I think you are losing it, if you think she would not appoint judges, etc...
She is talking about shrinking the size of government through attrition. I thought as conservatives we all wanted to make government smaller?
A president cannot eliminate entire departments established by law on his/her own - Congress has to do that. But what he/she CAN do on their own is determine the level of staffing for each department, up to the level that Congress will fund. In other words, Congress can appropriate the money for 20,000 new IRS agents, but the president doesn't have to actually hire them. Congress can appropriate the money to replace retiring federal workers, but the president doesn't have to actually replace them.
It is actually a very practical way of shrinking the government that does not rely on getting past any Dem filibusters against "cutting" government spending. It also skirts the problems you run into with Civil Service protections that make it difficult to fire or lay off federal workers. Whether she would actually follow through is an open question, but the idea itself is actually a good one.
It's not shrinking government, it's shrinking headcount. The same programs will need to be administered, the same regulations enforces, the same services provided. The only difference is that you have fewer people to perform the work.
She said not one retiree would be replaced.
Maybe the quote was wrong?
Then again she also said there was no honor in defunding ObamaCare