White House loyalty test leaving cabinet agencies unstaffed and Trumps secretaries are furious

[riversedge]

Source: raw story



09 Mar 2017 at 12:27 ET


The White House is frustrating cabinet secretaries by rejecting staffer candidates suspected of possible disloyalty to President Donald Trump.

The Office of Personnel Management won’t approve the hiring of Hillary Clinton supporters, “Never Trump” conservatives or anyone whose politics lean left even for low-level positions, reported Axios.

At least one cabinet official, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, has complained directly to the president about the hiring process and demanded the approval of his proposed staff.

According to a source, Trump told Zinke his staffers would be approved “as long as they’re our people,” and the source added similar conversations have taken place with other cabinet secretaries.

Bloomberg has reported on Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s difficulties in staffing his agency, which he reportedly blames on Trump’s aides.
.................................

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/white-house-loyalty-test-leaving-cabinet-agencies-unstaffed-and-trumps-secretaries-are-furious/

---

Link to tweet

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Putin explained to trump if he is gonna actually do this coup thing he has to

have loyal people who will help him destroy America.

Anybody else could be a problem..

[Scarsdale]

11. Russian

applicants would be considered, I'm sure. Jared tRump can only fill so many positions, Ivanka too. How about Beavis and Butthead, once they get back from big game hunting? Mrs. tRumps parents live at tRump Tower, surely THEY can be hired? He was an official in the Communist Party, so he would be a good addition for Herr tRump. Maybe he has to stay at the Tower, in charge of the Russian connections? Maleria has a sister who lives a few blocks away, in a multi million dollar condo. There is an example of "immigrants pulling themselves up by their bootstraps".

[Eliot Rosewater]

14. Applicants who want to serve the American people need not apply.

Only those who want to service and enrich Trump.

[FakeNoose]

2. But I thought ...

the question on loyalty meant loyal to the US Constitution.

What does it matter who's loyal to Trump?

[Scarsdale]

12. It matters

to the squishy orange turd, that's who!!

[bdamomma]

23. the Constitution????

do you really think Bannon/45 gives a crap about the Constitution?? not really.

Do you know that they have to kiss 45 ring to show their loyalty.

[FakeNoose]

37. On January 20th

Trump swore an oath of loyalty to the Constitution of the United States.

Does that mean anything?

[procon]

3. Idiots want to be surrounded by more idiots... no wonder they can't get anything done. nt

[secondwind]

4. He is so paranoid.. n/t

[snooper2]

5. Here is the real article RipStory stole from

Axios- Jonathan Swan 5 hrs ago

https://www.axios.com/white-house-at-war-over-personnel-2306708580.html


he Trump administration has a personnel problem. Multiple government agencies are in a state of staffing gridlock, with cabinet secretaries having their chosen employees routinely returned by the White House's Office of Personnel Management. Steve Mnuchin at Treasury, Rex Tillerson at State, General Mattis at Defense, it's a problem across the Cabinet.

Why this matters: The failure to fill lower-level staff directly impacts the ability of government to function. Career people are working away, but senior political appointees lack their own staff. They're less effective — and operating in a climate of distrust — until they've got their team around them.

One example: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who was only confirmed a week ago, has already taken his complaints directly to the President. According to a source briefed on the incident, Zinke went to Trump and demanded his staff be approved. Trump replied that Zinke will get his people "as long as they're our people," the source said. An Interior Dept spokeswoman didn't deny the incident happened. Our source explained:

"If you want somebody, that's fine, but they have to be vetted because, one, you know, Zinke is not the president. This is Presidential Personnel, and ... they keep having this conversation with these department secretaries and administrators, and it's just not clicking"

Other departments:

[Scarsdale]

16. Perfect!

Just the way Putin hoped it would be. Chaos. No HONEST qualified person would WANT to be involved with this fiasco.

[Occulus]

21. The Raw Story article is a better read and has a lot more detail

The link you posted reads like it was written by a high school senior with poor grammar.

[snooper2]

24. Rip Story is just combining articles they stole

Screw them...

[Occulus]

30. There's apparently a trinity of theft on this paragraph

Mnuchin’s pick for his agency’s top lawyer, Brent McIntosh, was reportedly flagged by the personnel office because he shared news articles critical of Trump on his Twitter account.

Rae Story, Bloomberg News, and Vanity Fair.

[Sunlei]

39. They should have kept Obama people, they were competent. The (R) PAYOLA 'gift' positions.

pay·o·la


/pāˈōlə/


noun
North American

noun: payola




the practice of bribing someone to use their influence or position to promote a particular product or interest.

[niyad]

6. loyalty tests? how. . . . dictator-like.

