Taking a Chainsaw to the Federal Workforce
The cruelty is indeed the point.
AP (“Musk gives all federal workers 48 hours to explain what they did last week“):
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been given little more than 48 hours to explain what they accomplished over the last week, sparking confusion across key agencies as billionaire Elon Musk expands his crusade to slash the size of federal government.
Musk, who serves as President Donald Trump’s cost-cutting chief, telegraphed the extraordinary request on his social media network on Saturday.
“Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk posted on X, which he owns. “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
Shortly afterward, federal employees — including some judges, court staff and federal prison officials — received a three-line email with this instruction: “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager.”
The deadline to reply was listed as Monday at 11:59 p.m., although the email did not include Musk’s social media threat about those who fail to respond.
The latest unusual directive from Musk’s team injects a new sense of chaos across beleaguered multiple agencies, including the National Weather Service, the State Department and the federal court system, as senior officials worked to verify the message’s authenticity Saturday night and in some cases, instructed their employees not to respond.
[…]
Labor union leaders quickly condemned the ultimatum and threatened legal action.
AFGE President Everett Kelley called the new order an example of Trump and Musk’s “utter disdain for federal employees and the critical services they provide to the American people.”
“It is cruel and disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of veterans who are wearing their second uniform in the civil service to be forced to justify their job duties to this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life,” Kelley said. “AFGE will challenge any unlawful terminations of our members and federal employees across the country.”
Musk on Friday celebrated his new role at a gathering of conservatives by waving a giant chainsaw in the air. He called it “the chainsaw for bureaucracy” and said, “Waste is pretty much everywhere” in the federal government.
People have routinely quoted Adam Serwer’s claim that “the cruelty is the point” in analyzing this President’s policies. In this case, it is unquestionably true because they told us so.
Musk and his erstwhile partner in DOGE, Vivek Ramaswamy, repeatedly made it clear that whole point of the return-to-work order was to trigger “a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome.”
Ditto threats to move large numbers of jobs from the DC area to other parts of the country. While there are actually good arguments for this—with national security and cost of living considerations among them—they’ve made no bones that the immediate goal is to get current employees to quit. (It worked quite well in the first Trump administration when the Bureau of Land Management headquarters was relocated to Grand Junction, Colorado.)
The constant barrage of “fork” emails, followed by the mass firings of probationary workers on pretextual grounds, and now this has amounted to a nonstop barrage since literally Day 1 of the new administration–and we’re only a month in. And it’s having the desired effect.
Karen Hao for The Atlantic (“‘Terrified’ Federal Workers Are Clamming Up“):
Federal workers are scared. They don’t know who to trust. As President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have hacked away at federal agencies over the past few weeks, I’ve spoken with more than a dozen workers who have outlined how the administration is pushing a new ideology and stoking paranoia within the government’s remaining ranks. My sources work, or until recently worked, across six different agencies, including the State, Commerce, and Defense Departments and USAID; most requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak or they feared being targeted. “People are terrified,” one worker told me, “not for losing their jobs but for losing democracy.”
The workers described a fundamental transformation in the character of the government: Many workers say they live in a constant state of fear, unable to trust their colleagues, unable to speak freely, reflexively engaging in self-censorship even on matters they view as crucial to national security. One team that works on issues related to climate change has gone so far as to seal itself off in a completely technology-sanitized room for in-person meetings—no phones, watches, computers, or other connected devices.
The widespread paralysis has been driven not just by the terminations and the crippling of entire agencies—which workers say has followed no apparent logic or process—but by executive orders and internal communications.
