Yesterday Donald Trump tripled the size of his personal political army inside the government. Illegally. And almost no one noticed.
Here's what happened:
He signed an order converting ~8,000 of the most senior career officials in government into employees he can fire for any reason, or no reason at all.
These aren't rando's. They're the directors, chiefs of staff, and the people who write the rules or decide who gets federal money, i.e. the lieutenants right below his political appointees.
Until yesterday, they answered to the law. Now they answer to him.
A president normally gets ~4,000 political appointees. People he can bring into government and fire at will. I was one of them at DHS. You serve at his pleasure, full stop -- so if you're gonna speak truth to power, you're prepared to quit (or get fired if he doesn't like it).
The rest of the federal government is PROTECTED from firing if they tell the truth.
But Trump just stripped those protections. Adding 8,000 more people to his personal army. Overnight. Without asking Congress.
With the stroke of a pen, those people now serve at the pleasure of the president. They're "his" people, whether they like it or not.
And the chilling effect is real. An official who can be fired this afternoon for "subversion of presidential directives" (the order's own words) doesn't need to be hand-picked to know what's expected of him or her.
The threat does all the work.
By the way, this order is illegal. The law only lets Trump reclassify jobs when "necessary" in exceptional circumstances. And this blows an 8,000-person hole in the merit hiring / firing system created by Congress.
Without permission, Trump has created a whole new category of stormtroopers inside the Executive Branch.
If this doesn't get challenged in court, you're going to see the U.S. government become a very different place.
Here's the full story: https://t.co/mJzrvzhxGR
It is time to end this war. But Russia’s ruler wants to keep fighting. That is why Ukrainian sanctions against this aggression are working. Last night, our drones covered a distance of about 1,000 kilometers to the St. Petersburg region – to the enemy navy’s arsenals and a base in Kronstadt. Our long-range sanctions also reached about 500 kilometers into the Krasnodar region – and hit an oil depot. These are important results of the joint efforts by warriors from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine, and the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine. Russia must end its war and stop its attacks on life. Any manifestation of injustice against Ukraine will receive a just response. I thank our warriors for their precision.
Jake Lang, who beat Capitol police officers with a baseball bat on January 6, spent four years in federal prison on an 11-count indictment, got pardoned by Trump on day one, and was recently running for U.S. Senate in Florida, was arrested Tuesday night in Frisco, Texas on a criminal trespass warrant.
He hopped a fence into a high school stadium to film what he claimed was dried blood from a stabbing, then posted it online for clout.
Since his pardon he has also been charged with felony property damage in Minnesota for destroying an ice sculpture, charged with threatening a Capitol police officer, showed up outside a mosque in Plano holding a severed pig’s head, threw chocolate coins outside AIPAC while doing a Nazi salute, and dragged a goat on a leash to a protest against a Muslim mayoral candidate. For real though!
Trump pardoned this bastard. He is currently in the Collin County jail complaining about his mattress.
The pardon was 136 days ago. VIA~~Eric Blackerby
🚨22-year-old Kalan Koen of Midland, Texas was arrested on 10 felony charges, including seven counts of possession of visual material depicting s*xual assault, two counts of possession of child s*xual abuse material, and one count of drug possession.
Authorities found 132 GIGABYTES of CSAM in his possession — including content depicting children 12 MONTHS-OLD or younger.
Bonds totaling more than $1.2 million have been set. He remains in custody.
❌Not trans.
❌Not a drag queen.
❌Not gay dads.
❌Not an immigrant.
❌Not a Muslim.
✅MAGA! Every single day.
This is Riley T Carter and he was a MAGA Congressman in WA. He was a proponent on making kids safe again until he was arrested and convicted of incest,child rape and the molestation of a 11 year old family member.He was sentenced to 46 years in prison.
🚨 Jan. 6 rioter Andrew Taake has pled guilty to soliciting a minor.
He previously received a full pardon from Trump, even though he was caught on camera attacking Capitol police.