[eShirl]

7. so fragile

[hatrack]

8. You SIGNED UP FOR THIS, you FUCKING JACKAL ASSHOLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What the hell did you expect? Rationality? Good governance?

Were you looking for people with top-flight skills? How about basic mediocrity? Shooting for even minimal competence?

Fucking GUESS AGAIN.

[Hortensis]

28. Most signed up to destroy/dismantle their agencies.

Presumably they want to do it their way, but egos aside, they should comfort themselves that Bannon's chaotic deconstruction/collapse will work too.

[packman]

9. What was that oath the Germans had to take about 80 years back

"Ich schwöre: Ich werde dem Führer des Deutschen Reiches und Volkes Adolf Hitler treu und gehorsam sein, die Gesetze beachten, und meine Amtspflichten gewissenhaft erfüllen, so wahr mir Gott helfe."

Service oath for public servants

"I swear: I will be faithful and obedient to the leader of the German Empire and people, Adolf Hitler, to observe the law, and to conscientiously fulfill my official duties, so help me God."

[Sunlei]

10. Republicans can't even finish the damn transition because NONE of them ever really did THEIR job.

To busy fucking Americans DEMOCRACY with their Russian hacker friends.

[Eyeball_Kid]

35. The show of shows.

[Sunlei]

38. 'smack-talking", 75 year old brat is fine on fiction TV entertainment. Easy to turn off that crap.

Also easy for that kind of shallow brat to be a patsy/used by his Republican 'betters' & not even have focus to notice.

[The Sand Reckoner]

13. What else did they expect

from a paranoid, narcissistic lunatic?

Cry us a river, you pack of sycophantic fools. Maybe you'll learn some day that when you kiss Trump's ass, you get shit on.

[NurseJackie]

15. They're paralyzed by paranoia. Good.

[lark]

17. I can see their problem.

They want competent staff that can do the work. Drumpf just wants someone who agrees with fucking over the working class, poor, women and brown people for personal profit and doesn't care if they have any training, experience, or intelligence. Who cares about competency when the goal is total destruction and disruption?

[ffr]

18. Dissension will NOT BE TOLERATED!

[LuckyLib]

19. As so many are asking, "Are we fascist yet?"

[Nitram]

27. Acttually, the fascists were far better organized and competent.

We have that to be grateful for.

[Sanity Claws]

20. Isn't this proof of how unpopular he is?

and how the vote was rigged? If he got anywhere near the number of votes attributed to him, he would have been able to fill those positions with so-called loyalists.

[annielion]

22. Yes, the election was rigged.

I absolutely believe the election was stolen for Trump!

[bdamomma]

25. welcome to DU

and yes the evidence is pointing that way.

[ailsagirl]

29. I have no doubt about it

The run-up to the election clearly showed how disliked (to put it mildly) he is.

Every newspaper in the country (even repuke) said NO, WE CAN'T SUPPORT HIM

Yet he won??

Absolutely no way

[qwlauren35]

41. Actually, this isn't surprising.

A lot of college-educated people, especially in the DC area, are Democrats. The type of people who could effectively run government at a middle-class salary are Democrats. It's easy to fill a cabinet position with someone rich who is a Trump crony. It's harder to find qualified middle-class Americans who can get the job done.

Also keep in mind, it's highly likely that immigrants, Muslims, women, African-Americans, Latinos and others in the pool of qualified applicants are automatically vetoed, making the pool about 40% smaller than it should be.

[Nitram]

26. This is great news. Trump is even alienating his own cabinet.

More delays, more ineffectuality and incompetence. More backbiting, rivalry and dissatisfaction. Lower morale.

[Ilsa]

31. If you worked there, and wanted to keep your job, would

you be able to keep a straight face and lie to them about your loyalty? Could you hide your revulsion for an interview or anything short of a lie detector test? I'm not sure I could do it.

[tblue37]

40. It wouldn't matter if you could, if you had a paper trail of criticizing Cheato Benito (or witnesses

to spoken comments).

That is what the vetters are checking out: anyone who openly criticized him in the past gets ditched, even if they are willing to pucker up now.

[Mr. Sparkle]

32. He is turning the government into a cult

Whatever happened to the right wing mantra against formative action where the best people should get the best positions. Clearly that was all bullshit like their imaginary principles.

[Eyeball_Kid]

36. Trumpy does what he wants. He exploits everybody. His Cabinet knows it. They're chattel secretaries

to him. Do what he says, boys and girls. That's why you're alive.

[pansypoo53219]

33. only sycophants need apply.

[Mr. Ected]

34. Isn't this job discrimination based on political beliefs?

Seems like there's a huge class action suit inherent in all of this.