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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy Trump Is Struggling to Staff His Government
When a nor'easter barreled toward Washington in mid-March, Donald Trump suggested to German Chancellor Angela Merkel that she postpone her upcoming visit to the White House. The inclement weather also bought the President's understaffed Administration a bit more time to prepare for a Merkel drop-by. Almost two months into the job, Trump still has no assistant secretary for European affairs or envoy to the E.U. at the State Department, he lacks undersecretaries for international issues at the Commerce and Treasury departments, and he is still looking for a policy chief at the Pentagon.
(he) has moved slowly to assemble his Administration. Trump often excoriates Senate Democrats for holding up more than two dozen appointees awaiting confirmation, including three Cabinet Secretaries. But Trump has yet to nominate 505 of the 553 key Executive Branch positions, according to a tally maintained by the Washington Post and the Partnership for Public Service. Those roles range from the patent chief at Commerce to a science adviser at the White House. At the State Department, where four top career diplomats have departed, just six of 119 jobs requiring Senate confirmation had been announced by the time Secretary Rex Tillerson left for his first major swing through Asia, on March 14. When the Administration asked for the resignation of all Obama-era U.S. attorneys on March 10, it added another 46 jobs to the long list of open positions.
The personnel shortage is more of a governing philosophy than a glitch. One of Trump's goals is to slash the size of the federal bureaucracy, which he is accomplishing in part through attrition among civil servants whom the Administration doesn't trust. Some government agencies are "no longer relevant," press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters on March 13. At offices like the Environmental Protection Agency, Trump has chosen chiefs who have opposed the core functions of the department they now lead.
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Where the Trump team is plugging holes, the White House is relying on political loyalists. Sam Clovis, a conservative radio host who advised Trump's campaign in Iowa, was asked to help guide the Department of Agriculture until the President's pick for Secretary can be confirmed. Curtis Ellis, a columnist who wrote for websites that peddled the false conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, was named a top aide at the Labor Department, which is also awaiting a Secretary to be confirmed. And Matt Mowers, a GOP political hand who helped steer the Trump campaign's get-out-the-vote operation, found himself with a seat on the storied (but now largely empty) seventh floor of the State Department.
Trump, who still nurses grudges against his Republican critics, has been especially keen to stack his White House with allies. Some West Wing staffers have unusual résumés as a result. Former Breitbart News editor Sebastian Gorka has a gig with the National Security Council. Omarosa Manigault, one of the original villains on The Apprentice, is promoting White House outreach. And former Trump golf-club caddie Dan Scavino Jr. manages the President's social-media footprint.
More..
http://time.com/4703304/why-president-trump-struggling-to-staff-government/
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Is it any wonder that we are the laughing stock of the world?
beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)The intent is to dismantle
monmouth4
(9,710 posts)DemocratSinceBirth
(99,714 posts)pansypoo53219
(20,997 posts)coco22
(1,258 posts)to dismantle government and destroy the country so that it will be white again his eyes..
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)He's said it out loud.
hatrack
(59,593 posts)Imagine that . . .
kimbutgar
(21,210 posts)When Cheeto goes down would you want on your resume you worked for him?
no_hypocrisy
(46,202 posts)2. Would you really want on your resume that you worked at the Trump White House?
3. You could be working in the Trump WH, doing your job as required, and still get fired because of paranoia. And then get sued for violating the Non-Disclosure Agreement you were forced to sign to get the job.
4. Worst job ever.
Stinky The Clown
(67,819 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)Most of these people will be toast in DC by the time this is all over. The sheer stupidity of clinging to a sinking ship is enough to count them out.
sarah FAILIN
(2,857 posts)The insanity of all this is blinding.
4 years into this and he will still not have a full staff. IF we all make it that far.