Disrupting the Status Quo and Questioning the ‘Old Guard’

A key philosophical approach to policy and governing under the second Trump Administration will be questioning and disrupting the status quo. Political appointees will be expected to scrutinize existing programs for their value and investigate the role and contributions of career agency staff. How this will be operationalized is already evident in President-Elect Trump’s nominees for key political positions within HHS, most of whom are Washington outsiders and have never served in government. AACOM will be looking for opportunities to advance professional priorities, such as increasing National Institutes of Health funding for COMs in any restructuring efforts while protecting programs and policies that contribute to public health.