President Donald Trump in the past four months has dismantled and undermined the work of federal agencies and fired or pressured tens of thousands of merit-based, nonpartisan civil servants to quit. Now he is laying the groundwork to restock the government with political loyalists who will blindly follow his every whim. Make no mistake, these changes are as profound a threat to our democracy as anything that Trump is doing.
The Office of Personnel Management on May 29 released rules for a new hiring process that could take effect in July that include asking job applicants starting at the entry level to write four essays, including one about their favorite Trump executive orders or policies.
The specific question is: “How would you help advance the president’s executive orders and policy priorities in this role? Identify one or two relevant executive orders or policy initiatives that are significant to you and explain how you would help implement them if hired.” The memo also directs agency political leaders to become deeply involved in deciding which candidates should be hired, a deviation from the longstanding practice of not involving appointees in day-to-day decisions for career federal jobs.
