[Politics] Trump Loyalists in International Organization berates & punishes Staff deemed 'Disloyal'

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

Top State Department officials berated and insulted staff, labeled some 'traitors' [https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/16/politics/state-department-officials-watchdog-report-political-retaliation/index.html]

Top officials in the State Department's Bureau of International Organization Affairs subjected employees to "disrespectful and hostile treatment," accusations of disloyalty, and retaliation, a long-awaited report from the department's watchdog agency found. The report also said the bureau's leadership "did not take significant action" to address these concerns.

"Nearly every employee interviewed by OIG raised concerns about the leadership of IO and the treatment of staff," according to the report released Thursday by the State Department Office of Inspector General.

The bureau's leaders labeled some employees "traitors," if they felt they didn't support President Donald Trump. They berated others for following procedures, punished staff for not doing work the department's Office of the Legal Adviser had deemed "inappropriate" and targeted others for retaliation, in one case because of a staffer's "relationship with the gay and lesbian community."

[Trump administration appointee Mari] Stull and [Trump administration appointee Kevin] Moley also "made inappropriate accusations of disloyalty and made positive or negative comments about employees based on perceived political views," according to the report.

"For example, several career employees reported that throughout her tenure at the Department, Ms. Stull referred to them or to other career employees as 'Obama holdovers,' 'traitors,' or 'disloyal,'" the report said. "Other career employees told OIG that Ms. Stull accused them of being part of the 'Deep State' and that the Assistant Secretary accused them of 'undermining the President's agenda.'"

Moley and Stull retaliated against other employees as well, according to the report. Moley removed a principal deputy assistant secretary, a career diplomat, after she raised concerns about Stull's treatment of employees and conflict of interest.

Moley "told the PDAS that he did not believe that her concerns about Ms. Stull were valid" and "it was obvious to him that she had problems working with Ms. Stull and that, therefore, the PDAS should be prepared to leave the bureau," according to the report.

In another instance, the OIG found that Moley had canceled the selection process for a deputy director position in order to support Stull's move to block the leading candidate for that post. Stull did not like the candidate's work with the UN agency that aids Palestinian refugees -- a point which Moley confirmed to the OIG. Stull also reportedly had a problem with that candidate's "relationship with the gay and lesbian community," according to the report.

She criticized two career employees "whom she believed had been insufficiently supportive of her position" in a work dispute stemming from her time at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN. She also attempted to remove work responsibilities from one of those employees for failing to assist her, despite the fact that what she had asked them to do was deemed "inappropriate" by the Office of the Legal Adviser.

This is how our Government is being run. Please let that sink in. People who had to fight their entire lives to go to college, to study the aspects relevant to International Organization [https://www.state.gov/bureaus-offices/under-secretary-for-political-affairs/bureau-of-international-organization-affairs/], and excel to the point of actually getting hired by The US Government.

And if you didn't know, their mission statement is to "employ multilateral diplomacy as a tool for advancing U.S. interests through a more effective and efficient UN and multilateral system. The Bureau advances the President's vision of strong, sustained U.S. leadership at the UN and in other multilateral venues to advance America's national interests, protect the American people, promote American prosperity and values, and drive reforms necessary to ensure the continuing utility of international organizations."

There will be some people who will come in with the worn defense of "You guys just hate Trump". You're wrong. I don't hate Trump. I loathe him. But that isn't the issue. I though George W. Bush was an embarrassment. I think a lot of what he did for the country damaged it that took a lot of Obama's time to set right. I think Bush was not the best president.

However, he did not foster animosity as much as Trump does. While Bush buffooned his self through a few situations, he had competent advisors in several places. Powell is an easy example. Trump cares for nothing but loyalty. And outwardly says it when he looks for picks for anything [https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/03/06/donald-trump-loyalty-staff-217227].

Trump gets the hate because he's creating nothing but harmful situations for almost every aspect of Government. He's rolled back environmental protections [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks.html], He refuses to consider White Nationalism a problem and then roll backs more protections for minorities [https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/08/how-can-fbi-fight-far-right-extremism-ideology/595435/], and let's not forget his recent proposed policy that will allow employers to discriminate against LGBTQ employees due to 'religious reasons' [https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/8/16/20806990/trump-religion-lgbtq-discrimination-rule], has rocked the market with his stupid trade war that hasn't done anything but sent stocks on a roller coaster aimed all over the place [https://www.vox.com/2019/8/16/20807099/trump-tariffs-china-trade-policy-democrats] along with potentially might set off another recession [https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/trump-s-trade-war-could-spark-recession-warns-goldman-sachs-n1041501], and he takes credit for Obama's activities [https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/15/politics/fact-check-trump-takes-credit-for-another-factory-approved-under-obama/index.html].

And all of that isn't enough. He infects our government with people who aren't concerned with doing the job titles they were assigned, but making sure to crack the whip to Trump's beat. Those of you who pay attention to what I say know me. You know I try to be more than fair when I have a discussion. So you will have to understand when I say that Trump is a Shit-Tier President that does nothing but crumbles what he touches, you have to know I'm serious in what I say.

Trump puts himself before everything. You don't need to fill every cabinet and position with people loyal to you to run a country efficiently. In fact, we can look at this current administration as absolute proof that it does not work. Grown adults who went to college are subjected to high school tactics and are punished for just having different political views? Does that sound like America, or the demonized Islamic states that the Trump Administration is so ready to bad mouth?

 

[Trunkage]

Drain the Swamp they say... quite possibly it was only meant for anyone who disagreed with Trump - the Stalwart of the Stalwarts. It's not like he has done anything about get vested interests out 'the swamp.'

 

[Seanchaidh]

Authoritarians depend to some extent on the perception of support in order to discourage resistance. So this sort of move makes tactical sense. Much like this one: https://www.post-gazette.com/business/powersource/2019/08/16/Trump-speech-union-crowd-Shell-ethane-plant-natural-gas-beaver-county-pennsylvania-attendance-pay-overtime/stories/201908160113

Pretending to have the support of workers is doubly smart, because centrists will now blame workers for supporting Trump even if they don't.