HIRING FREEZE

Trump Struggles to Recruit After Using MAGA Loyalty Tests to Vet Candidates

While the president-elect was highly involved in selecting his Cabinet-designees, he has left hiring decisions about the bulk of staffing to those who will lead departments and agencies.

Loyalty tests and party infighting have Donald Trump falling short of his transition team’s goal of bringing on up to 2,000 political appointees on Day One of his administration.

Sources told CBS News that, despite the president-elect’s plan to send out several offer letters to potential staffers Monday, Trump’s is struggling to fill open positions quickly.

Trump transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told the network, however, “President Trump picked a brilliant Cabinet in record and historic time and the Trump-Vance Transition is working non-stop to fill the Administration with hard workers who believe fully in the America First Agenda.”

Candidates for senior management posts, sources explained, are reluctant to resign their current private sector roles without hiring letters from the transition. They also want to give their companies two weeks' prior to leaving for a job in the Trump administration.

These hurdles are coupled with the large number of applicants for positions coupled with the transition team’s rigorous application and vetting process, geared toward loyalty to the president’s mission, which is said to have slowed the speed of hiring.

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Susie Wiles Will Ice Out Trump Aides Who Want to ‘Be a Star’

Leigh Kimmins

Having clashed with many of establishment Republicans, including those in his first administration, the president-elect is working to surround himself with MAGA loyalists during his second term.

Incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles will reportedly be working to make the West Wing to be a no-drama zone, free of the chaos that defined the early days of Trump’s first term.

“I don’t welcome people who want to work solo or be a star,” she told Axios. “My team and I will not tolerate backbiting, second-guessing inappropriately, or drama. These are counterproductive to the mission.”

Her no nonsense messaging has also been espoused by Trump. But, while the president-elect was highly involved in selecting his Cabinet-designees and several top management posts, he has left hiring decisions about the bulk of staffing to those on his team tapped to lead departments and agencies, a choice that has already prompted bickering.

On Sunday, Trump veteran Joshua Steinman seemingly hit out at some of the national security hiring choices citing connections to the “never-Trump” movement in the Republican party.

“Many who have gotten the nod are great. But a significant number of as-yet-unannounced staff have long histories of being vocally ‘never Trump,’ and working for prominent figures who have repeatedly undermined the President,” he wrote on X.

Incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz responded to Steinman’s message posting “Let me be clear: anyone working under President Trump in the NSC will be fully aligned with his America First agenda,” to the platform Monday.

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