According to our President, Arkansas stands on the doorstep of a new political dynasty. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is leaving her post as Trump’s Press Secretary, a tenure which saw the DC institution of daily White House press briefings wither on the vine, replaced by Presidential tweet storms and Fox “Breaking News” flashes that Sanders would often embellish from a remote feed on the White House grounds, a far friendlier venue than the contentious briefings she gradually phased out of existence.
Apparently, though, the nation’s loss is Arkansas’s gain, as Trump’s tribute tweet announcing Sanders’ departure included his wish to see her ascend to the state’s governor’s mansion. Lucky for current Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson, he was re-elected last year, lest Trump thoughtlessly provide a staunch supporter with a primary opponent. Whatever. Like her father before her, it now appears Sanders has political ambitions of her own, and no doubt will pursue them as part of that new breed of Trumpie politicos… fully liberated from the tether of truth. Yet and still, for now she merely represents the most common theme that runs through this Presidency…. the mass exodus of its staff, often with no replacements forthcoming.
The talent pool this Administration has had at its disposal from which to hire White House and federal agency staff, to be kind, has never been target rich. Although Trump frequently boasted on the campaign trail he would lean on the best and the brightest – usually as a rejoinder to some ridiculous blunder he had recently made about a basic issue he refused to bone up on – upon election it became almost immediately clear he had no plan for creating a team.
Back just after Trump’s victory the thinking was GOP “moderates” in the Senate could be counted on to curtail any outrageous nominees, and, both Trump’s desire for help now that he was in the deep end, and the pull of duty to country, would ensure that some qualified and experienced Republican heavyweights would fill at least several critical slots. Indeed, after Michael Flynn self-destructed almost immediately, there appeared promise DC’s institutional preeminence would work to check the Donald’s worst instincts. But then, as the Pruitts and DeVos were confirmed, it became clear Collins, Murkowski and Portman et al had no appetite for principled leadership on the matter. Moreover, the revolving door for old GOP White House hands never became operational, and Trump short lists were revealed to be unprecedentedly sparse, with House backbenchers like Tom Price, Mick Mulvaney, and Mike Pompeo leading the way.
Going on three years and more than 400 defections later, this Administration isn’t scraping the bottom of the barrel…. it seems to possess no systematic process for hiring! Broken would be the word that comes to mind. Forget incompetence and graft from Cabinet Secretaries, it is becoming increasingly clear this White House is giving up on even staffing the government. From top to bottom our Executive Branch is in chaotic free fall. At this time last year more than one-third of senior cabinet positions were not yet filled. At that point Trump apologists noted many were intentionally left empty, and after that was taken into account, hiring really wasn’t too far behind where Obama was at the same stage of his Presidency. That argument was specious then, and certainly nobody is making it now.
More than 40 percent of high-level deputy secretary, assistant secretary and financial administration posts are vacant. Indeed, Brookings Institute data points to the Trump turnover rate now being three times as high as Obama’s and twice as high as the previous record holder, Ronald Reagan. Explanations or solutions are as scarce as incoming applicants, limited mostly to Trump blaming Democrats in the Senate for not approving his nominees, merely another of his 10K plus lies, but his go-to nonetheless.
To be fair, on a broader level, the government faced serious challenges before Trump came to the office he never wanted. Only 6 % of the federal work force is under 30 years old. Moreover, with the national debt approaching $20 trillion, and government spending a soft target for both sides of the aisle, federal pay is doing nothing but losing ground to the private sector. Add to that a burgeoning workforce sensibility that is anything but 9-5 and the pool of available young talent shrinks even further. However, leave it to Trump to douse a smoldering concern with plenty of gasoline, as record numbers of careerists, from the EPA to the State Department, have dramatically accelerated retirement timetables rather than experience the awful demoralization their life’s work is now at the mercy of those filled with ignorant disdain toward the mission statement of their agencies.
But if an office remains empty does anyone hear it fall…. er, or something like that. Lacking adequate staff is one of those problems it’s hard to clarify into a tangible concern, particularly when the President provides unceasing outrageousness to consider instead. However, common sense dictates a copious lack of qualified personnel can’t be a good thing, particularly if there seems no plan or even interest to remedy the situation, only diatribes from the President about who’s to blame. In fact, it’s now a reasonable question to ask at what point does an inability to find, retain and replace competent staff become a crisis. After all, regardless of how much Trump has abased and recklessly trivialized his office, it is a critical foundation of US governance; if it’s broken, so is the nation.
Of course, if your campaign platform was nothing more than nihilistic pledges to dismantle programs and hinder agencies, how many people do you really need? If the “promises” you are keeping consist of mostly getting rid of enforcement mechanisms created to protect everything from the air and water to worker safety, consumer protections to financial reform, less might very well be more, regardless if it’s intentional or simply another manifestation of breathtaking incompetence. Say what you want about the GOP, its do-nothing pols have convinced their base the best government is the worst government because, really, if it’s functioning properly then all those things we’ve convinced you to hate about it are still in tact….. no small feat!
An overflow field of Democrats are scrambling for relevant campaign themes capable of lighting a spark and galvanizing voters with something more than mere anti-Trump outrage. Perhaps a message that both re-educates Americans on government’s vital role in areas directly impacting everyday routines, not to mention the safeguarding of critical infrastructure, while also highlighting the inability of the incumbent to even hire necessary staff, will resonate with more than a few. After all, accepting the GOP premise that no government is the best government only further facilitates this White House’s zealous pursuit of the lowest common denominator…. the one area it seems to exhibit unquestioned proficiency. BC