If Donald Trump ever grows tired of being faux-bashful about 2024 and actually announces he’s running, we know what at least one item on his agenda will be: purging the “woke and broken” National Archives.
It’s obvious why he wants to clear out the agency that’s not only nonpartisan, but also tasked with the very wholesome goal of preserving history — it dared to tell him he can’t play finders-keepers with government records.
Trump has reportedly been telling close allies since sometime this summer that he would want to get rid of a handful of agency officials if he runs and wins again in 2024 and would would make it a top priority for his second term, two sources familiar with the matter told Rolling Stone.
Trump’s reportedly gotten into specifics in these conversations, too, outlining who he would fire and even asking close allies who he should install in top positions. Peep this hilarious nugget from Rolling Stone:
In some of these conversations, the former president has referenced specific officials — all installed during Democratic administrations — who he’d want to immediately “get rid of” and have replaced with pliable loyalists. One of these sources says that it was clear from the conversation that someone in Trump’s orbit had been slipping him names or lists of potential targets.
In other instances, the ex-president has also casually solicited recommendations for conservatives to install at the National Archives and Records Administration, including for the top post of archivist. At least one Trump confidant threw out John Solomon, a Trump ally and conservative journalist, as an apparently serious suggestion, one of the people with knowledge of this matter says.
Aside from the FBI, it’s the former president’s least favorite federal agency. Ever since FBI agents raided his Mar-a-Lago resort this summer to take back the classified materials that Trump failed to hand over to NARA and hoarded at his Florida home, Trump’s been disparaging the agency, tossing out claims that it’s part of the “deep state,” his favorite term to fling at anyone or thing that tries to hold him accountable. At a rally this week, Trump introduced another favored smear against the agency: “woke.”
Some of Trump’s allies have also filed lawsuits against the National Archives in recent weeks, which Rolling Stone gets into more here.
The news is hardly surprising. Trump is as known for his pettiness as he is for using political and governmental power to avenge his various grievances.
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