
Trump signs order creating new federal worker classification for at-will, political appointees
The non-career classified employees will be expected to leave in changing presidential administrations, with the order claiming it will 'improve operations, particularly in agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs, by streamlining appointments for key policy roles'.
The order did not cite how many employees would fall under the new classification.
'President Trump is delivering on his promise to dismantle the deep state and reclaim our government from Washington corruption,' the White House said in a fact sheet on the order.
The classification appears similar to Schedule C, which refers to temporary federal employees working on policy issues.
'We already have Schedule F (turning career civil servants into at-will employees). Now Trump is announcing Schedule G: Opens space at top ranks of govt for Trump loyalists as policymakers, with no limit on hires. Continues pattern of politicization,' wrote Don Moynihan, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan, on social media in response to the executive order.
Schedule F, which Trump tried to implement near the end of his first term in office, was revived earlier this year. It strips civil service protections afforded to other federal employee classifications, making it easier to fire these employees at-will.
Since Trump took office, his administration has sought to strip civil service protections for large swaths of federal employees, eliminate collective bargaining rights, and make it easier for the administration to fire federal employees at-will and without cause.
Culling the civil service is a key plank of Project 2025, the conservative manifesto that outlined plans for a second Trump administration. In each agency chapter, the project suggests ways to make more positions political appointments instead of nonpartisan career roles, forming a federal government more beholden to its executive and less likely to push back.
Max Stier, the president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, said the new classification is 'another misguided attempt by the administration to further politicize the federal workforce'. The new classification will make the civil service system more confusing, he said, adding that the president can already make hundreds of political appointments through Schedule C and other existing authorities.
'At the end of the day, the main mission of our government is to serve and protect the public,' Stier said. 'Our nonpartisan civil service is critical to keeping the services we rely on running continuously, even when political administrations change. Adding even more political appointees – who will only be in government for a few years – means that effective, stable service delivery will suffer. It's the American people who will pay the ultimate price.'
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The Independent
a minute ago
- The Independent
Top DOJ official to meet today with Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell inside a Florida federal prison
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The Guardian
2 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Why Trump's political playbook is failing in the Epstein case
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We still debate whether Trumpism is a substantial ideology or not; what we are missing is that Trumpism, for sure, is a set of tactics for exploiting weaknesses in the US political, legal and media systems. Some of these tactics were inherited from his mentor Roy Cohn and many are now being adopted by Trump's followers – one must never admit guilt; one must always swing back; and one must reject, or ideally entirely bury, defeats (such as Trump's case against Bob Woodward and Woodward's publisher being dismissed recently). But there is also a less obvious element and it has to do with managing political time (a challenge for all politicians, come to think of it). The point is not just seizing opportunities or exploiting opponents' weaknesses in a timely manner; rather, it is about the art of speeding things up or slowing them down to one's advantage. Think of how we appear to have become inured to Trump doing and saying things that would have ended previous presidencies (OK, previous presidents did not have AI-generated images of themselves as kings or popes available, but still). One reason is this: an administration that faces one or two big scandals in a four-year period may well be damaged beyond repair; one that produces three very big scandals a day seems to have nothing to worry about since no one can keep up. It is difficult to stick with one story, as the newest outrage already appears so much bigger (the Qatar plane scandal can feel like it happened years ago). To be sure, not all scandals are consciously produced, but there is little doubt that Trump's posting an AI-generated clip of Barack Obama being arrested in the White House and identifying Obama as a 'ringleader' of election fraud are meant to distract – which is not to deny that they would justify impeachment. 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Most important, a free press sticking relentlessly with scandals and ignoring intimidation can no longer be taken for granted; broadcasters in particular have become vulnerable to parent companies putting profits before everything else. Democrats, understandably not wanting to look like they mainly focus on the sordid details of the Epstein story, are tempted to move on and deal with the vaunted 'kitchen-table issues'. But it should give them pause that the story is apparently so scary for the other side that Republicans would rather shut down the House than deal with it in any shape or form. Are they right to panic? For sure, Trump made a mistake with his social media post urging followers to move on, which was the equivalent of 'don't think of an elephant' (while also providing further evidence for the Streisand effect: censorship generates the very attention meant to be avoided). Trump lobbying Murdoch to kill the story will give pause to all still naive enough to think of Republicans as free speech defenders. By now, the fact that releasing only the grand jury testimony is relatively meaningless has sunk in and – never mind the base – what political scientists call 'low-information voters' will be left with a lasting impression of a Trump-Epstein connection or at least a chaotic administration. In the lawsuit, Trump has to prove 'actual malice' on the part of the newspaper – a difficult hurdle to jump. Unlike with the Russia investigation, Trump himself is the instigator of a lengthy process overshadowing his presidency; unlike with the many investigations between his presidential terms, when his lawyers outran the clock, time is not really on his side. In fact, he might be lucky if the case is dismissed on a technicality – he apparently failed to comply with a Florida law that requires giving defendants five days' notice. Jan-Werner Müller is a Guardian US columnist and a professor of politics at Princeton University


The Guardian
2 minutes ago
- The Guardian
US politics live updates: Most adults support legal abortion three years after Roe overturn, new poll finds
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Update: Date: 2025-07-24T11:53:35.000Z Title: The Guardian has been keeping up with the changing abortion laws across the US since Roe v Wade was overturned in 2022. Content: You can see the latest state-by-state breakdown here: Update: Date: 2025-07-24T11:48:44.000Z Title: Content: Here's more context from the Associated Press on its new poll about abortion: The June 2022 supreme court ruling that overturned Roe v Wade and opened the door to state bans on abortion led to major policy changes. Most states have either moved to protect abortion access or restrict it. Twelve are now enforcing bans on abortion at every stage of pregnancy, and four more do so after about six weeks' gestation, which is often before women realize they're pregnant. In the aftermath of the ruling, AP-NORC polling suggested that support for legal abortion access might be increasing. Last year, an AP-NORC poll conducted in June found that 7 in 10 US adults said it should be available in all or most cases, up slightly from 65% in May 2022, just before the decision that overruled the constitutional right to abortion, and 57% in June 2021. The new poll is closer to Americans' views before the supreme court ruled. Now, 64% of adults support legal abortion in most or all cases. More than half the adults in states with the most stringent bans are in that group. Similarly, about half now say abortion should be available in their state when someone doesn't want to continue their pregnancy for any reason — about the same as in June 2021 but down from about 6 in 10 who said that in 2024. Adults in the strictest states are just as likely as others to say abortion should be available in their state to women who want to end pregnancies for any reason. Democrats support abortion access far more than Republicans do. Support for legal abortion has dropped slightly among members of both parties since June 2024, but nearly 9 in 10 Democrats and roughly 4 in 10 Republicans say abortion should be legal in at least most instances. Update: Date: 2025-07-24T11:45:17.000Z Title: Most US adults support legal abortion three years after Roe overturn, new poll finds Content: Good morning, and welcome to the US politics blog. Today we're kicking off with the findings of a new poll: three years after the US supreme court opened the door to state abortion bans, most adults continue to say abortion should be legal — views that look similar to before the landmark ruling. The new findings from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll show that about two-thirds of US adults think abortion should be legal in all or most cases. About half believe abortion should be available in their state if someone does not want to be pregnant for any reason. 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