The so-called "deep state", an alleged conspiracy that reaches into all areas of administration and the state, with which the "corrupt establishment" is keeping the USA under its thumb, is one of Donald Trump's baseless narratives. Drying out this alleged "swamp" is one of those election promises that the ex-president's supporters repeatedly applaud with hoots at his public appearances. With an executive order issued just 13 days before the 2020 presidential election, known as "Schedule F" (roughly: "Program F"), Trump wanted to get things done. But the presidential decree was one of the first decisions that Trump reversed after Joe Biden took office.
The reason: The regulation is more than delicate and, according to political observers in Washington, has a lot of that "deep state" that Trump likes to hold against his political opponents - without presenting any evidence for these alleged links. The topic would certainly have attracted a lot of public attention if it hadn't gotten lost in the quarrels about the recognition of the election results and the storming of the US Capitol. Should Trump actually move into the White House again, "Schedule F" is said to be immediately reinstated.
Apparently, preparations are already in full swing. This is reported by the US news portal "Axios" and, according to its own statements, is based on extensive surveys of "more than two dozen" unnamed people from Trump's environment - including some who were directly involved in the development of "Schedule F". be. At its core, the regulation is about giving the US President the ability to influence federal agency staff down to middle levels.
A new incumbent in the White House already has the right to appoint at least 4,000 leading political officials to direct and monitor the administration in his interests. Under Schedule F, however, a president could use loyal personnel on a far more extensive scale -- bypassing the existing employee protections that enable US officials to work for governments of both stripes, they say.
According to an official who helped develop the regulation, tens of thousands of administrative employees could be affected by the paper, reports "Axios". Trump associates, organizations loyal to him, and former officials have already identified approximately 50,000 current federal employees who could be fired under future regulations and replaced with men and women who would support the "Amercia First" agenda.
This also applies to security-relevant organizations such as the Justice Department including the FBI and secret services, the State Department and the Pentagon. According to informants, Trump is said to be directly involved in drawing up the lists. A confidant of the ex-president is quoted as saying that it won't even be necessary to actually replace all 50,000 people because the pressure from "Schedule F" will result in many officials being loyal to the president in order to protect their to keep jobs.
According to the reports, 50,000 people are only a fraction of the more than two million employees in federal institutions, but they are crucial for shaping American life, it is said. According to the reports, administration experts fear that the implementation of "Schedule F" will lead to an enormous politicization of the public service, even after Trump's possible further term in office. When there is a change of president, the pendulum swings can be so great that the quality of services for citizens and control of executive power is no longer maintained. Ultimately, this endangers the stability of US democracy.
The Trump camp reportedly countered that swapping out a small number of "bad apples" among career officials in each government organization would merely end the "farce" of a supposedly bipartisan civil service. It is actually filled with "activist liberals" who have "undermined the work of Republican presidents for decades," it says.
According to their own statements, Trump advisors give little chance of resistance to this type of conversion of the government authorities into a loyal presidential apparatus, once "Schedule F" is in force. That is why the chairman of the parliamentary subcommittee on monitoring the federal civil service, Democrat Gerry Connolly, is trying to prevent it. Deeply concerned, he included a provision in the defense budget that would prevent a future president from reinstating the regulation. The regulation has already been passed in the House of Representatives, and the Republicans are now hoping to block Connolly's entry in the tightly occupied Senate.
"We cannot allow any President to hollow out the federal government and fill it with extremists and toadylicks," Connolly wrote in a tweet, "especially when there is even the slightest chance that President could be Donald Trump." However, a success for the Republicans in the midterm elections in the fall could be a first step towards reviving "Schedule F".
Sources: "Schedule F" regulation; Repeal of Schedule F (White House); axios; Federal News Network;
