ronald sanders."gh-level resignations from the trump administration over this term -- and ooh, boy, have there been a lot of them -- this, today, from dr. ronald sanders at the federal salary council, this is one of the only pure examples we have got of a trump appointee resigning from the government, a, for a principled reason, and b, while saying exactly what that principled reason is at the time, why he is stepping down in protest of a terrible action by the president. that is so bad, it necessitates the resignation of people who cannot in good conscience stomach it. i mean, there are plenty of ex-trump officials who quietly shrunk away and later let us know how bad they felt about what they saw on the inside. some of them wrote whole books about how much they secretly disagreed with donald trump. but if you actually want to sound the alarm in a very useful way, if you want to maximize the civic impact of what you are doing, if you want to sound the alarm that the president, even a president you mi

ronald sanders.f something called the federal salary council. now, ronald sanders is not a household name. you may not be familiar with the workings of the federal salary council. you are not alone. but dr. sanders says he can't abide what this new trump executive order would do to federal workers. he explains why. he says, quote, the executive order is nothing more than a smoke screen for what is clearly an attempt to require the political loyalty of those who advise the president or failing that to enable their removal with little if any due process. i simply cannot be part of an administration that seeks to do so, to replace apolitical expertise with political obeisance. career federal employees are legally and duty-bound to be nonpartisan. they take an oath to preserve and protect our constitution and the rule of law not to be loyal to a particular president or administration. accordingly, please accept my resignation. i thank the president for the opportunity to serve these almost three years, b

and in resigning ronald sanders said that although he's a life long republican, he, quote, cannot ind conscience continue to serve the administration. trump's order seeking to make loyalty to him the litmus test for thousands of career civil servants and that is something i can't be a part of. take that with the axios scoop of the post election execution list that is their headline and they're reporting that he plans to replace fbi director christopher wray and gina haspel and pentagon chief mark esper if re-elected. what is your sense of what he is -- he feels like there is more stuff he can't do. he looks like a runaway train to all of us and anyone who worked in the white house before. but why loosen the restrictions even further. what is your sense or analysis of why he wants even more freedom? >> i think for him it is pure instinct, nicolle. his great success as president aside from stacking the courts for those appointees is to bend the upper echelon of american government to his will and to put political loyalty in to branches of the government where it has not always been par

according to the "washington post," ronald sanders wrote in his resignation letter, "it is nothing more than a smoke screen for what is clearly an attempt to require the political loyalty of those who advise the president or failing that to enable their removal with little, if any, due process." big question for you going gu d forward in the next couple weeks whether he wins or loses, is this a way for trump to politicize those who serve in government? >> well, i think we've seen him throughout his administration try to mold the federal bureaucracy to his liking and i think we're going to continue to see that. i mean, we saw reports in the last couple days that the president is planning if he wins or perhaps if he loses to fire a broad swath of senior advisers and cabinet-level officials from their posts. so, there's no question that the president and his allies see the federal bureaucracy and its workers as a hindrance, rather than a helpful workforce that's trying to execute the many tasks of government. so i think we'll see that going forward as well. >> peter, axios is reporting if

ronald reagan who when he left office was 77. and some thought had cognitive issues. this year, several of biden's top rivals would also have been the oldest presidents at inauguration. bernie sandersust turned 79. mike bloomberg, 78. elizabeth warren, a relatively youthful 71. and it's not just the executive branch. the age age in congress is near an all-time high. when the 116th congress took office in january 2019. the average is 57.6 years. of senators, 62.9 years. now we can add 21 months to those figures the oldest serving congressman, alaska's don young is 87 years old. trying for a 25th term. look at the house leadership, speaker pelosi, 81. majority leader hoyer, 81, jim clyburn, 80. chair of services maxime water, 82. rare of the judiciary jerry nadler, 73, outgoing chair of foreign affairs, elliott angle who lust, 73. and richard neal only 71. on the senate side, 28. 28 of the 100 senators over 70. majority leader mitch mcconnell running in the polls, 78. president pro tem joe grassley, 87. as is dianne feinstein. richard shelby, 86. armed services committee share, jim imhoff, 85. chair of nutrition and forestry, pat roberts, 84. departing chair of health education labor