[…]
Federal workers told me that this self-censorship started with issues related to DEI. On the third day of the Trump administration, the Office of Personnel Management instructed agency heads to email their employees a notice asking them to report one another for violations of President Trump’s executive order. Both the fear of being reported by colleagues and the fear of being punished for not reporting colleagues quickly led to a pervasive loss of trust and communication, my sources told me. Many employees stopped speaking openly in meetings in front of unfamiliar co-workers. Pronouns were dropped from emails; pride flags were taken off desks; references to Black History Month and promoting women in STEM were excised from office discussions, they said. Several workers told me they believed this was the intention: “Make people question what is safe—Where can I speak? Who can I speak to? How can I speak? You create a culture of chaos, fear, and confusion,” Stephie-Anne Duliepre, a former Science for Development fellow at USAID, told me. “I think that was the strategy because it was effective: wearing people out, stripping people’s will or faith that if they ever speak up they would be safe.”
This feeling may be by design. Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget and architect of Project 2025, said in private speeches obtained by ProPublica that “we want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected. When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work, because they are increasingly viewed as the villains.”
Given how little effort the opposition is putting into stopping any of this, it clearly seems to be working.
Cruelty is not the point, just a means to reach the objective.
Ruining government, damaging government, castrating government is the point.
Government interferes too much with their scams for one thing. (E.g., the attack on CFPB).
Also costs money that they would prefer it not consume.
It also interferes with their objective of a regime more like Russia, Hungary etc., as sought by people openly Russia aligned like Musk, Vance etc. with Trump as a perpetual “useful idiot” for Russia. Reduce it so it can be rebuilt more to their liking – the playbook used at Twitter.
@charontwo:
I will concede that Trump and Musk are clearly highly sadistic, so cruelty is at least a fringe benefit.
How about we give United States Congress (that would be the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives) 48 hours to demonstrate any worthwhile legislation passed.
See Congress(dot) gov
Designating February 2025 as “American Heart Month” does not count.
Designating March 7, 2025, as “National Speech and Debate Education Day” might be worthwhile if Republicans would hold a debate about totally abandoning their Constitutional duty to restrain unelected President Musk and First Lady Donalda from extending Chumps “dictator for a day” policy to a four year campaign of fire bombing the United States Government.
@charontwo:
Cruelty mzy be the point of the way in which this is being done.
@charontwo:
And yet, they appear to exhibit a certain relishment over the cruelty of their deeds, a relishment that also appears to resonate with their fans.
@Mister Bluster: Please stop posting test messages and adding timestamps to your posts.
I think it is a fair question to ask what is wrong with timestamps?
Most employees don’t read their work emails over the weekend. Regardless, I would just disregard this unless I hear from my immediate supervisor. I don’t respond to people who are not in my chain of command unless directed to.
We’ve got the biggest federal government ever with catastrophic levels of debt and deficit barreling down on us like a planet-killing asteroid, and the guy WHO COULDN’T VOTE FOR BARACK OBAMA is now crying crocodile tears over federal workers.
About the only value this place still has is as a consistent reminder of the intellectual, moral, and character flaws of the American managerial class.
…the intellectual, moral, and character flaws of the American managerial class.
Like “You can grab them by the pussy!”
If one’s concern is debt, then actions should be taken to address the debt. Trump had said they would not touch Medicare, SS and military spending and I also believe Medicaid though he waffles. Without addressing these he cant balance the budget especially since his proposed tax cuts provide revenue loss that far outweighs savings from the cuts.
If the issue is efficiency and making govt work better while also reducing spending one would never cut the way they are cutting. You would cut the least productive people in the least productive areas. You want the productive people to stay. Instead the cuts have been random. The probationary workers are easiest to lose but they were also the cheapest workers.
As to the cruelty what is the point in firing someone who has worked at a job for 20 years with good reviews and then giving them 45 minutes to clear out? What was the point in firing people overseas and not providing transportation back to the US? It’s hard to see this as anything but cruelty and intimidation. On top of that you have incompetence. Firing nuclear staff you might need back and having no way to contact them? Firing the people investigating bird flu while it’s increasing and again having trouble finding them. Any halfway competent HR department in any corporation would always make sure they have a way to contact people they are letting go. Or maybe it’s just hubris. These people sure come across as the smartest in the room types.
