Trump’s efforts to remove disloyal heighten unease in administration
In some of the most critical corners of the Trump administration, officials show up for work now never entirely sure who will be there by the end of the evening — themselves included.
Even for an administration that has been a revolving door since day one, this has become a season of turmoil. At a moment when first-term presidents are typically seeking a stable team to focus on their reelection, President Donald Trump has embarked on a systematic attempt to sweep out officials perceived to be disloyal.
The headquarters of the nation’s intelligence apparatus roiled with the ouster of acting Director Joseph Maguire and his replacement by a sharp partisan amid a dispute over Russian election interference. The Justice Department remained on edge with whispers of further resignations, including perhaps even that of Attorney General William Barr, after the president’s intervention in a case involving one of his friends. Witnesses from the impeachment inquiry into Trump have been summarily dismissed. Dozens of policy experts have been cleared out of the National Security Council staff as part of a restructuring that will mean fewer career professionals in range of the president. A deputy national security adviser dogged by innuendo about disloyalty was exiled to the Energy Department. A Trump appointee’s nomination for a top Treasury Department post was pulled. The No. 3 official at the Defense Department was shown the door.
And Johnny Mcentee, a 29-year-old loyalist just installed to take over the Office of Presidential Personnel, reporting directly to Trump, has ordered a freeze on all political appointments across the government. He also convened a meeting to instruct departments to search for people not devoted to the president so they can be removed, according to people briefed about the session, and informed colleagues that he planned to tell Cabinet secretaries that the White House would be choosing their deputies from now on.
“Trump appears to be launching the biggest assault on the nation’s civil service system since the 1883 Pendleton Act ended the spoils system,” said Paul Light, a New York University professor who has studied presidential personnel.
But career professionals are not the only ones in the crosshairs. Also facing scrutiny are Republican political appointees considered insufficiently committed to the president or suspected of not aggressively advancing his agenda.
Allies of the president said he should be free to make personnel changes, even if it amounts to shedding people who are not seen as loyal to Trump.
“It is not unusual at all that these types of assessments are done and thereafter changes are made,” said Bradley Blakeman, a Republican strategist and former White House official under President George W. Bush.
Nonetheless, the tumult and anxiety come at a time when the Trump administration confronts enormous challenges, including the coronavirus outbreak, Iranian and North Korean nuclear development and Russian determination to play a role again in the next U.S. election.
Democrats, for example, have expressed concerns about the administration’s ability to respond if there were a severe coronavirus outbreak in the United States, noting that a global health security expert position on the National Security Council has been left vacant for almost two years.
Trump long has been obsessed with loyalty, a view only exacerbated by his impeachment and the various investigations over the past three years that have convinced him that he is surrounded by a deep-state enemy within that is leaking, lying and sabotaging his presidency.
He also has been frustrated by the decision-making process of government, aggravated at competing centers of power that have shaped the modern presidency but have, in his view, hindered his ability to enact policies.
With a more loyal team in place, he hopes to make more progress on initiatives that have been slow-walked by institutional inertia or resistance, like tougher rules on trade and immigration. But it could mean less dissent and less open debate, with surviving officials fearing the loss of their jobs if they are seen as stepping out of line.
According to data compiled by Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, turnover among what she calls Trump’s “A team,” meaning his senior staff, has hit 82% — more in three years than any of the previous five presidents saw in their first four years.