Expert warns Trump’s plan to pack government with allies will have 'nasty consequences'

20 December 2023

If elected to a second term in the White House, former President Donald Trump has pledged to overhaul the federal civil service and replace approximately 50,000 government workers with political appointees. One expert is sounding the alarm about what that would mean for both democracy and the quality of service Americans expect from taxpayer-funded agencies.

That proposal is a cornerstone of Project 2025, which is a presidential transition plan conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation created in anticipation of a Republican winning the 2024 election. Project 2025 aims to re-institute an executive order Trump issued in 2020 (and that President Joe Biden repealed in 2021) dubbed "Schedule F" that would eliminate long-standing career protections for federal workers and allow the president to pack government agencies with tens of thousands of loyalists committed to accomplishing far-right political objectives. In a recent interview with Politico, Max Stier — the co-founder of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service — warned that Trump's plan for the civil service would actually create "deep state" he rails against.

"I do not believe that the public has good insight into the nasty consequences that would come out of the proposals that are part of Project 2025," Stier told Politico. "At the end of the day, if you look at the polling [about the public’s view of the civil service] it’s clear as can be: Americans actually want the people who are serving them to be chosen because they’re the most expert and capable — not because they’ve sworn loyalty to the person in the Oval Office."

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"It would be a very large earthquake," Stier said. "In effect, when you talk about implementing Schedule F, you’re talking about turning the clock back to the late 19th century, when our government operated under the spoils system."

Stier told Politico the "spoils system" ended with the passage of the Pendleton Act, which came after President James Garfield was assassinated by a "disgruntled job seeker." According to the National Archives, that legislation overhauled the civil service so that government jobs would "be awarded on the basis of merit and that government employees be selected through competitive exams." The Pendleton Act also made it illegal "to fire or demote for political reasons employees who were covered by the law."

"Frankly, Schedule F is now used as a handle for a larger set of dramatic changes to our government, but they are entirely designed to — and will have the consequence of — making our government responsive to the will of the individual holder of the office of the president rather than the broader allegiance to our Constitution and the rule of law," Stier said.

Read Stier's full interview with Politico by clicking here.

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