They came to Washington to drain the swamp. Now, if they want to wade into it anyway, things won’t be so easy.
Officials serving in President Trump’s administration worry they will have a harder time taking advantage of the employment opportunities that are usually available to people who have worked in the White House.
Prominent liberals and some Never Trump conservatives have called on companies and academic institutions to bar mid- to low-level Trump subordinates after he leaves office.
“Employers considering them should know there are consequences for hiring anyone who helped Trump attack American values,” tweeted former Democratic National Committee spokesman Hari Sevugan in announcing a website called the “Trump Accountability Project.”
Some have wanted to cast a wider net than that. “I’m not going to lie,” said a former Trump 2016 campaign official. “It’s a little scary.”
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, a leading liberal commentator, tweeted that it was important to “name every official, politician, executive, and media mogul whose greed and cowardice enabled this catastrophe.”
“We need a form of truth and reconciliation commission precisely because our normal institutions have failed,” wrote Elie Mystal in the Nation. “We need to understand how that failure happened, who is responsible, and who should face justice.”
“We still have to have a society with these Trump people, and that can’t happen until we understand what they’ve done and feel measures have been taken to protect us from them again,” he added.
“How do you not try to purge a party of people who say nothing when the president of the United States says he didn’t rape a journalist because she wasn’t ‘my type’?” longtime Republican operative Stuart Stevens told ABC News. “What do you do about people that really are quiet when the president of the United States is refusing, and the vice president, refusing to accept the results of an election?”
“We have to collectively, in essence, burn down the Republican Party,” opined Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin on MSNBC. “We have to level them because if there are survivors, if there are people who weather this storm, they will do it again.”
While these are extreme examples, it may complicate the “revolving door” that usually exists from government to lobbying and business for Trump appointees compared to past executive branch employees.
“Working for the president of the United States is usually a lottery ticket for high-paying jobs in the lobbying industry and corporate America,” said Democratic strategist Brad Bannon. “But these firms place a premium on hiring people who can work closely with and get along with people of all political persuasions. Former staffers of an administration, which was noted for its inability to get along with anybody, will have trouble finding jobs in the traditional landing places for veterans of presidential administrations. Especially when looking for jobs is viewed as a sign of disloyalty by a president who won’t admit he lost.”
The Trump people will also be seeking employment during a pandemic.
“It’s always hard during a transition, but especially when a different party seizes control,” said Republican strategist John Feehery. “It was really difficult for Clinton staff and really, really difficult for Bush staff to find jobs after they left office.”
Obama alumni had it easier. “For the Obama team, many went into the nonprofit world or into the media,” Feehery said. “And because corporate America has steadily become more woke, it wasn’t as hard for them to find jobs.”
This will be a particular problem for people who worked for Trump, the most un-woke president of all.
“For the Trump folks, they will encounter a hostile corporate culture that has largely been opposed to the populist goals of a more nationalist president,” Feehery said. “Trump’s reluctance to accept the media’s verdict that the election is over hasn’t really helped either. So these folks are going to have to hustle. They are going to have to create their own path forward. They probably shouldn’t wait around for those plumb corporate jobs because I don’t think they will be readily available.”
