Trump wants to gut civil service protections. Here's why they exist

About 90% of the federal bureaucracy — or 2.2 million workers — are classified as civil servants. They perform essential day-to-day work of government, like food inspections, health research and tax collection.

President Trump is trying to change how the civil service functions by gutting federal agencies and reclassifying employees as political appointees.

Presidential historian Julian Zelizer joins host Robin Young to discuss the precedent for these actions — and why the civil service exists in the first place.