For reasons unknown, the president is refusing to fill some key positions throughout various government agencies. However, the feds' human resource agency Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has a list of roughly 400 new hires. Back in January, the White House said they will be bringing in around 520 staffers for beachhead teams -- temporary jobs that could turn into permanent placements. These jobs do not require a Senate confirmation. The staffing list does include holdovers from the Obama and Bush administrations, but what is striking are the names of former campaign veterans, breitbart writers, conspiracy theorists, and lobbyists.
The latter raises the question, did trump drain the swamp of lobbyists by rewarding them with jobs?
To be fair, some people on the list have already left the administration, voluntarily and involuntarily. For example, one staffer was recently fired from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for his previous anti-Trump writings.
Breitbart wing and conspiracy theorists
Curtis Ellis was hired at the Labor Department as a special assistant to the secretary. Ellis is a former columnist for WorldNetDaily, a website known for embracing the lie that Barack Obama was born outside the U.S. John Jaggers was hired in January to serve as senior adviser at General Services Administration (GSA), but records show he vacated the job last week.
Jaggers made headlines last year for endorsing a conspiracy theory against Hillary Clinton in which he claimed she was sick and there was a cover-up surrounding her "illness."
Lobbyists and campaign staffers
There are at least 36 former lobbyists with new, well-paying jobs in the nation's capital. Dozens of former Trump campaign workers are now also on the government payroll, which is not an uncommon practice.
Many voters says they are pleased to see Trump fulfilling his promises. But when it comes to gutting the government with large budget cuts, changing agency agendas, and not filling important positions, there will be a huge problem. Who will citizens call if they're stuck overseas during a crisis, or sludge in the water causes family members to get sick or die from cancer, or innocent people get stiffed by major corporations and can't sue because of a recently passed bill?
