to be removed.

[Turin_C3PO]

13. Transfer them to an irrelevant

part of the department where the damage they can do is minimal. Also, didn’t Trump issue an executive order saying that civil service employees can be fired at will? If so, Biden can fire all the Trump suckers and then rescind that order.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

14. Transfer them all to Outdoor Maintenance and make sure they

have no access to classified information.

[russiamommy]

16. Even the government has probation periods

I’ve been out of the civil service for several years, but new hires are subject to (I think) a one year probationary period where you can remove them for almost any reason. I am less concerned with this burrowing than with the EO creating a new category of political appointees. This will affect the highest ranking civil servants, moving them into a category where they can be fired for any reason. That’s the truly terrifying piece, IMO.

[Mc Mike]

18. Criminal charges will help clean these nazi swine out.