Steve
@Mister Bluster: I removed them on purpose given the current political atmosphere.
@James Joyner:..current political atmosphere.
OK.
I’ll just plead ignorance since I still don’t get it.
Given the number of people this demand has gone to it is clear that it is simply a pretext for more firing. There is no way anyone will be able to read, much less evaluate, all these replies. Moreover most federal workers didn’t do anyone extraordinary last week, much less five things; they did their jobs. I have a friend who is a federal service physician who literally only saw patients at work last week. They serve on several committees at the hospital, but those committees did not happen to have a meeting last week. Literally all they can put down is Monday: saw 20 patients, Tuesday: saw 20 patients, etc. Even people on the executive service probably mostly went to meetings. They don’t make consequential decisions every day either
If cruelty generates submission through fear, then yes, it is the point.
@Mister Bluster:
Nor do I. I’m not criticizing Prof. Joyner’s decision, but I’m curious to know what time stamps have to do with the current political atmosphere.
I’m reminded of Jack Welch, CEO of GE from 1981 to 2001. He had a reputation for firing people willy nilly and getting rid of departments and divisions wholesale. This may serve to make us cautious about Musk’s plans; many government responsibilities are inherently unprofitable like fire prevention for example. Ultimately, GE is much smaller and not more profitable than before his ascendancy. My recollection may be wrong, and I invite people who know more to straighten me out.
@CSK:..
Thank you for the support.
I am not going to continue to pursue this matter on this thread as it has nothing to do with President Musk and his chainsaw.
When the people vote for a fascist dictatorship, they’ll get a fascist dictatorship bureaucracy as well.
PS Wish the trolls would at least take Sundays off.
Dr. J, please identify this “Opposition” you speak of? Contact email or mailing address? Where do I send my contribution? /s/
ETA, seriously, though, the gradual warming of the stew pot we’re in doesn’t seem to worry the majority of people. It only seems to worry students of history and those who’ve already been directly targeted. By the time the pot’s up to a roiling boil…
@Erik:
Your friend saw 80-100 patients who otherwise would not have been seen. Thank them for their service.
I hope there are a few federal workers with the means to leave their positions in government who can use the last of their 5 bulleted accomplishment for:
– Resisted fascist tyranny in America
– Told Musk to “go frak himself”
@Erik:
Indeed. It is why I have always hated the ol’ “give me bullet items of your accomplishments” requests ()upper admin used to ask for such–not so much individuals, but departments. But somehow, 1. Taught student, 2. Served on Committees, 3. Did research… was not what they wanted). As you say, how about, we did our jobs?
James and @Flat Earth Luddite:
Sincere question – what does big effort from the opposition look like?
Other than protests, press conferences, lawsuits, and strongly worded social media posts. Because, I’m seeing all of that and it isn’t making any difference… yet.
Yes, only those who’ve already been directly targeted and their allies are worried at this point. Is it on the opposition that the US population is selfish? Do you expect the opposition to change that underlying condition?
We are in the “till it’s gone” part of “you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” People will get upset when it impacts them. And government services impact everybody, whether people know that or not. If the opposition should have learned one thing in the 2024 election, it’s that too many voters can’t be told that things will be bad, even really bad. We learned that have to experience the bad things themselves.
Sargon’s latest video is on-point:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFGOddatJVk&t=619s
@Mister Bluster: @CSK: Easily tracking what time posts and comments are made is not in my best interest given heightened scrutiny by people who don’t understand what academics do.
@Flat Earth Luddite: @Scott F.: Motivated opposition parties can issue subpoenas and pretty much grind everything to a halt. They could have placed a hold on all of the cabinet nominations. Haul officials before committees to perform oversight. They’ve instead done nothing. Even my two Senators and Representative, who live in the midst of the most concentrated population of federal employees, are displaying the vigor of a geriatric turtle.
