David Ignatius: Trump/Musk Spoil System Causes Enormous Costs to All Agencies

EXCERPT:

IGNATIUS: “And we may not be true with the stories at the Pentagon. Wait a week. You may see more instances of political retribution against senior military officers. And the point I would make, Joe, is that what we are seeing across the government looks so new, but it's really the re-imposition of what in the 19th century was called the spoils system, which means it’s winner take all. If the president wins, he can fire everybody and put in his own political loyalists, and there are no protections. And then we had reform. We had Teddy Roosevelt, that was his great issue, was we need clean government and we need a professional civil service. That's how he got his start. But you're seeing that idea wiped out as we return to a Trump/Musk spoil system with enormous cost to each of these agencies."