Let’s say Biden wins. How active will he be in purging Trump loyalists? Here are two links to news stories about Trump getting rid of (or attempting to) career officials in various departments to install Trump loyalists.
There is also the matter of the various on the ground federal LEOs in Portland and soon to be in other major cities, who are violating people’s rights to peaceful protest and detaining people without charges.
IMHO one of Biden’s main tasks, should he win, should be to get rid of all such federal employees. Do you all think Biden is likely to undertake such a course of action if he wins?
Right. Of course there will be a new Attorney General, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, etc. To clarify, the question is how active will the new cabinet level staff be in getting rid of the people the next level down, such as federal prosecutors, the top level of generals and admirals, the upper level guys in DHS who are running the federal operation in Portland, etc. Those are the people who, IMHO, also need to go in order to start reversing the damage Trump has done.
To late to edit. I’m referring specifically to any individuals who are in their position because Trump purged the previous career official, as opposed to someone who has been in their position since the days of Reagan or Bush and just happens to be a Republican.
Prosecutors are routinely replaced en masse by incoming presidents, so that will be easy.
Generals and Admirals are career military officers. I’m not aware of any of them that could be considered Trump loyalists. In a perfect world they are apolitical, but obviously it takes some political acumen to become a general or an admiral. From what I can tell in general the high-level military are not Trumpists.
DHS reports to the Homeland Security Secretary, who will obviously be replaced.
So I would say that Biden should have almost no trouble replacing the true “loyalists” in the ranks.
Here’s a good example of the type of thing I was thinking about. Trump recently appointed one of his loyalists to run the US Agency for Global Media, including Radio Free America and Radio Free Europe. Mr. Pack removed the heads of four organizations under the USAGM and replaced them with Trump loyalists. What I’m wondering, and concerned about the possibility that it might happen, is that the new people in those positions that were appointed by Mr. Pack will remain during a Biden administration.
Everybody has to go. Every last single one of them. If they were appointed by Trump they can’t be trusted. If they were holdovers who did not resign rather than work for Trump they can’t be trusted. Some of them may be excellent people that are really needed in their jobs but many of them would commit treason if Trump asked them to, or even without a request, and we can’t take a chance by leaving them in office.
There are approximately 4,000 politically appointed positions in the federal government – i.e. jobs whose occupants are determined by the President or an agency head (in reality, even those appointed by agency heads are at least signed off on by the White House). They serve at the pleasure of the President and do not enjoy the same job protections as career civil servants. This isn’t just Cabinet secretaries, but the entire upper management tier at every federal department or agency, and a good chunk of the middle management. Almost all of the people in those positions will be replaced, but that happens every time there is a change in administration (particularly if there is a change of party).
There is the practice of “burrowing in” where political appointees attempt to transfer into or reclassify their position as a career civil service position. These are subject to review by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Of course, Trump has been actively trying to dismantle OPM.
This article from the Washington Post describes DeJoy’s post election plans for the USPS. I assume that DeJoy is assuming a Trump victory. Is there some reason Biden would have difficulty getting rid of him?
While Biden could fire DeJoy, the Postmaster General is appointed by the Postal Service Board of Governors – which is currently packed with Trump appointees. So there’s no guarantee his replacement would be any better.
The Washington Post had a recent article about the board and how Trump appointees will dominate it for years to come available here. According to the article, members are Senate-confirmed, serve seven year terms and may only be removed for cause. Ironically, the reason why Trump was able to appoint the majority of the Board is because Bernie Sanders blocked President Obama’s nominees from getting a vote in the Senate.
How many other appointees have fixed terms and can only be removed for cause? For example, the Chairman of the Fed. How many Trump loyalists are in positions like these? Will Biden easily be able to find cause to dump most or all of them?
Administrations sometimes purge people appointed by previous administrations since they want to reward supporters. Sometimes they just want competent people. Sometimes they want team players. Occasionally it is done out of spite.
I couldn’t find an exact number poking around, but fixed terms appointments are typically appointees to “independent” boards and commissions – the FEC, FCC, FTC, etc. Not all require “cause” for removal and what constitutes “cause” will depend on the authorizing statute.
I’ll make it pretty simple for me. Get a calendar. Chronologically look at everything the orangeanus did. Do the exact opposite. Note: This does not only apply to his appointments.