Trashing the White House<\/p>\n
Andrew Jackson became the President of the United States in the election of 1828.\u00a0 Jackson saw his election as a victory for the common man.\u00a0In the 1824 election, Jackson received the most popular votes but failed to gain electoral victory.\u00a0 The election went to the House of Representatives, where John Quincy Adams gained the Presidency through a series of political deals.\u00a0Jackson held a grudge against the \u201cpowers that be\u201d from that time on.<\/p>\n
At Jackson\u2019s inauguration, the White House was thrown open to the \u201ccommon man.\u201d\u00a0 Kegs of beer were brought in, free food was available; men were crawling through the windows to celebrate their conquest of the establishment.\u00a0They trashed the place.<\/p>\n
Jackson used his philosophy of the common man to hire Federal employees. Jackson believed that any good citizen could do the job, therefore, the most important criteria for employment was their support for Jackson.\u00a0 He cleared the Federal payroll for his supporters, and this became American tradition for the next fifty years. \u201cThe spoils system\u201d began with his administration.<\/p>\n
In the late nineteenth century, President\u2019s recognized that there was a need for a professional class of government employees, and civil service was instituted in the US.\u00a0 While there remains thousands of political appointments for each new administration, there is the constant of the civil service employees that serves as the backbone of the government.<\/p>\n
Enter Donald Trump, choosing Andrew Jackson as his Presidential role model.<\/p>\n
Like Jackson, Trump\u2019s ultimate job qualification is loyalty to Trump.\u00a0 While there are a myriad of examples of this, three recent incidents stand out. James Comey, who was specifically asked to pledge loyalty to Donald Trump, in a dinner which Comey took as an \u201cinterview\u201d to keep the FBI directorship.\u00a0Comey declined, and ultimately lost his position.<\/p>\n
Vice President Pence needed a new National Security Advisor.\u00a0 He asked that Jon Lerner, a top advisor to United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, be split between the UN and his office.\u00a0 Trump blocked the move; Lerner worked for a pro-Rubio organization during the election, proving his \u201cdisloyalty\u201d to Trump.\u00a0 Pence was forced to choose someone else.<\/p>\n
And this past week, Trump picked Admiral Ronny Jackson, White House physician, to head the Veterans Administration.\u00a0 Jackson, a surgeon with battlefield experience, was the leader of the seventy-member White House medical team.\u00a0 He was picked to lead the 400,000 employee VA, based on what ultimately seems to be his personal relationship with the President.\u00a0 Now, as allegations fly about his past bad acts, Jackson has withdrawn from the nominating process, his reputation in tatters.<\/p>\n
The allegations against Dr. Jackson were easily found, and a critical Navy Inspector General report was on file.\u00a0 But Trump never had these things checked out, and literally threw \u201chis friend\u201d Jackson to the wolves.\u00a0 To Trump, he was a doctor, he was a friend, and he looked good on TV.\u00a0 That was all the qualifications that Jackson needed to gain the nomination.<\/p>\n
The historic view of Andrew Jackson\u2019s Presidency has changed in the past twenty years.\u00a0 When I was in school in the 1960\u2019s, Jackson was seen as a powerful President who led \u201cthe people\u201d to the fore.\u00a0 Today, Jackson is seen through his actions, including defying the Supreme Court and forcing the euphemistic \u201cIndian Removal,\u201d better known as the Trail of Tears, where hundreds of thousands of Native Americans were forced out of their homes and marched out of the way of American expansion.\u00a0Thousands died in the process.<\/p>\n
Trump has chosen that as his role model, and he probably is getting what he deserved.\u00a0 Andrew Jackson opened the White House, and it got trashed. So did Trump.<\/p>\n
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