President Trump has been vomiting executive orders since the day he took office for his second term. He issued 26 on his first day alone and has issued 263 as of June 1, 2026. Other than Trump in his first term (he wrote 220), no President has come close to writing over 200 executive orders for their entire 4-year term.
Recently, one of these orders reclassified a whole bunch of civil servants – part of the bureaucracy – as political appointees subject to less strict rules on hiring and firing (i.e., they can be fired at will for any reason).
This was a major part of Project 2025.
Why was it a centerpiece of Project 2025? Thank you for asking. Inquiring minds want to know.
The short answer is that a professional, non-political bureaucracy is one of – if not the most – important hallmarks of a democracy, and one of – if not the most - important bulwarks against dictatorship. Whether it’s at the IRS or CDC or NIH or NOAA, the ability to control employees and insert non-experienced, non-expert partisan staff serves two purposes: it allows the executive branch to attack people/policies it views as enemies of its desire to control government, and it contributes to destroying people’s faith in their own government. Both of these outcomes are essential to asserting authoritarian control. The architects of Project 2025 understood this and set out to destroy a hidden linchpin of democracy.
Let’s back up a bit:
Prior to President Trump’s first term, civil servants serve under “Competitive Service”, which is governed mainly by the Pendleton Act of 1883 and Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. The rationale behind the Act was simple yet critically important: Ensure a stable, career-based workforce insulated from politics and keep the federal workforce nonpartisan. This meant federal government employees were/are expected to serve any administration equally. Core features of the Act include:
Hiring based on a merit system (competitive exams, structured hiring rules)
Strong protections against political firing. Employees can only be removed for:
misconduct
poor performance
documented cause with due process
Trump created Schedule F by Executive Order #13957 in 2020 during his first term. This allowed certain civil servants to be reclassified to serve under “Excepted Service”. The rationale behind Schedule F was simple yet incredibly nefarious (from a democracy perspective): create a more politically responsive (i.e., partisan) workforce with less job protections. In essence, Schedule F reversed the protections of the Pendleton and Civil Service Acts by increasing political (Presidential) control over the federal bureaucracy and allowing the Trump administration to more quickly replace staff for any reason. Core features of Schedule F include:
Allowing reclassification of certain federal employees into an “excepted service” category
Targeting employees in policy-making, policy-advising, or confidential roles
Removing merit and expertise-based hiring
Reducing civil service protections
Allowing removal “at will” (compared to traditional system)
Limiting formal job appeal rights
Again, Executive orders are not law and they don’t replace law. Creating Schedule F via EO was Trump and Project 2025’s way of quietly neutering existing law. Of beginning to create a class of loyal federal employees -not loyal to the constitution and the country, but loyal to a President who could dole out spoils and decide on his own whim who deserved a job and who didn’t.
To repeat, control of the bureaucracy is one of the foundational pieces of creating and maintaining an authoritarian form of government. Project 2025 was very clear on this point.
Reclassification of federal employees is “inside baseball”. It is something that is being done under the radar, and it is not a “breakthrough” issue that engages the public’s attention. Yet it is as important an issue from a democracy standpoint as any other action taken by Trump and his minions. Schedule F is anti-democratic and anti-American.
It’s time to provide some disinfecting sunlight on this hidden and venal undertaking.
