All presidents have valued loyalty, particularly between the members of the Cabinet and the senior officials who work in labor reserved for the appointed politicians. But Trump and his team have pressed for political loyalty in an unprecedented way, demanding that career public officials eliminate impartiality for a more partisan position that supports the administration’s agenda, according to current and previous officials and experts.
“I am receiving reports of literally worldwide for people who are reluctant to offer their well -trained and experienced opinions about the situation in the field, the way in which foreign interlocutors will see our positions and even to propose, heaven does not want it, an alternative action course,” said Dinkelman.
He refused to say how many diplomats have been reallocated for offering sincere evaluations, to avoid exposing his colleagues to possible reprisals.
The state department spokesman Tommy Pigott said that Secretary Marco Rubio “values the sincere ideas of patriotic Americans who have chosen to serve their country.”
“In fact, this administration reorganized the entire State Department to ensure that those in the front line, regional offices and embassies are able to impact policies,” Pigott added. “What we will not tolerate are the people who use their positions to actively undermine the objectives of the duly elected president.”
A White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly defended the administration approach.
“It is appropriate and expected for not chosen officials throughout the administration to ensure that all actions align with the first Amazing Abeter of President Trump for which people voted,” Kelly said in an email.
A series of recent layoffs in federal agencies have shocked current and previous civil officials and members of Congress.
In May, the Administration dismissed two of the most important intelligence analysts in the country after they presided over an evaluation that contradicts the administration’s statement that the Venezuelan regime of Nicolas Maduro exercises direct control over the Aragua train poster.
On August 1, the head of the Office of Labor Statistics was fired after his office delivered a report on employment statistics indicating a weakening job market. Trump said without evidence that the numbers were “false.”
And at the end of last month, the three -star general led by the defense intelligence agency was abruptly fired after his agency produced an initial intelligence evaluation that found strikes in Iran’s nuclear sites had a limited effect, which seemed to contradict Trump’s statement at the time the facilities had been “erased.”
“The demand for loyalty we seem to see is deeper and more broad than almost any other time in the country’s history,” said Austin Sarat, a professor of political science at the University of Amherst.
Fidelity ‘price
The civil service was created at the end of the 19th century to stop corruption and create a workforce of the apolitical government based on merit instead of distributing jobs to reward partisan favors. Since then, these federal employees have worked in relative darkness, doing the type of work behind the scene that experts say it is crucial for a functional government.
During Trump’s first mandate, he frequently criticized the actors of the “deep state” in the federal government. But Trump and his assistants did not shoot or degrade a large number of career public officials.
That has become a focus of its second administration. Since its inauguration in January, Trump and his deputies have carried out a purge of public careers who are insufficiently loyal to their agenda, and have made a higher priority over political loyalty to the President when the hiring of new government employees, current officials and former officials.
The appointed politicians of Trump in the State Department have rewritten the criteria of the foreign service for promotions, adding a new category: “fidelity”. Among a list of skills and features, including communication, leadership, management and knowledge, faithfulness appears in the upper part, according to the new command box of the department for employees.
