Whenever a new president takes office, the revolving door between the federal government and the private sector starts to spin a little faster. Agency heads, their deputies, and their deputies' deputies typically exit to make room for the new president's picks, and take up jobs in C-suites and think tanks.
At elite law firms, the practice became so routine that it was the subject of a running joke. "Out with WilmerHale, in with Jones Day," law professor Orin Kerr tweeted when Donald Trump won in 2016, a nod to each firm's ideological reputation. In 2020, when Joe Biden won, he flipped the names.
In 2024, Trump and his allies made clear that they were going to do things differently.
It wasn't just Biden's appointees who needed to go; it was thousands of federal workers who the administration saw as roadblocks to its agenda. The goal, Trump aide Russell Vought said, was to "put them in trauma" and make them want to quit. The administration has also prioritized immigration, while de-emphasizing financial regulation and corporate crime prosecution — closing some of the usual off-ramps.
Now, the revolving door is jammed.
Recruiters and lawyers in and outside government told Business Insider that it's increasingly hard to move from public to private sector work: there's a large supply of job seekers, and comparatively low demand for their expertise and experience.
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