In a campaign video released this week, former President Donald Trump vowed to create a “civil service test” for federal employees — noting that anyone who fails the test will be fired.
The campaign video focused on “wasteful and job-cutting” government regulations and detailed some of Trump’s plans to reduce the federal bureaucracy.
BizPac Review notes: “The federal government is the nation’s largest employer and if you want to clean the swamp, as Trump often vows to do, taking on the massive federal bureaucracy is a necessity.”
The video was shared to Twitter by the official “Trump Team” account, along with the caption: “President Donald J. Trump will liberate America from Joe Biden’s wasteful and job-killing regulatory onslaught and reign in the out-of-control bureaucracy in Washington, D.C.”
#Agenda47: President Donald J. Trump will liberate America from Joe Biden’s wasteful and job-killing regulatory onslaught and reign in the out-of-control bureaucracy in Washington, D.C.
WATCH: pic.twitter.com/wWm3FE247o
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) April 14, 2023
“I will require every federal employee to pass a new civil service test, demonstrating an understanding of our constitutional limited government,” Trump said in the video.
The former president went on to cite the controversial FBI raid of his Mar-a-Lago home as just one of many examples of government overreach — and stated that he would require federal workers to have an understanding of Fourth Amendment protections.
“This will include command of due process rights, equal protection, free speech, religious liberty, federalism, and Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure — I know all about that at Mar-a-Lago, don’t I? — and all other constitutional limits on federal power,” Trump said. “We will put unelected bureaucrats back in their place, liberate the US economy and attract millions of jobs and trillions of dollars to our shores.”
The campaign video is far from the first time Trump discussed reducing the size of the federal government by firing government employees. In March 2022, he demanded that Congress pass legislation that would allow a sitting president to fire any federal employees working under the executive branch.
“We will pass critical reforms making every executive branch employee fireable by the president of the United States,” Trump said at the time. “The deep state must and will be brought to heel. It’s already happening.”
BREAKING: Trump calls to make *every* executive branch employee fireable by the President of the United States
“The deep state must and will be brought to heel”pic.twitter.com/mX6hBIduLK
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 13, 2022
Currently, the president is not able to unilaterally fire federal employees. According to Business Insider, “The president is also not allowed to fire just anyone in the executive branch. While this power had initially been available to the president, it led to the ‘spoils system,’ in which every new president could essentially replace the entire government with their supporters. Under the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883, it became unlawful for federal employees to be demoted for political reasons.”