@James Joyner:
As I said the other day, I really hope your livelihood is not jeopardized. It’s terrible even to have to think about such things.
L@Flat Earth Luddite: And even at that, real frogs are smarter than the frog in the pot.* An episode of Mythbusters established the analogy as false. A frog in a pot will jump out when the water reaches X° no matter how slowly the water gets heated.
*And smarter than people, too, it would seem.
@James Joyner:
Thank you for the sincere answer. I wasn’t aware that Democrats could subpoena on their own. I know Democrats on Oversight tried to subpoena Musk and that vote failed. More holds on the cabinet posts would have been gratifying, but ultimately toothless. I’m sorry Warner and Kaine are so worthless – I don’t think they are even giving us the protests, press conferences, lawsuits, and strongly worded social media posts.
To be clear, I’m not saying I wouldn’t like to see more open opposition. But, the fine voters of America (from states & districts other than my own that is) greatly diminished the capacity for opposition when they gave the Republicans their trifecta. We need to have realistic expectations about where the agency is and focus there. It’s natural to want to be angry at someone. Maybe we don’t need to be angry at everyone.
The firing of random nuclear staff (and then having to rehire them) at the Dept of Energy’s NNSA was one of the more striking examples of incompetence, but it’s even worse when dig down into what those employees do. Andrew Egger had a piece in the Bulwark a couple of days ago and laid out some of that background. For example, the employees fired at NNSA Los Alamos included the site’s emergency preparedness manager, the radiation protection manager, the security manager, the fire protection manager, and facility representatives. And…
But as we know, the job cutters aren’t looking at the whole picture. In this case, the NNSA staff are needed to approve and oversee the work at the facility, but:
A credible efficiency review would have taken a wider view of the operation and its mission, not just the small fraction consisting of federal employees.
@James Joyner:..Easily tracking what time posts and comments are made are not in my best interest given heightened scrutiny by people who don’t understand what academics do.
Now I understand.
I am speaking only for myself when I say a pox on those who would cause you grief.
I’m guessing they would be of the anti-vax crowd.
…are displaying the vigor of a geriatric turtle.
I laughed out loud. Keep it up and before you know it The Tonight Show will be booking you.
Sorry for the time queue on the video, it’s the first time I’ve posted one. Watch from the beginning.
@Fortune: I watched about halfway through, wasn’t impressed. He said Musk was saving us an unbelievable amount of money and we should be happy about that. It is unbelievable but not in the way he meant.
Later he criticizes liberals for name calling. I guess little Sargon or lyin Sargon or crooked Sargon or crazy Sargon has never listened to anything Trump has said.
He sounds like a guy who beats his wife and then says she made me do it.
I thought for quite some time before even deciding to comment on this subject. The commentary is just hysterical. Is it worthwhile? But…
Back during Covid entire departments were shut down. “Non-essential” workers were more than 1.5%, the current layoff rate. There was no concept of cost benefit because the left supported Covid hysteria shutdown.
Now? It would appear that every single government worker is doing Gods work, and the world is about to crumble lest they all be retained. And then we have “cruel” and “evil” and “ stupid.” Chainsaws carving off 1.5%. You folks have become silly. Methinks it’s all just partisan hackery.
So speaking about cost benefit. Are you commenters aware that interest has now exceeded defense spending? Are you aware that about a third of our outstanding debt, financed short at unsustainable low rates due to the Fed and that idiot Janet Yellen, needs to be refinanced as it rolls over, at prevailing, much higher, rates? This approaches a financial death spiral.
Instead of hurling your invective and ad hominem at Musk or Trump, you might want to propose a solution to the budget/latent debt service crisis. It is real. Not “tastes great” “less filling”.
Much more adult.
@Fortune: Can you explain what you mean when you say that this video is “on point”? When I watch it, I hear someone arguing that a caricature of liberals that exists primarily in his own head (and, I suppose, the heads of others like him) has forced well-meaning conservatives to take unpleasant actions to end the woke mind virus, and if only liberals had been willing to compromise instead of being so stiff and unyielding conservatives would have been happy to come and meet them, if not in the middle, at least some place that would be more palatable to all concerned.
