Biden booted me off a nonpartisan board precedent for Trump to clean house now
Early in his term, President Biden made history: He fired, en masse, his predecessor’s appointees to presidential boards and commissions before their terms ended.On Monday, when President Trump is sworn in for his second term, he should not hesitate to follow the precedent that Biden established.Like every president before him, Trump appointed thousands of people to boards and commissions during his first term.These generally nonpartisan groups advise the president on our military academies, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, public television and radio, national cemeteries and more. I was fortunate to be one of those people appointed after leaving the White House as Trump’s press secretary: He named me to serve on the Commission on White House Fellows and the Board of Visitors to the US Naval Academy.When Biden was inaugurated, all members of the Commission on White House Fellows were immediately asked to submit their resignations, and we did.That was not unusual for this particular commission; after all, it vets and approves people to work directly within the administration.But nine months later, I was suddenly asked via email to resign from the US Naval Academy’s Board of Visitors — and to do so that very day.“Should we not receive your resignation, your position with the Board will be terminated effective 6:00 p.m.
tonight.Thank you,” the email read. I did not see this coming.It was an unprecedented move; never before in history had a president dismissed a member of the board of a service academy without cause prior to the end of their term.Trump had not done so, nor had President Barack Obama.And this action was not specific to me: The Biden team fired every person Trump had named to a service academy board: the Naval Academy, West Point and the Air Force Academy.Unlike other Presidential Advisory Boards and commissions, service academy boards are statutory, enacted in law by Congress to provide oversight responsibilities.
Each board...