Yesterday Instapundit addressed an issue we talked about in November. That's a bloated federal bureaucracy that is hell bent on making Trump look ineffectual or evil, take your pick. His supporters understand that, but his election came as a surprise to most of us, and it's not clear how long that support will last when we consider all the firepower there is lined up against him.
Back to the bureaucracy, Ira Stoll had an interesting item posted at reason.com last month titled Trump Versus the Bureaucracy in which he outlined some ways they can work against Trump. To wit:
They can leak to the press. It's not a coincidence that The New York Times is suddenly running full-page ads promoting its acceptance of confidential news leaks. These ads did not appear immediately after President Obama was elected.
The bureaucrats can just work more slowly. That's not a full-fledged strike like the air traffic controllers during the Reagan administration, but more, instead, appearing to work while quietly doing whatever is possible to undercut the administration's policy initiatives.
They can try to capture their political appointees by explaining, in great sophisticated detail, why Trump's policies would never work, and why the political appointees would be much better off instead continuing the policies of the previous administration.
If the Trump appointees get fed up with any of that and attempt to fire the bureaucrats, good luck to them. It's not The Apprentice, where Trump could say "you're fired." Civil service protections, "whistleblower" rules, union grievance procedures, and anti-discrimination laws mean that in government, such clashes are often time-consuming and more trouble than they are worth.
That last point is important -- civil service protection will be a plug in the tub.
However, there is one thing Trump can do: revoke the executive order that allows federal employee unions.
Previously on these pages: Would Trump have the courage to bust government employee unions?.
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