In my day job, I have a variety of clients requiring assistance with complex environmental health and safety regulations. One of these organizations is part of a federal agency that is about to feel the full force of President Trump’s pen and phone. Many of the employees in that office are quite upset about the impending change in government policies.
A standard practice in federal government offices and military sites is to have an official portrait of the President of the United States (sometimes paired with one of the Vice President). An early step in the process of transition was the removal of the Obama/Biden portraits from installations and institutions.
When Obama took office in 2009, the federal government printed more than 130,000 official photographs of Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden, many of which were hung in over 7,000 federal installations around the world. Some were made available for the public to purchase, according to the federal agency that printed them, now known as the U.S. Government Publishing Office.The agency will print the new pictures once it receives them, along with instructions, from the General Services Administration (GSA), the federal agency that manages thousands of buildings and which, in turn, must wait for the White House to provide the photos. Spokesmen for both agencies told ABC News said they did not yet know the total number of photos that will be printed this year.
The official portrait of President Trump arrived at the local office, and there has been an epic battle between the small contingent of Trump-supporters in the facility and their more numerous anti-Trump colleagues ever since:
1) President Trump’s photo is hung.
2) Anti-Trump employees complain.
3) One of the “safe space” whiners removes the photo.
4) Trump-supporting employee either locates the photo or prepares a new one.
5) Go back to Step 1.
A very heartening aspect of this battle is that President Trump’s “honey badger” attitude is taking hold among the independent conservatives, Republicans, and disaffected Democrats throughout this nation are fighting back at the progressive protests in fun, creative ways. For those of you unfamiliar with the honey badger, it is known as the most fearless animal on the planet.
In a way, this fight underscores the point made by Washington Free Beacon‘s Matthew , who asks, “Who Rules the United States?”
sees a struggle between the nation’s voters and its bureaucrats:
…The last few weeks have confirmed that there are two systems of government in the United States. The first is the system of government outlined in the U.S. Constitution—its checks, its balances, its dispersion of power, its protection of individual rights. Donald Trump was elected to serve four years as the chief executive of this system. Whether you like it or not.The second system is comprised of those elements not expressly addressed by the Founders. This is the permanent government, the so-called administrative state of bureaucracies, agencies, quasi-public organizations, and regulatory bodies and commissions, of rule-writers and the byzantine network of administrative law courts. This is the government of unelected judges with lifetime appointments who, far from comprising the “least dangerous branch,” now presume to think they know more about America’s national security interests than the man elected as commander in chief.For some time, especially during Democratic presidencies, the second system of government was able to live with the first one. But that time has ended.
My suggestion is that if you have ever been in a federal office or other government location that previously showcased the official portraits of President Obama, check to determine if President Trump’s photos are now hanging there instead. If not, you know you’re probably in an office in which the employees believe they rule you rather than the other way around.
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