The Biden Admin Is Bracing For A Possible Trump Win In 2024

What’s happening: President Joe Biden’s White House is pushing a new rule to make it tougher for Trump to reinstate Schedule F, an executive order that made it easier to fire federal workers.

• But, Trump's advisors aren't too worried about the attempt at "Trump-proofing" federal jobs. They say it'll be easy to roll it back and restore Schedule F, especially because they don’t have to pass it through Congress. Earlier attempts by Democrats to get Biden’s counter-measure through Congress were blocked by Senate Republicans.

Why it matters: The White House's move suggests that the Biden administration is at least considering the possibility of Trump winning reelection. Although Biden is telling worried Democrats to "chill" amid Trump's rising poll numbers, the administration is clearly hedging its bets.

Zoom in: Biden's new rule would keep current job protections for federal workers, including the right to appeal firings or reassignments, even if their roles change. It also narrows down which jobs can lose regular job protections.

The big picture: The leading Republican presidential candidates all want big cuts to what they call the "deep state," or federal bureaucrats who lean Democratic and are hard to fire. Right now, there are about 2.2 million federal employees, and that number's still going up.

• It’s a deep-rooted problem: During Trump's time in office, he faced resistance from within federal agencies, which worked to censor him and his supporters before the 2020 election.