During his first term, one of Donald Trump’s mistakes was not promptly removing bureaucrats and appointed apparatchiks that undermined him, his policies, and the will of the American people. It’s a mistake he has corrected in his second term. Even so, substantial numbers of stealth operatives remain in every federal agency, covertly and overtly seeking to slow or defeat Trump’s initiatives, to make America and him fail.
Some of them, inevitably, become arrogantly convinced of their own superiority, of the inevitability of the unstoppable, eternal rule of the Democrat Party. Used to doing whatever they want without consequences, some of them at the EPA signed a letter, using their names and government titles, attacking EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and Trump policies.
This declaration was written and signed by EPA employees across Offices, Regions, and Labs in our personal capacity, on our own time, and without Agency resources. We are devoted to EPA's mission: to protect human health and the environment.
As one might expect, any move by Zeldin to rescind Green New Deal orthodoxy arouses their panic and rage. As one might also expect, labor unions are on board:
Graphic: X Post
In response, Zeldin has placed 144 out of more than 15,000 EPA employees on leave and is investigating others.
“We have a ZERO tolerance policy for agency bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging, and undercutting the agenda of this administration as voted for by the great people of this country last November. The will of the American public will not be ignored at our agency,” Zeldin said in a written statement to Breitbart News.
The leader of the EPA will place 144 employees, a fraction of the agency’s 15,000-plus staffers, on administrative leave pending further investigation after some employees exploited their titles and official status as EPA employees to push a partisan agenda that does not reflect the will of the American people, who elected Donald Trump as the 47th president.
“The vast majority of agency employees are dedicated to the core mission of protecting human health and the environment, Powering the Great American Comeback, and respecting the will of the American people,” Zeldin continued in his statement. [skip]
“Unfortunately, a small number of employees signed onto a public letter, written as agency employees, using their official work title, that was riddled with misinformation regarding agency business. Our ZERO tolerance policy is in full force and effect and will be unapologetically implemented unconditionally,” Zeldin concluded his statement.
Is this a First Amendment issue? Unlikely. All government employees know expression clearly separated from their positions is likely constitutionally protected. However, they don’t have a right to use those positions to advocate for political issues. In addition, Presidents have the power to require employees of the Executive branch—that’s the EPA—to follow his lawful orders, which includes not slow-rolling or subverting them. As Barack Obama was so fond of smugly saying: “elections have consequences.”
Nicole Cantello is the president of Local 704, which is very much anti-Trump. She too signed the letter.
One need not like someone to work for them, but when you’re taking the taxpayer’s dollar, you have an obligation to do the taxpayer’s business. You have no right or power to so otherwise, and as always your choice is delivering an honest day’s work, or resigning to find work more suited to your tender sensibilities.
This fact of life, of reality, is well-known to non-governmental employees who have little sympathy for government workers complaining about having to take orders from people with whom they disagree. It’s yet another example of how politics are played. Democrats hire only Democrats and ruthlessly persecute anyone who doesn’t toe the party line. Republicans tend to hire only the qualified but expect everyone to play by the rules. When Republicans enforce those rules, Democrats scream bloody murder.
Finally, we have a President determined to do the people’s business, the business for which he was elected, and the screams are music to the ears of honest Americans.
Elections have consequences.
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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.