Going to the first election, Trump promised to break the entire establishment over his knee. He is holding his re-election under the same slogan: I am at war with the political class in Washington
Ten days before the election, Trump finally decided to take his first steps in this direction. He signed a decree depriving the American bureaucracy of the rights and privileges that have long been due to them in the line of duty.
As you know, it is very difficult to fire an official in the USA: he is aggressively defended by trade unions. And removing him from work costs the budget hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation.
That is why many Americans seek to occupy at least a small position in the bureaucratic apparatus. After all, you can not work there at all and watch porn for days. And nobody will fire you – it is de facto a lifetime sinecure and a guarantee of a comfortable old age with a good pension.
Trump’s decree deprives officials of protection from dismissal and puts them on the same level as ordinary Americans. They will now be able to resign easily – as is common in the private sector.
This could affect hundreds of thousands of officials from a total bureaucratic army of 2 million people. For Trump, this is not only electoral rhetoric, but also a setback for the future. If he is successful in the elections, he can finally start mass cleansing of the government apparatus.
Here Trump will surely take an example from the plan of Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s advisor, who is trying to get rid of a civil service that is not accountable to anyone in Britain.
In America, the same problem – a nomenclature that has not been chosen by anyone considers itself superior and is ready to sabotage Trump’s every effort. Now they are in for an unpleasant surprise: Trump’s victory will mean layoffs, cuts and the abolition of bureaucracy.
It is this kind of debureaucratisation of politics and the economy that could be the main achievement of right-wing populism today – and on both sides of the Atlantic.