So far, the year 2020 has been unexpected, and so do is the pre-presidential election period. US 59th presidential elections are scheduled on November 3, 2020. As in any other pre-election phase, Americans were expecting to hear the presidential debate from Donald Trump, but out of the blue, the president signed an executive order encompassing the schedule F. The orders are under the influence of the banana republic-making strategies. They are expected to pose a severe threat to the democratic structure.
Schedule F has reformed the civil services act. The initial civil services reform act was constituted in 1883. It determined the nature of government employees’ selection criteria. The criteria selected were either competitive or merit-based. Now according to the new orders, the selection criteria have been changed to “excepted service”. Thus, giving a notion that presidential consent is the only required selection parameter rather than the employees’ ability. The signing of the executive orders has started another debate that Trump wants to fill the federal government executive places with the dummy men of choice. Thus they can never object to his commandments and can increase his scope of authority.
The analysts have also drawn the inference that the signing of schedule F will help Trump better deal with the authorities like Anthony Fauci. Throughout the COVID, many heated arguments and cold wars were observed between the two. Fauci has earned a name in the healthcare sector and achieved a more significant career position than a political position. Fauci being the scientific rep, conveyed the scientific information to the general public regarding the masks. At the same time, Trump was openly not agreed. The conflict made mask wearing approach more politicized rather than scientific. A poll created by CBS News showed that almost 62% of the population relied on Fauci as a more credible COVID-19 information source, and only 38% showed interest in Trump’s recommendations on the matter (Donald Trump vs. Anthony Fauci, 2020). On a social media platform, Trump openly referred to Fauci as a disaster; however, later, he mentioned that being a public-serving sector employee, firing Fauci could bring more havoc. Later on, Trump signed the executive order, and now the recruitment of the civil service and the rest of the government employees will be as per the recommendation and acceptance of the president (Lee, 2020). Thus Trump is planning to make a political arm for himself in the next course of his presidency. Max Stier, CEO of an organization dealing with public services, claimed that the executive order is a threat indicator for democracy as schedule F would clear the distinguishing line between political affiliations and neutral competency skills.
In conclusion, the executive order did not get the level of attention it deserved the day it was signed. Still, schedule F is in crucial need of consideration by the general public, the scientific community, and lawmakers. Specifically, the general public has a perfunctory look at the executive changes and has no idea of real happenings within the federal government sectors. Also, it is assumed that Trump has manipulated the general public’s response to the COVID-19 situation as the US has been criticized heavily for the noncoherent instructions and delayed implementations, which subsequently led to a higher mortality rate. The upcoming presidential elections have significantly changed the scenario; Trump has been trying to blame everyone except himself in the COVID-19 scenario. Thus I will suggest that in the wake of the previous scenario and the contemporary schedule F, there is a grave need for an open discussion before the implementation of the order. The discussion should be crystal clear to the government and the scientific authorities.
References
Donald Trump vs. Anthony Fauci. (2020, October 15). CGTN. https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-10-15/Donald-Trump-vs-Anthony-Fauci-UBuFaTxm6c/index.html
Lee, B. Y. (2020, October 26). Trump’s New Executive Order May Make It Easier To Fire Scientists Like Fauci. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2020/10/24/trump-new-executive-order-may-make-it-easier-to-fire-scientists-like-fauci/?sh=53c749e04252
