AMAC EXCLUSIVE
If former President Donald Trump successfully completes his comeback bid this November, he should expect no shortage of efforts from entrenched bureaucrats and Biden’s outgoing political aides to sabotage his second term before it even begins. A rock-solid transition plan will be absolutely critical for him to effectively govern over the next four years.
Scorched-earth methods have become a favorite of outgoing Democrat administrations since at least the turn of the century. After the contentious election cycle in 2000, the incoming aides to President George W. Bush were surprised to find that their predecessors in the Clinton administration hadn’t exactly left them a warm welcome.
Phone cords had been ripped from the walls, antiques had been stolen, and notes were scattered about with messages such as “Hail to the thief.” Most infamously of all, the “W” key had been removed from keyboards, an obvious barb at the eponymous middle initial of the incoming president. A GAO report found a total of $15,000 in damages during the transition from Bill Clinton to George W. Bush.
But those hijinks pale in comparison to what Donald Trump has in store for him upon returning to the White House next year.
During the presidential transition, there is no more important mantra than “personnel is policy.” The number one enemy of the Trump transition will undeniably be the Deep State. Uttering the phrase “Deep State” is usually met with mockery from the left, who brush the concept off as a right-wing conspiracy. However, it is hard not to believe in a Deep State when the full context is taken into account.
Fears about a transition of power in America date back to the transition from President John Adams to Thomas Jefferson in 1801. This was the first time that the presidency was handed from one political party to another. In other nations throughout history, such a transition would have been met with bloodshed. Yet, because of our nation’s strong religious tradition and ironclad Constitution, we were able to make that transition a smooth one.
At that critical period in American history, our federal government had less than 150 non-military employees to serve 5.3 million citizens. That’s roughly one federal employee per 35,350 citizens.
Compare that to our federal government today, which boasts (or bloats) around 2,250,000 federal employees for 341,000,000 citizens. That’s a staggering ratio of one federal employee for every 152 Americans. Without a doubt, the personnel aspect of presidential transitions has raised the stakes to a whole new level.
With such an enormous federal workforce, the prospect of entrenched bureaucrats who work for their own interests rather than for the chief executive is all but certain.
We saw this in practice with the first Trump transition. In the past, newly elected presidents enjoyed what was known as a “honeymoon phase,” where a wave of goodwill was afforded to the new chief when he first takes office. This typically extends to Congress and the media as well, who give the new president a bit of a break to get settled in.
Such a break was never afforded to Donald Trump. He had to scrape and claw for every inch of progress and positive coverage even before taking office. The media establishment hammered him from the front, repeating baseless Democrat claims that Trump was a “Russian asset” and an “illegitimate president,” while the Deep State stabbed him in the back.
One of the earliest examples of this was the trap set for National Security Advisor Mike Flynn, whose phone call was wiretapped by one of our own intelligence agencies, causing an interview with federal agents that led to his ouster. The late great Rush Limbaugh put it best when he described the Deep State by saying, “They’re trying to isolate Trump from the people he trusts… from the best people around him.”
Sadly, what happens during the presidential transition tends to linger long after the transition is over. The same frustrating pattern continued throughout Trump’s presidency, where the federal bureaucracy worked around the clock to confound his every move.
It’s important to note that in spite of this perpetual weight around his neck, Trump still achieved more conservative wins than any other president in modern history. But the lesson from the first transition is a poignant one nonetheless.
Now that the Republican primary has been cleared for President Trump, he has an important decision to make. Every Republican, from hardline conservatives to the worthless pollster and pundit RINOs, will compete to be the voice in Donald Trump’s ear. He can surround himself either with the freedom-loving fighters who believe in his America First vision, or the disloyal guns-for-hire who are only out to make a buck and a name for themselves.
Trump must obviously surround himself with true believers at the highest levels, but the key to an effective transition doesn’t end with the top offices. The conservative movement must also rally around Trump by providing him with qualified candidates for every lower office as well.
Don’t underestimate the power of a low-level staffer to stymie a president’s momentum. Those low-level staffers have the power to leak critical information to the press, slow down the wheels of government, and damage the reputation of the executive – look no further than the New York Times’ infamous “Anonymous” op-ed for evidence of this.
As any conservative elected official will tell you, finding good staffers is no easy task. Only the combined might of the conservative movement has the manpower to supply Trump with an army of staffers who can help him wage war on the Deep State.
The battle to secure conservative governance for our nation does not end when the Republican primary is over. It doesn’t even end when the general election is over. To secure true conservative leadership, Republicans must rally around Trump to ensure a smooth transition back into power.
Ed Martin is a lawyer who succeed iconic conservative leader Phyllis Schlafly as President of the Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, the pro-family organization with leaders in every state. He clerked for the federal court of appeals and has served chief of staff to the governor of Missouri, chairman of the St. Louis board of elections, and in 1997 as special assistant to Pope John Paul II.
