Trump is setting fire to the entire federal government.
The Trump administration has offered buyouts to almost all of the roughly 3 million people who work for the US government if they leave their jobs by 6 February, as the White House attempts to gut the civil service.
The US office of personnel management (OPM), the government’s human resources agency, sent an email to the entire federal workforce on Tuesday evening with four directives that it says Trump is mandating. They included a full-time return to the office for most employees.
The email said that the federal workforce would be subjected to “enhanced standards of suitability and conduct”, aiming to retain only employees who were “reliable, loyal, trustworthy”. It warned that most agencies would be downsized.
Of course “loyal, trustworthy” means loyal to Trump and trustworthy according to Trump.
“If you choose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country and you will be provided with a dignified, fair departure from the federal government utilizing a deferred resignation program,” the email reads. It offered workers more than seven months’ salary, and asked them to reply with the word “Resign”.
The email had the same subject line – “Fork in the road” – as one sent by Elon Musk to employees at Twitter in 2022 when he bought the social media platform.
So that’s just great. The federal government and civil service are now a branch of Twitter, and run accordingly.
The mass departure of federal workers – from frontline healthcare workers in the veterans affairs department to the officials charged with processing loans for homebuyers or small businesses – could have sweeping consequences for Americans.
The New York Times reported that it could seriously disrupt American life on a vast scale, including most benefits traditionally termed “welfare” – including Medicare, social security and food stamps – as well as travel, tax returns, the normal function of national parks and national museums, passport renewals, medical research, other forms of science, the inspectors and regulators who make sure that food, water and pharmaceutical drugs are safe to consume, and even the accurate functioning of the National Weather Service.
We’re doomed.
Comments
6 responses to “Things fall apart”
The guardrails are coming off.
(What was left of them anyway)
Seven months severance sounds attractive, but it’s Trump making the offer, which means you are unlikely to actually get paid.
My terms for doing business with Trump would be COD. And I do mean cash: a big stack of Benjamins in my hand or nothin’ doin’.
Jonathan V. Last at The Bulwark: It’s not business. It’s personal.
@Bjarte Foshaug #1:
The minute ABC settled their lawsuit it was clear that they no longer existed. The techie ring kissing affirmed that guardrails I didn’t even know about ceases to exist.