The Club PUBlication 09/04/2023

We must stop attacking government
​
Several  presidential candidates — including the ex-president threaten the very institutions they seek to lead.

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

​For as hard as they're campaigning for president, some Republicans seem to hate the very institutions and individuals they'd be leading.

​Former President Donald Trump, the runaway frontrunner, has long referred to the federal workforce dedicated to serving our country as the "swamp" or "deep state." Or worse, when it comes to the Justice Department and FBI, two federal entities most Republicans used to defend before abandoning their principles in defense of the twice-impeached, thrice-indicted ex-president.

But the irresponsible rhetoric doesn't stop with Trump. Several others seem to be striving to out-hate Trump, including his closest rival, Ron DeSantis, the Ivy League-educated Florida governor who rails against perceived "elites" in government, education, health care and, of course, media.

DeSantis has also said as president he'd want a secretary of defense "who may have to slit some throats." He recently repeated that sick rhetoric, which in an earlier world would and should have disqualified him, in New Hampshire, where he said, "All of these deep-state people, you know, we are going to start slitting throats on Day One."

A similarly privileged Ivy Leaguer, GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, has leveled harsh rhetoric against the IRS and FBI, calling for their abolishment. Other GOP candidates, including Nikki Haley, have denigrated public servants, too.

Republican rank-and-file may be listening, according to Gallup, which reports that trust in institutions is at or near an all-time low.

"The part that I think is most disturbing of our current moment is that the folks we looked at as the responsible adults in the room have become orchestrators of distrust and vile attacks on the institutions that serve all of us," Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School, told an editorial writer. "These are institutions that are the backbone of a country based on the rule of law. Disagree with what the president or Congress is doing, but don't attack those very institutions, their legitimacy."

If he returns to the White House, Trump has indicated that he would reinstate an executive order known as "Schedule F," which would reclassify thousands of federal workers as at-will employees no longer protected by civil service rules. So federal workers, already reeling from the vile, even violent, rhetoric from presidential candidates are now threatened with losing the system designed to professionalize governance so each new administration doesn't stock bureaucracies with unqualified political loyalists.

The federal government, like state and local governments and private-sector entities everywhere, is already contending with a worker shortage. What qualified candidate would want to go serve our country under these conditions?

But perhaps that's the point: Beyond Trump's dark campaign promise of "retribution" is a fundamental disdain for government and, accordingly, government workers.

That impacts this country — and beyond.

"It's really kind of shocking," Jacobs said. "It's not that long ago when America was held up as kind of a paragon for democracy, and one of the main reasons was civic culture. And what people meant by that was yes, there were ferocious disagreements of policy and personalities, but there was a basic agreement on the rules of the game." And decision makers "who understood the importance of trust in our basic institutions."

There still are people like that. People like Barry Black, a retired Navy rear admiral turned Senate chaplain. Black, who in July marked his 20th year of ministry, told Roll Call magazine in an interview marking the milestone that "We need to stop demonizing government and governmental workers" and better appreciate their role in "holding in check the chaotic."

Those are words Trump and others — including another Navy veteran, DeSantis — need to hear and heed. Indeed, those leading our government need to protect Americans from chaos, not create it.
​