It shouldn’t have to be said, but here we are: No, it is not normal for federal employees — whether career staff, political appointees, or otherwise — to defy the direction of the president of the United States.
It doesn’t matter which party is in power. It doesn’t matter if you disagree with the president on a certain policy. Short of a murderous dictatorship or truly Constitution-threatening administration (and regardless of what they say on Bluesky, this isn’t that), the powers of the executive branch are vested in a president. All federal employees work for the president and have a duty to the American people to see their will enacted through each new administration.
You wouldn’t know it, however, watching the second Trump administration.
Amid the streamlining of the federal government, many federal employees have taken aim at Trump’s policies mandated by the American people. Some may actually be motivated by their understanding of the Constitution or their love of country. But given the years of malfeasance in the Beltway, few deserve the benefit of the doubt.
Most are federal employees looking to save their comfortable jobs and pampered skin. These employees are so entrenched that they believe they are entitled to their jobs on the taxpayers’ dime — with one recently going as far as to claim that the Trump administration shows “disrespect” to federal employees.
Entitlement runs deep
Their resistance goes beyond Trump-era deregulation. Many of these same employees continue to complain about returning to the office after COVID-era stay-at-home orders — something the private sector largely resumed years ago. They claim that going back to their federal workplace is an “arbitrary punishment.”