One thing I don't understand is how many people in this thread think that the US civil service has only just now been politicised by that mean ol' Trump. As a n

One thing I don't understand is how many people in this thread think that the US civil service has only just now been politicised by that mean ol' Trump. As a non-US civil servant, I hate to break it to you, but your federal civil service has been absurdly politicised for as long as I remember. If it's any consolation, the same has happened where I live (Australia). Perhaps there are aspects of the US political system that make this less of a problem (e.g. full separation of powers), I don't know. But at least in Australia's (and probably Canada's) case, politicisation of the public service is disastrous. Unfortunately this seems to be lost on many (including public servants). I'm convinced that governments with Westminster style systems cannot properly function without an independent public service. To be clear, when I say 'independent', I mean only in the way the public service advises the currently elected government (i.e. without considering politics or the Minister's assumed personal preferences, and only giving advice on the grounds of policy merit). The phrase used in Australia (but not often put into operation, unfortunately) is 'frank and fearless'. However, only the elected government should make policy decisions, as they are the only ones with a democratic mandate. Once they have made a decision, the public service has a duty to implement them as best they can, regardless of whether they agree or not (or whether they advised otherwise).