Sunday picnics have security clearances? The issue is that stripping these security clearances in a purge that appears to be without due process is not what has always been. It is one further piece of evidence of a worrying trend towards an authoritarian approach to politics in America and this is something new.

Furthermore, stripping these security clearances robs the current government of the ability to discuss classified issues with these people. For example, if Marco Rubio wanted to talk to, say, Antony Blinken to access his knowledge regarding foreign policy from the last four years, a lot of that ability will be blocked by Blinken's loss of security clearance.  In other words, the government is losing all the benefit of that experience.

As far as whether or not it is politics.  Of course it is. It is called payback.