Trump administration’s Civil Service
51 Articles
The President’s Inversion of the Government’s Ethical Conduct Standards, Right Before Americans’ Eyes
The Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch (Standards of Conduct) on this topic could not be clearer, and the president's statements contradicting those…
Law Day and the Need for Virtue in Government Lawyering
"This Law Day demands that we also pay attention to a very different set of actions by lawyers within the Trump period."
When the Abnormal Becomes Typical: Clinging to Memories of Normalcy Three Years into the Trump Administration
"Three years ago tonight, I took one last look back at the White House, lit brilliantly against the night sky, as I walked out the front gates onto Pennsylvania Avenue. It’s…
The Friday Night Massacre’s Broader Context: Trump’s Redesign for American Democracy
As we discussed with one of the authors of the book, How Democracies Die, the purges fit an ominous path followed by elected autocrats.
A Real-Time Lesson in Leadership and Ethics from the Impeachment Hearings
"The complete and stunning silence of Pompeo, Esper and Maguire to offer even a scant endorsement of their employees has been both shocking and has left a dark and perhaps indelible…
Why Officials Keep Testifying Despite White House Counsel’s Letter on Impeachment Inquiry
"These are presumably not the results White House Counsel Cipollone expected when he sent his letter, but in retrospect they seem fairly predictable."
Bureaucratic Resistance and the Deep State Myth
How to think — and not think — about the concept of a "Deep State" as the nation works through the Ukraine whistleblower developments.
Getting Over the Wall
"The Wall is not the border security panacea that warrants the zero-sum brinkmanship that holds the federal workforce as a hostage."
In Defense of NYT’s Anonymous: Government “Stewardship” as a Guard Against Threats to Democratic Order
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.” – The Federalist…
Why I Signed the Former CIA Officials’ Letter on Clearances: In Defense of Rule of Law
"The President of the United States has been soundly rebuked by a bipartisan consensus of the national security establishment. The spark was John Brennan, but the flame spread.…
Trump’s Four-Pronged War on the Administrative State
Among the many things the first year of the Trump presidency has given us is a new genre of op-ed. What might be called the resignation-confessional is headlined with some variation…
One Year Later — New Remarks by Senior State Dep’t Official Discharged by Trump
[Introduction by Ryan Goodman, co-editor-in-chief: One year ago, Thomas Countryman delivered Farewell Remarks to his colleagues at the State Department. Days before, he and five…