These interviews aren't necessarily with campaign or white house workers or even party members. They're interviewing civil service appointees gauging their loyalty to Trump.
No, they're not. They are interviewing federal
political appointees: individuals who serve at the pleasure of the current national administration and who are expected to offer to resign when that administration ends; if they fail to do so, they may be summarily dismissed by the next Administration (even if it is of the same political party and even if it is headed by a re-elected president).
Federal civil service employees in the United States are career employees. They are required by law to behave in an apolitical manner, they serve regardless of what party is in power, and they are expected as professionals to implement the policies of the incumbent administration regardless of their personal political opinions. A variety of statutory and regulatory mechanisms exist to protect them from political manipulation. These are mostly effective, although I have witnessed occasional attempts―most flagrantly, in my experience, during the administration of President Ronald Reagan―to circumvent those protections. Civil service job applicants typically are hired by career civil servants, not by political appointees, and asking questions regarding the applicant's political views or requiring a political profession of loyalty is likely to result in the dismissal of the hiring official.
I
have seen a number of instances where career employees,
at their own initiative, attempted to ingratiate themselves with administration appointees by expressing personal political loyalty. But they tended to be shunned thereafter by their colleagues. Most left the government before too long.
