{"id":2397335,"date":"2025-01-31T07:05:02","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T12:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-faces-reagan-like-inflection-point-with-federal-workers-during-crisis-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-01-31T07:09:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T12:09:16","slug":"trump-faces-reagan-like-inflection-point-with-federal-workers-during-crisis-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-faces-reagan-like-inflection-point-with-federal-workers-during-crisis-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump faces Reagan-like inflection point with federal workers during crisis &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-faces-reagan-like-inflection-point-with-federal-workers-during-crisis-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2397335&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses President \u200dDonald Trump&#8217;s approach to managing federal workers amidst\u2062 ongoing challenges similar to those faced by former President Ronald Reagan during a crisis. Trump is asserting \u200chis\u2064 authority over federal employees by mandating \u2062their return\u200d to office by February 6, aiming to <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">end remote work policies established<\/a> during the COVID-19 pandemic. This ultimatum echoes Reagan&#8217;s 1981 threat against striking air \u2064traffic controllers, emphasizing the need for compliance with \u2063federal directives.<\/p>\n<p>Trump&#8217;s administration\u2062 is focused on reshaping federal bureaucracy by removing certain diversity and equity \u2064initiatives, while also addressing \u2063public safety \u2064concerns\u2063 following\u200b a tragic aircraft collision at Ronald Reagan National Airport. The\u2063 incident has amplified pressures on Trump to ensure federal aviation safety amid\u2064 criticism\u2063 from Democratic\u200b lawmakers regarding his\u2064 leadership and staffing decisions.<\/p>\n<p>The article highlights the difficulties \u2064Trump faces \u200cin balancing the re-establishment of control over federal operations and maintaining \u200ceffective services, especially in the wake of crises. It also touches upon\u200d trump&#8217;s ambition \u200bto improve government efficiency while navigating the resistance \u200dof a ample bureaucracy that could complicate his initiatives. The underlying themes highlight the complexities \u2063of leadership and the need for competent personnel in critical government roles.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Trump faces Reagan-like inflection point with federal workers during crisis<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1963141\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Donald Trump<\/a> was already in the midst of a moment like when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ronald-reagan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Ronald Reagan<\/a> fired the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/search-and-rescue-teams-at-site-of-indonesian-plane-crash\/\" title=\"Search and rescue teams at site of Indonesian plane crash\">air traffic controllers<\/a> as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/sports\/3305896\/nancy-kerrigan-mourns-dc-plane-crash-victims-with-ties-to-her-skating-club\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">deadly aviation disaster<\/a> struck.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Except Trump was trying to remind federal employees who is the boss much more broadly than Reagan was as he stared down an illegal strike.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We have informed the federal workforce that if they are working for the federal government, they must show up to the office on time and on schedule. &hellip; If they don&rsquo;t agree by Feb. 6 to show up back to work in their office, they will be terminated,&rdquo; Trump said, by way of ending liberal work-from-home policies that originated during <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/coronavirus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">the pandemic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Coincidentally, Feb. 6 is Reagan&rsquo;s birthday. And Trump&rsquo;s statement was reminiscent of Reagan&rsquo;s 1981 ultimatum to the striking air traffic controllers: &ldquo;It is for this reason that I must tell those who failed to report for duty this morning they are in violation of the law and if they do not report for work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated. End of statement.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Trump has made getting his arms around the federal bureaucracy as the executive branch&rsquo;s duly elected leader a top priority of his second term. He has moved quickly and decisively since returning to office, trying to root out diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, progressive gender ideology, and federal grants to nongovernment organizations he deems hostile to his agenda.<\/p>\n<p>But the bureaucracy is big enough to fight back. When the Air Force briefly removed a video about the Tuskegee Airmen from its training materials, Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/katie-britt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Katie Britt<\/a> (R-AL) and others blasted the move as &ldquo;malicious compliance&rdquo; with Trump&rsquo;s anti-DEI orders &mdash; that is, attempts to undermine the president&rsquo;s directives under the guise of obeying them.<\/p>\n<p>When the Trump administration <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/daily-memo\/3305110\/quick-turnaround-trump-short-circuits-funding-controversy\/\">revoked<\/a> a memo outlining its federal grant review, while leaving the underlying policy in place, Democratic lawmakers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/3304500\/congressional-democrats-victory-lap-omb-rescinding-aid-freeze-memo\/\">celebrated<\/a> as if it were their first victory since losing last year&rsquo;s presidential election.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>New <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/white-house\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">White House<\/a> press secretary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/karoline-leavitt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Karoline Leavitt<\/a> blamed &ldquo;dishonest media coverage&rdquo; and a court injunction for creating &ldquo;confusion on federal policy&rdquo; related to the funds freeze.<\/p>\n<p>But a military helicopter colliding with a commercial airliner at Ronald Reagan National Airport, sending both aircraft into the frigid Potomac River and killing everyone on board, highlighted the challenge for Trump. Both Defense Secretary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/pete-hegseth\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Pete Hegseth<\/a> and Transportation Secretary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/sean-duffy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Sean Duffy<\/a> had just started their new jobs when the crash occurred.<\/p>\n<p>The president has to show resolve in exercising his Article II constitutional powers over the executive branch while also effectively delivering federal services. That is not necessarily as easy as it may sound.<\/p>\n<p>When Reagan followed through on his threat to fire the illegally striking federal air traffic controllers, it got the attention of public- and private-sector unions alike, as well as others who may have doubted him at home and abroad. But if he had buckled &mdash;&nbsp;or worse, been unable to safely keep planes in the sky &mdash; it would have been a political, and possibly human, catastrophe.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Instead, Reagan was able to replace the striking workers with other qualified people and air traffic continued.<\/p>\n<p>Trump already faced a similar challenge with his call for federal workers to return to the office or resign. The impact on staffing at various agencies would be unpredictable.<\/p>\n<p>The Reagan Airport collision put additional pressure on Trump to deal with airway safety specifically. In both a White House press conference and a subsequent memorandum, Trump blamed &ldquo;problematic and likely illegal decisions during the Obama and Biden Administrations that minimized merit and competence in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Trump ordered officials &ldquo;to take such corrective action as necessary to achieve uncompromised aviation safety, including the replacement of any individuals who do not meet qualification standards. This review shall include a systematic assessment of any deterioration in hiring standards and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/qualified-pilot-members-of-congress-battle-over-bidens-faa-nominee\/\" title=\"Qualified-Pilot Members of Congress Battle Over Biden\u2019s FAA Nominee\">aviation safety standards<\/a> and protocols during the Biden Administration.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;All I&rsquo;m talking about is competence,&rdquo; he said in the Oval Office. &ldquo;We have to have the most competent people in our country because we&rsquo;re talking about lives.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Democrats countered by pointing to unfilled federal vacancies related to air safety and Trump&rsquo;s less-conventional nominees for some other positions.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Trump&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3293557\/donald-trump-inauguration-speech-full-transcript\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">second inaugural address<\/a> contained not just the promise to make the federal government less left-wing but also to make it work better. &ldquo;That is why, each day, under our administration of American patriots, we will be working to meet every crisis with dignity and power and strength,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>A little more than two weeks later, another crisis came.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1963141\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1963141\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump confronts a pivotal moment with federal workers amid crisis, similar to Reagan&#8217;s firing of air traffic controllers during a disaster<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2659,"featured_media":2397336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/AP25030615184578.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[6170,48942,5634,3634],"class_list":["post-2397335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-crisis","tag-federal-workers","tag-reagan","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/AP25030615184578.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2397335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2659"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2397335"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2397335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2397339,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2397335\/revisions\/2397339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2397336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2397335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2397335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2397335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}