The first year of President Donald Trump's second term in office has been markedly different than his first term. The Ford School's Don Moynihan gave The Atlantic his analysis of the administration's actions over the past year and noted resemblances to authoritarian tactics.
One of the largest differences in Trump's leadership thus far in his second term is his focus on dismantling the civil service. Moynihan covers this in a podcast episode with The Atlantic titled "Rise of the Trump Loyalist," discussing civil service lay-offs and the influx of loyalists in the federal workforce.
A point of concern raised during the conversation was Trump's requests to federal employees to commit seemingly illegal acts. When prompted with such potentially illegal requests, such as sharing private data with other federal agencies, many employees have chosen to resign on their own accord, hoping to protect their personal integrity. On this note, Moynihan stated, "It's a red flag when you see so many people saying, 'My god. This is so illegal that we cannot, in good conscience, stick around any longer.'"
Moynihan also discussed the Civil Service Reform Act and how Trump's attacks on the civil service often go against the principles outlined in the legislation. "It specifies, very clearly, that employees cannot be treated differently because of their political affiliations," he said. "Neither in spirit nor in the letter of the law is the current administration adhering to this act, in my view," added Moynihan.
He went on to assert the level of danger that Trump's executive orders pose to not only the civil service but to democracy in general. Moynihan stated, "I think we're at the most dramatic attack on the civil-service system since its creation in the 1880s. It feels that there is an element of the spoils system that is returning, but also, there is this much more direct attack on democracy that is part of the mechanization and the weaponization of the civil-service system right now."
"Research tells us that more politicization leads to generally worse outcomes. And this is for a variety of reasons. One is that you get less competent people who work for government under more politicized regimes. The more talented people tend to leave. You also have officials who don't want to share bad news with their political principals. And so the presidents or the agency leaders are simply making worse decisions because they don't have good access to information," argued Moynihan. He urged that a partisan work force would lead to a less efficient government.
Lastly, Moynihan described the attack on the civil service as occurring across multiple fronts. "I think we're seeing a multipronged attack on civil-service capabilities. Partly it's through hiring. They want to put more loyalists into civil-servant positions. Partly it's through firing. People who won't go along with breaking the law are being shown the door. And partly it's also through just instilling a culture of fear within our government," explained Moynihan.
Listen to the podcast here.
An article by Moynihan in he Atlantic, described the Trump Administration's reliance on social media to promote policy and ideology. In the text, Moynihan coins the term "Clicktatorship" to describe the administration's use of social media to create information and political silos online.
"Political appointees in the clicktatorship are not just using online platforms as a mode of communication. Their judgment and decision-making are hyper-responsive to what's happening on the far-right internet. They view everything as content," Moynihan described Trump loyalists and political appointees as belonging to the "clicktatorship" for their extensive presence on social media platforms. He highlighted that "No one better exemplifies the clicktatorship than the president himself. Trump routinely makes policy announcements via social media."
One strategy the administration uses to promote its agenda is through AI-generated posts, which increases extremist rhetoric. "The administration's official social-media feeds pump out far-right xenophobic memes and celebrate deportations with ASMR videos of undocumented immigrants in shackles. Just days before the killing of Pretti, the White House posted an image of a woman who was arrested after a protest at a church in Minnesota. It had been edited, presumably using generative AI, to show the arrestee as weeping uncontrollably. The effect is to reinforce an impression of dominance and control. Truth matters less than attention," said Moynihan.
Although social media use was prevalent under the Trump administration in his first term, Moynihan argues that the levels of engagement that we are seeing in the second term are much more intense. "Aspects of the clicktatorship existed during Trump's first term, when the president used Twitter as a bully pulpit. But it has ratcheted up to new levels in his second go-round. His appointees are more likely to be keyboard warriors," asserted Moynihan.
Offering a glimmer of hope, Moynihan noted social media can be used against the administration, in particular, to debunk or question the statements they put out. Following recent events in Minnesota surrounding ICE protests, social media has been used to analyze what happened that led to the death of two American citizens. "The Trump administration maintained a unified front after the killing of Renee Good, arguing that agents were acting in self-defense, even when video evidence complicated that version of events. Many members of the administration attempted to follow the same playbook after federal officials killed Pretti. But the fiction has not held up. The people who put their bodies on the line to record what was happening in Minneapolis revealed a valuable truth. The same tool that makes clicktatorship possible-the smartphone-can also be used against it," described Moynihan.
Read the full commentary on The Atlantic here.
