The Ford School’s Donald Moynihan has been quoted by many networks for an outlook on the upcoming Trump administration. Moynihan focuses on how the election outcome will likely impact many civil servants and warns of a transition to politically appointed positions. Also, his discussions highlight Trump’s decision to work closely with businessman Elon Musk. Read Moynihan's predictions for the Trump administration below.
“Musk and Trump: Ethical concerns and conflicts of interest” Deutsche Welle, November 20, 2024 - Commenting on the potential of Elon Musk heading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Moynihan shared "[Musk has] no real experience with government beyond suing it or spreading conspiracy theories about it." He also shared thoughts that “the federal government needs to be modernized, but the only thing Musk has talked about is cutting costs and punishing people he disagrees with. His basic math does not add up." Moynihan went on to argue, "It is cartoonishly corrupt… They are two big personalities who love the limelight, but Trump cannot stand to be upstaged… In some ways, assigning Musk to an advisory committee might be seen as a demotion, since it is not clear if it will get anything done.”
“Federal workers brace for Trump’s plan to potentially replace them with loyalists” PBS NewsHour, November 19, 2024 - Speaking with PBS Moynihan claimed, “Donald Trump and his allies are already specifically identifying certain targets… They're engaging in a strategy of naming and shaming of federal employees, of intimidation, of career civil servants who are not really in the public eye.” He asserted, “It is a fairly disturbing pattern, which I think will only make it harder to recruit and retain talented people who want to work for the federal government.” Moynihan continued to suggest “filling the civil service with cronies, as well as loyalists, with friends, defeats the very purpose that the civil service was founded on. If you look at the history of America, the introduction of the civil service system was a response to the corruption that took place with the spoils system that preceded it. And it was called a spoils system because once a president or a governor or mayor took over the government, they used public resources, not always in the public good, but to reward their supporters.”
“Trump vs. democracy itself” Policy Options, November 15, 2024 - Policy Options noted Moynihan's predictions “that many positions in government will be redefined as political, allowing large numbers of civil servants to be laid off and replaced by genuinely political – or downright ideological – appointments, particularly in ‘left-wing agencies’, i.e. those concerned with social justice, public health or environmental protection.”
“Trump's Elon Musk Appointment Raises Questions About Conflicts of Interest” Newsweek, November 13, 2024 - When analyzing the effects of Musk’s companies being the recipients of government contracts and subsidies, Moynihan mentioned, "Both of those things are fine until Musk is given charge of government, and gets to make recommendations about which agencies should have reduced budgets, or which officials should be fired.” He declared, "Musk has enormous and multiple conflicts of interest that should prohibit him from working in the Trump administration," and that, “It becomes impossible to maintain the claim that the government will not now favor Musk when he has power over their agencies." Overall, Moynihan insisted that Musk's involvement in the federal government "creates the appearance of corruption, and increases the chances that such corruption will take place. It increases the risk that policy will be made and implemented to satisfy the desires of the richest man in the world rather than the American public."
“Trump wants to 'destroy the deep state' but what does that mean?” ABC Australia, November 8, 2024 - Talking with ABC Australia, Moynihan inspects the difference between Trump in 2016 and now. “The big difference between 2016 and now is that in 2016 Trump really did not have a deep bench of people to call on as political appointees to help serve his administration, that has changed.” When asked what Trump’s plan to “destroy the deep state” entails, Moynihan stated, “Targeting civil servants, either firing them or moving them into precarious political appointment positions where he could fire them. And he sees that as a key means to exerting control over government.” Evaluating the scope of Schedule F, Moynihan said it “would allow President Trump to convert some number of those career civil servants into political appointees, and the number could be 50 thousand, but it could be more than that.”
