Federal employees are avoiding promotions because they don't want to be too closely associated with the Trump administration
President Trump has been cleaning house of late, and no one in Washington is safe. Two Cabinet secretaries have been dismissed via Twitter, while the ones who remain in their posts have been directed to reassign dozens of career government officials for nebulous reasons. Meanwhile, public perception of Trump's performance in office remains sour.
It's no wonder, then, that many federal workers are just trying to lay low. So low, in fact, that in a lengthy exploration of life in Washington under Trump published Friday, Politico revealed that some employees are actually trying to avoid being promoted:
Longtime federal employees said they were "keeping their heads down," Politico wrote, and "ignoring possible avenues for promotions because they have little interest in being subjected to the political infighting that has taken hold in many agencies." Others have struggled with marital strife, increased drinking, or social alienation as a result of working under Trump. Read more at Politico.
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Kimberly Alters is the news editor at TheWeek.com. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
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