SHOCK AND AWE: Trump’s rapid changes in US government stun federal workers.
U.S. President Donald Trump and his team have acted with stunning speed to begin removing or sidelining hundreds of government workers, while he has also sought to give himself the power to fire hundreds of thousands more.
The Republican president has been in office less than a week but the wrecking ball he has already taken to parts of the U.S. government has sent shock waves through much of America’s federal bureaucracy.
At the National Security Council 160 staffers have been sent home. About 20 senior career attorneys at the Justice Department were reassigned. The heads of the U.S. Coast Guard and Transportation Security Administration were fired along with other officials.
Government offices focused on workforce diversity are being permanently shuttered, the staff on leave, while a flurry of executive orders overturning Biden administration policy have left many officials uncertain about their futures, their mandate erased by a blunt stroke of Trump’s signature Sharpie marker.
Trump said on Tuesday he also plans to fire over 1,000 officials appointed by his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden.
Related: Federal Workers Are ‘Terrified,’ and That’s a Good Thing.
As these workers sift through Trump’s recent executive orders looking for any clues about their job security, a staffer from the Environmental Protection Agency shared that many are already clearing out their inboxes, waiting anxiously for updates on early retirement and buyout options. “Trump version 1.0 was bad,” lamented the EPA employee, “but I’m already done with version 2.0.”
Trump, within hours of returning to power, issued a slew of executive orders seeking to overhaul how the federal government operates, from removing job protections to ending remote work to implementing a hiring freeze. The reception inside the federal government has been uneasy. But especially worrisome to some employees was the White House’s decision on Tuesday to eliminate diversity programs, subsequently placing those staffers on administrative leave.
Imagine being bent out of shape over being told you actually have to show up for work. Covid is over — is there any reason why people are still working remotely? Nevertheless, according to the report, the atmosphere in federal agencies “has been uneasy,” particularly following the order to abolish racist DEI programs, since hundreds were placed on leave.
We’re supposed to feel bad about this; I certainly don’t.
Insert Clarkson Dacia Sandero meme here:
