Trump has 2024 plan to fire thousands of federal workers and replace them with 'America First' loyalists: report
According to a report from Jonathan Swan of Axios, Donald Trump has allies working on a "loyalty list" that will be used to stock his administration should he be re-elected president in 2024.
As the report notes, before being ousted in 2020, the former president signed an executive order that would allow him to reclassify tens of thousands of protected federal workers and allow him to implement mass firings and fill their positions with his loyalists.
With the plan to fill their spots with his "America First" followers, Swan reports, "The impact could go well beyond typical conservative targets such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Internal Revenue Service. Trump allies are working on plans that would potentially strip layers at the Justice Department — including the FBI, and reaching into national security, intelligence, the State Department and the Pentagon, sources close to the former president say," before adding, "During his presidency, Trump often complained about what he called 'the deep state.'"
According to the report, the centerpiece of Trump's plans is based upon an executive order he signed in October of 2020 called, "Creating Schedule F in the Excepted Service."
That order, "established a new employment category for federal employees. It received wide media coverage for a short period, then was largely forgotten in the mayhem and aftermath of Jan. 6 — and quickly was rescinded by President Biden."
After re-establishing it, "Tens of thousands of civil servants who servein roles deemed to have some influence over policy would be reassigned as 'Schedule F' employees. Upon reassignment, they would lose their employment protections."
"New presidents typically get to replace more than 4,000 so-called 'political' appointees to oversee the running of their administrations. But below this rotating layer of political appointees sits a mass of government workers who enjoy strong employment protections — and typically continue their service from one administration to the next, regardless of the president’s party affiliation," Swan wrote before adding, "An initial estimate by the Trump official who came up with Schedule F found it could apply to as many as 50,000 federal workers — a fraction of a workforce of more than 2 million, but a segment with a profound role in shaping American life."
"Trump, in theory, could fire tens of thousands of career government officials with no recourse for appeals. He could replace them with people he believes are more loyal to him and to his 'America First' agenda.
Even if Trump did not deploy Schedule F to this extent, the very fact that such power exists could create a significant chilling effect on government employees," Swan added.
You can read more here.
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