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
@netanyahu 71 year old American here who has supported Israel for 50 years. But no longer. You have no regard for human life and have become a historic WAR CRIMINAL. Lots of Americans are waking up to that. @SecRubio@realDonaldTrump
@LindseyGrahamSC They should not go along with your plan, Lindsey, nor should the others......while Netanyahu is destroying Lebanon and after he killed over 75,000 Palestinians, many of which were women and children, as payback for the less than 1300 Israelis killed in Oct 23.
@ZioAndProud@Osint613 Actually, Israel is the warmonger these days. They will sabotage peace efforts by the other parties. No regard for human life. The 50-1 payback in lives for the October 2023 terrorist attack is disproportionate. And now destroying Lebanon. Americans are waking up.
Honor all those who have served and fallen by......RESIGNING, Mr. Hegseth. You lack the background and you are insecure to the point of terminating very qualified, experienced top brass. Why? Because they know more than you. You are not stable enough internally, either. @TrumpTruthOnX@SenTedCruz
Roman Sheremeta ๐บ๐ธ๐ท
@rshereme
ยท
10h
The U.S. debt has just crossed $39 trillion. Trump alone is responsible for almost 30% of it. So far, Trump has added roughly $12โ13 trillion to the debt across his two terms in office. That is nearly 30% of ALL U.S. national debt accumulated since 1789. Just think about this: over 250 years, 44 presidents accounted for 70% of the debt. In less than 6 years, Trump alone added 30%. That is about 18 times more than the average U.S. president in history. He is truly the worst presidents in U.S. history, causing more harm to the country than anyone else. And we will be paying for his actions long after he is gone.
Roman Sheremeta ๐บ๐ธ๐ท
@rshereme
ยท
10h
The U.S. debt has just crossed $39 trillion. Trump alone is responsible for almost 30% of it. So far, Trump has added roughly $12โ13 trillion to the debt across his two terms in office. That is nearly 30% of ALL U.S. national debt accumulated since 1789. Just think about this: over 250 years, 44 presidents accounted for 70% of the debt. In less than 6 years, Trump alone added 30%. That is about 18 times more than the average U.S. president in history. He is truly the worst presidents in U.S. history, causing more harm to the country than anyone else. And we will be paying for his actions long after he is gone.
Roman Sheremeta ๐บ๐ธ๐ท
@rshereme
ยท
10h
The U.S. debt has just crossed $39 trillion. Trump alone is responsible for almost 30% of it. So far, Trump has added roughly $12โ13 trillion to the debt across his two terms in office. That is nearly 30% of ALL U.S. national debt accumulated since 1789. Just think about this: over 250 years, 44 presidents accounted for 70% of the debt. In less than 6 years, Trump alone added 30%. That is about 18 times more than the average U.S. president in history. He is truly the worst presidents in U.S. history, causing more harm to the country than anyone else. And we will be paying for his actions long after he is gone.
Replying to
@LindseyGrahamSC
Perhaps Saudi Arabia is not wholly transactional, like our President. Perhaps they have principles and values...as in supporting the Palestians who have been murdered 50X the October 2023 event. Israel lost its way sometime ago, Putin and now Netanyahu need to be dealt with.
Replying to
@LindseyGrahamSC
Perhaps Saudi Arabia is not wholly transactional, like our President. Perhaps they have principles and values...as in supporting the Palestians who have been murdered 50X the October 2023 event. Israel lost its way sometime ago, Putin and now Netanyahu need to be dealt with.
Replying to
@LindseyGrahamSC
Perhaps Saudi Arabia is not wholly transactional, like our President. Perhaps they have principles and values...as in supporting the Palestians who have been murdered 50X the October 2023 event. Israel lost its way sometime ago, Putin and now Netanyahu need to be dealt with.
Perhaps Saudi Arabia is not wholly transactional, like our President. Perhaps they have principles and values...as in supporting the Palestians who have been murdered 50X the October 2023 event. Israel lost its way sometime ago, Putin and now Netanyahu need to be dealt with. @Saudi49er@KSAmofaEN