Biden White House Tells Fired Trump Appointees to Deal With It: ‘Elections Have Consequences’
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President Joe Biden’s press shop doesn’t have much in the way of sympathy for Trump appointees complaining about being let go by the current administration.
Since President Biden took office, there have been numerous complaints from ousted Trump appointees, many of whom were given plum posts in the waning days of Trump’s presidency — only to be purged when the new administration took over.
Most recently, four members of the Commission on Fine Arts who were appointed by Trump were told to resign or face termination. Now-former commission chairman Justin Shubow refused to resign, and called the firings “an attack on classical and traditional architecture” — despite the fact that three of Trump’s classicist commissioners remain.
But the complaints started early on from Trump appointees who were caught off guard by the end of their benefits when the new administration took over — a situation that the White House blamed on Trump’s obstruction of a smooth transition.
On Wednesday, White House spokesman Mike Gwin was asked about the complaints, and told Axios that “Elections have consequences,” and added that “President Biden won with a commanding victory in November, and now he has the right and obligation to make sure the positions he fills reflect the priorities he campaigned on.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had a similar response to the dismissals of the arts commissioners, noting that “a number of them were nominated just recently in January of 2021, so before President Trump left office. And certainly, any President coming in has the right to nominate their own people to serve on a commission or serve in any positions in their own administration.”
The commissioners were appointed on December 22, 2020.
