The ‘revelation’ you need to have had to get hired by Donald Trump

Washington: Jobseekers hoping to join the new Trump administration are facing a series of intense loyalty tests, with White House screening teams fanning out to government agencies to check for “Make America Great Again” bona fides and carefully parsing applicants’ politics and social media posts.

President Donald Trump has long said he believes the biggest mistake he made during his first term was hiring what he considered to be the wrong kinds of people. Now, aides are working aggressively to ensure the government is filled only with loyalists.

Pete Hegseth, sworn in as defence secretary by the narrowest of margins after Vice President J.D. Vance’s casting vote, has been team Trump since his time as a Fox News reporter. Credit: AP

Negative social media posts have been enough to derail applications. Those seeking jobs have been told they will have to prove their “enthusiasm” to enact Trump’s agenda and have been asked when their moment of “MAGA revelation” occurred. One federal employee said they briefly considered buying Trump’s crypto meme coin in case the president’s team asked about their voting record.

The intense screening has led some federal workers to question whether Trump’s team cares more about loyalty than competence. There is concern that his team is ousting foreign policy and national security diplomats and others who could offer the administration expertise and institutional knowledge at a time of conflict worldwide.

Trump officials have made no secret of their intention to fill the administration with hires sharing the president’s vision.

An application form on the Trump transition website, for instance, asks candidates, “What part of President Trump’s campaign message is most appealing to you and why?” according to a link obtained by The Associated Press.

It also asks how they had supported Trump in the 2024 election — with choices including volunteering, fundraising, doorknocking and making phone calls — and to submit a list of their social media handles.

“We are interviewing every single one of these individuals. If you are working in the federal government in a political appointee position, that comes through the White House now,” White House personnel director Sergio Gor said on Thursday on Fox News.

Trump, he said, “has been very clear of who he doesn’t want to include in this administration. And so those are clear guidelines that we adhere to”.

Some officials have referred to the newcomers sent by the White House to federal agencies disparagingly as “MAGA commissars,” a reference to Communist Party officials from the former Soviet Union.

They are generally young and many do not appear to have particular expertise or background in the portfolios of the agencies in which they are working, according to three US officials, who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

They said the screeners seem to be looking for even the slightest divergence between candidates and Trump’s MAGA movement and “America First” policies. A negative social media post or a photograph with a Trump opponent has been enough for some applications to be rejected or put on hold.

One official said he and several colleagues from various agencies had been told that even if they passed the initial vetting process to be admitted into the applicant pool, they would still need to convince interviewers of their “enthusiasm” to put in place Trump’s policies, including by providing references from people whose loyalty had already been established.

This official said one colleague who made it to the interview stage was asked when that person’s moment of “MAGA revelation” had occurred.

At the State Department, which has been a particular Trump target since his first term, current officials have described the atmosphere as “tense” and “glum,” with career civil and foreign service officers leery of voicing opinions on policy or personnel matters, let alone politics, fearing retribution from their new political bosses.

Career civil servants who work on the White House National Security Council have been questioned by senior Trump administration officials about which candidate they voted for in the election, their political contributions and whether they have made social media posts that could be considered incriminating by Trump’s team.

On Wednesday, roughly 160 Security Council “detailees” – experts seconded to the department under the Biden administration – were told that they were being sent home so Trump’s team could conduct a review to ensure its personnel aligned with the president’s agenda.

“No one should be surprised that those being hired should align with the mission of the Administration. Nobody in private industry would ever hire someone who isn’t mission-focused, and the government should be no different,” White House spokesperson Steven Cheung said.

“Over 1300 individuals have been hired while maintaining the highest standards of competency,” he added.

AP

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