Start by accepting the Mass Resignations of Each & Every Biden-Harris "Political Appointee"
By Scott Hogenson
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Texas Insider Report) — It took less than a day following Donald Trump’s decisive victory November 5th for Democrats to start talking about their plans to hamstring his incoming administration. There’s little any president can do about outside, private sector advocacy groups or parties seeking to undermine his presidency aside from vigorously responding to them, and we can rest assured that he and his team will do just that.
Efforts to derail President-Elect Donald Trump’s mandate will – and probably already have – begin with a level of Federal Government Employee in the Biden-Harris White House Administration known as "Political Appointees." Occupying high-level positions throughout the Executive Branch – meaning at, or within the senior ranks of virtually every agency of the Federal Government – Trump can and should get rid of every single one of them on or before January 20th's Inauguration.
These Biden loyalists are working in jobs laid out in a 232 page book entitled "Policy & Supporting Positions," colloquially known among D.C. political and government insiders as "The Plum Book."
From the White House to the Department of State, from Border Protection or Immigration & Customs Enforment to obscure agencies like the Marine Mammal Commission, presidents have the authority to appoint people to work on their behalf in more than 7,000 positions across scores of Executive Branch departments.
The standard protocol for these appointees includes submitting a formal letter of resignation as an administration prepares to change hands.
This process is well-known and accepted – and has been happening for decades.
These letters are held in abeyance until such time that the new administration decides whether to accept, or not accept, these resignations.
All presidents accept and reject them to varying degrees, and Donald Trump should accept every last resignation – by every last Biden appointee – and remove them from their jobs on Day One.
Some of these appointees are good and decent people – but they were hired for one reason: to implement Joe Biden's Agenda. Logically and philisophically – and most certainly politically – they cannot be reasonably expected to execute Donald Trump's Agenda.
As happens within each and every president's administration, they work for the person and the causes being pushed by their president – they should not work in the subsequent administration.
Commentators and News Anchors on CNN, MSNBC – yes even on ABC, CBS and NBC – will doubtlessly characterize the acceptance of these resignations as "a purge" – citing is as proof that Donald Trump wants to "punish his opponents."
That is a lie of galactic proportions.
Every president has the authority to appoint people to help his administration at any time, and to accept the resignation of any Plum Book appointee at any time. That’s how government works.
The mass resignation of 7,000-plus people sounds pretty startling, and some observers fret that such an exodus would paralyze the government, another claim that is utter nonsense. But the actual work of government that actually helps taxpayers in legitimate ways on a day-to-day basis is not performed by presidential appointees.
That’s done by approximately 2.1 million career Federal Employees. They are the ones who make sure people get their Social Security checks, and who perform the other routine functions of government.
Plum Book appointees, on the other hand – who comprise about three-tenths of one-percent of the federal workforce – don’t.
But, they are the ones responsible for implementing a president’s policies and priorities by dictating and supervising the means of doing so. Again, that is – in everyday reality – how government works.
During his campaign, Trump made reference to “the enemy from within.” Given the sheer volume of Plum Book Appointees hired to support and implement Biden’s policies, there’s a high likelihood that at least some of them would try to derail Trump’s agenda – if they were allowed to remain in their positions.
But is it fair to consider these Biden appointees enemies?
That’s a harsh term, and I’m confident most do not rise to that level. However, it is not unreasonable to assume that some Biden-Harris holdovers would try to undermine whatever Trump is trying to do.
That’s a problem – for the president, and the people who gave him a mandate to govern.
In an essay for the website Lawfare, former CIA Officer David Priess cautioned appointees writing:
“Staying in office in order to commit sabotage against a democratically elected president acting lawfully… is perilous.”
It’s perilous because committing sabotage against a president and his agenda is what the enemies of America do.
Iran, China, Russia and other global adversaries are doing it right now, and have been for a long time.
The presence of Executive Branch appointees who seek to obstruct or disrupt the incoming administration’s goals represents an enemy from within which Trump acknowledged during his campaign.
It’s impossible to determine who among these Biden appointees would honor their oath to “defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” and those who would betray that oath. That means they all need to go.
Notwithstanding recent corruptions of the judicial system, there are plenty of legitimate ways to lawfully oppose an American president’s actions, and they should be pursued. Our Constitution guarantees that right, and for very good reasons.
But that does not mean a president must permit appointees from a previous administration, with diametrically opposed priorities, to remain in their appointed positions.
As Donald Trump is sworn in, his team will have a stack of 1,000s of letters of resignation from Biden’s Plum Book appointees. If he is serious about "draining the swamp," he should accept every one of them – effective immediately.
Scott Hogenson is president of Hogenson Communications, a Dallas-Ft. Worth public relations & crisis management firm.png
