On a platform of “draining the swamp,” then-presidential candidate Donald Trump secured the Republican presidential nomination as well as the post of President of the United States in 2016. Trump won over MAGA fans with his efforts to address the “swamp,” but not Washington elites. Republicans divided up… MAGA versus RINOS, the so-called “mainstream” Republicans.
In order to describe the incestuous political character of career politicians and government employees, proponents of reforming political laws and lobbying have been using the phrase “clear the swamp” for years. Trump declared, “It is time to drain the swamp in Washington, D.C.,” during the 2016 presidential campaign. For this reason, I’m putting forth a set of ethical changes to restore the integrity of our administration.
Trump’s plan called for tougher “revolving door” regulations, which prohibit government employees from lobbying their former colleagues after leaving their positions. He also asked Congress for a five-year prohibition on lobbying for senators, representatives, and senior staff.
Trump issued an executive order on ethics in January 2017 that addressed the “revolving door” laws, but he was confronted with a Democratic-controlled Congress that would obstruct his attempts if they had to pass through them. Now that the House is controlled by Republicans, Trump’s chances of winning the 2024 presidential election are improved.
The swamp has been back in full force since President Joe Biden’s administration took office, but with the appointment of Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker, which was negotiated by MAGA and other Republicans, and the Republican dominance of the House, awareness of the “swamp” has once again increased.
The 2024 presidential election is approaching, and former President Donald Trump has announced both his intention to run and his strategy for doing so. Trump ruffled both Democrats’ and Republicans’ feathers during his first term as president as a political outsider. With one term under his belt, reports indicate that Trump is now considering a second term that would be even more proactive in addressing the issue of the firm grip the “swamp” has over American politics.
The Washington Examiner reports:
Word sweeping through Washington is that former President Donald Trump’s team is already looking at how it would do things differently in a second term.
One item that has the “swamp” concerned is a plan for an executive order allowing for the instant firing of federal workers, ending their near job-for-life status.
“It would strip any official who has anything to do with policy of any real career protections or due process. Government employees could essentially be fired at will or even on a whim,” warned a federal worker union official.
As president, Trump and his budget team had high hopes of changing the federal hiring and firing process and making it closer to how corporate America operates, but they were met with strong resistance from federal unions.
The folks at the Washington-based Federation for American Immigration Reform have landed a new executive director well-versed in Trump-style immigration policy. Julie Kirchner is also an old hand at FAIR, having already served in that role. During the Trump years, she was a top official with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services ombudsman.
Trump’s efforts in the second year of his first term were reported by the New York Times in 2018:
“Seizing on a longtime ambition of many Republicans, President trump on ?Friday overhauled rules affecting at least two million federal workers, making it easier to fire them and rolling back the workplace role of their unions.
Mr. Trump, furthering a goal cited in his State of the Union address this year, signed a series of executive orders affecting disciplinary procedures and contract negotiations and limiting the conduct of union business on government time.
Andrew Bremberg, the head of the White House Domestic Policy councit, said the president was ‘fulfilling his promise to promote more efficient government by reforming our Civil Service rules.’”
The Times continued that “Past administrations of both parties have argued that Civil Service rules are in need of modernization…”
Unions were not happy with President Trump’s efforts to even the civil playing field, and with a Democrat Congress Trump was not able to make this happen. in September of 2022, the then-Democrat House passed a bill “protecting federal employees from Schedule F,” the Hill then reported.
The “Schedule F” plan, created by Trump that allowed for these changes in the civil service rules, is the plan that the Trump campaign will quickly restore if elected to the Oval Office in 2024. Allowing the firing of government employees, this will be the first step of the new Trump administration in regard to draining the swamp. Federal workers’ job security has long been an issue for those who are concerned that the finite wheels of government stall initiatives by incoming administrations.
Rephrased from: The Republic Brief By: Trump Knows
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