He’s already tried. Near the end of his presidency, Trump issued an executive order making it possible for him to fire tens of thousands of civil servants in policymaking positions and to install political allies in their places. It was to be done through a newly created status known as “Schedule F.”
President Biden reversed that order shortly after his inauguration. Trump would move quickly to reinstate Schedule F — and, no doubt, broaden it — if he is reelected. Indeed, Office of Management and Budget documents, obtained by the National Treasury Employees Union under the Freedom of Information Act, showed that his plans were far more expansive than his administration indicated, with Schedule F designation extending to lower-level assistants and specialists who were not involved in setting policy.
Politicians were doling out jobs to their cronies from the dawn of the republic, but the practice of dismissing government workers and replacing them with unqualified political supporters really took off with the election of Andrew Jackson in 1828. A New York senator of the time, William L. Marcy, declared “to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy.”
Calls for reform grew after a disappointed job seeker assassinated President James Garfield in 1881. Two years later came the Pendleton Act creating the civil service system, which ultimately expanded to require that the majority of government jobs be awarded on merit and through competitive exams. It also provided protection against these employees being fired or demoted without cause.
In the eyes of Trump and his compatriots, that system has become the reviled “deep state.” Or, as it is described in the 180-day “transition playbook” that has been put together by a group of conservative think tanks, led by the Heritage Foundation: “A President today assumes office to find a sprawling federal bureaucracy that all too often is carrying out its own policy plans and preferences — or, worse yet, the policy plans and preferences of a radical, supposedly ‘woke’ faction of the country.”
Alas, these suspicions about government workers are not confined to the right-wing fever swamps. Trump is tapping into — and fueling — a loss of faith by Americans across the board.
A new survey, to be released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, finds that only 23 percent say they trust the federal government — down sharply from 35 percent as recently as 2022. Fully 66 percent believe the government is incompetent, up 10 percentage points from two years ago. The increasingly negative feelings show up in every demographic group and among Republicans, Democrats and independents.
This overall feeling about the federal government partly reflects a general disgust with the constant bickering Americans are witnessing among their elected leaders in Washington, says Partnership for Public Service President Max Stier. And, partly, it reveals the unevenness in the quality of services that citizens receive from their government.
But two-thirds, according to the survey, also believe there are “many civil servants who work to undermine policies they disagree with.” Fewer than a quarter believe that career employees are truly nonpartisan.
At the same time, they don’t want to see those career government employees replaced by political hacks. More than 9 out of 10 — including 94 percent of Democrats and 91 percent of Republicans and independents — say that “competent civil servants” are critical to a well functioning democracy.
So how to restore the public’s confidence? The partnership’s report recommends ways to reform and strengthen the civil service without decimating it: improving leadership development, streamlining performance evaluations and requiring greater accountability. It also suggests that modernizing the government’s technology and use of data would allow it to make better decisions about the effectiveness and outcomes of federal programs.
“The American public does not need to be convinced that an effective federal government and a strong civil service are important for a vibrant democracy,” the report notes. “But too many people believe they are not getting the government they want or deserve, and this distrust makes solving the country’s problems even tougher. At the same time, the public does not want to see more politics in the workings of government.”
The bureaucracy is undeniably ripe for reform. If Trump has his way, however, what Americans will get is the worst outcome of all — a civil service composed of amateurs and ideologues, and one that is accountable only to him.
correction
An earlier version of this column incorrectly stated that documents regarding the scope of the Schedule F executive order obtained under the Freedom of Information Act were from the Treasury Department. They were from the Office of Management and Budget. This version has been updated.
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