media reports
“Schedule F”: Donald Trump plans to “clean up” the federal authorities when he returns to the White House
Apparently planning a far-reaching restructuring of the government apparatus after a return to the White House: Ex-US President Donald Trump (in front of conservative students in Tampa, Florida, last Saturday).
© Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Donald Trump plans to return to the White House. It’s not certain, but likely. Preparations for a new term are said to be already underway. It should be about deep interventions in administration and authorities.
The so-called “deep state”, an alleged conspiracy that reaches into all areas of administration and state, with which the “corrupt establishment” keeps the USA under its thumb, is one of Donald Trump’s baseless narratives. Draining this alleged “swamp” is one of those election promises that supporters of the ex-president repeatedly applaud 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 down to business. But the presidential decree was one of the first decisions Trump made Joe Biden reversed after taking 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 great deal of public attention if it hadn’t been lost in the quarrels over 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.
Donald Trump could install thousands of loyal officials
Apparently, preparations are already in full swing. This is reported by the US news portal “Axios” and is based, according to its own statements, 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”. At its core, the regulation is about giving the US President the ability to influence federal agency staff down to middle levels.
Already, a new incumbent in the White House has the right to appoint some 4,000 leading political officialswho steer and monitor the administration in his interest. 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.
Tens of thousands of employees could be exchanged
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 Trump and former officials have already identified about 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-related 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 will not even be necessary to actually replace all 50,000 people because the pressure from “Schedule F” will mean that many agency employees will behave loyally to the president in order to protect their to keep jobs.
Shaping life in the US under control
According to the reports, 50,000 people are only a fraction of the more than two million employees in federal institutions, but they are decisive 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 so large that the quality of services for the citizens and the control of the executive power are no longer guaranteed. 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 said.
“Schedule F”: Democrats want to prevent revival
Trump advisers say they have little chance of resisting this kind of restructuring of government agencies into a loyal presidential apparatus once “Schedule F” is in place. That’s why the chairman of the parliamentary subcommittee overseeing 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 toadies,” Connolly wrote in a tweet, “especially when there’s even the slightest chance that that President could be Donald Trump.” A victory 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 the “Schedule F” order (White House); axios; Federal News Network;