But as I listened, I couldn’t help but wonder where the evidence was for these compromising conservatives. I certainly didn’t see them when Biden’s immigration bill, negotiated with that well known radical leftist James Lankford (R-OK), was shot down. Can you give an example of a piece legislation that Republicans were willing to compromise with Biden on that failed because Democrats wouldn’t talk? Do you really believe that there is a large group of Republicans eager for compromise who would be willing to buck MAGA if only the Democrats would quit saying nasty things about them? If so, I understand better why you so often fail to respond when commenters ask for evidence supporting your positions.
But perhaps I misunderstand you. Perhaps you mean that the video is on point because it demonstrates how Republicans have chosen to destroy our government because they, like “Sargon of Akkad” have left reality behind. If so, I agree. It is indeed on point.
@Connor: The solution to the “debt crisis” is raising taxes. This has been proposed to you multiple times; for some reason, you keep ignoring it. Given that the Republicans are currently proposing to cut social programs to destruction, and are planning to use any savings generated to cut taxes, not reduce the deficit, any claims that its are being motivated by the deficit are just lies.
@Connor:
“Chainsaws carving off 1.5%. You folks have become silly.” Nutty Musk was the one waving a chainsaw around. Don’t blame us for silly talk about chainsaws.
“Are you commenters aware that interest has now exceeded defense spending?” Yes
“Instead of hurling your invective and ad hominem at Musk or Trump, you might want to propose a solution to the budget/latent debt service crisis.” How about raise taxes, or at least not cut them further. I’ll stop ad hominems when Musky and Turnip do.
And can we please stop with the nazi salutes? Much more adult.
@Connor: are you aware that Congress appropriates money, sets tax rates and authorizes debt?
They should raise taxes, or decide what to prioritize for cutting.
Are you also aware that Musk’s cuts are going to have minimal effect while greatly impacting the government’s ability to get shit done? And that the claimed savings are grossly inflated? And that even the claimed savings are about 1.25 times what musk spent on Twitter — that it’s basically slightly more than what he spends on a drunken bender?
And that’s before you consider what effects this has with regards to the USD as the defacto reserve currency. Losing that is going to make borrowing much more expensive — and it’s hard to keep that when the US is not seen as a stable safe haven.
Process matters. It often makes the difference between a policy being successful and not.
@Connor:
False. Remote work and temporary furloughs are not the same as mass layoffs. The laziness of this lie reeks of the desperation that results from Trump and Musk’s diminished approval rate.
And, btw, Trump was president when COVID lockdowns happened, after he botched pandemic prep and response.
Your childish lies would make you look less shrill were they less lazy.
One, we’ve long proposed reversing Reagan’s disastrous tax cuts for the 1%. Two, Musk’s indiscriminate recklessness won’t dent spending or debt.
Musk has gotten $20 billion dollars from the government. Trump gave $800 billion to the rich via his PPP welfare slush fund. DOGE itself has cost ~$40+ million. Millions are now being wasted sending the Trump clown car to sporting events.
No, we do not need to fire middle class park rangers to balance the budget. We need to raise taxes on the rich and cut Republican subsidies to oligarchs.
Imagine making (lame and dishonest) excuses for this rank incompetence:
– firing nuclear bomb safety staffers, then scrambling to reverse your reckless error, only to lack contact info
– firing veterans, scrambling to undo it
– firing bird flu experts, scrambling to reverse your dangerous error
– emailing judicial branch employees and lifetime appointees out of your purview with dismissal threats
Stupid chaos from a stupid admin supported by stupid people. But keep faceplanting with immature attempts to defend the indefensible.
Random loser: “Instead of defending middle class civil servants recklessly fired by ketamine-addicted Nazi Musk (the world’s richest man and biggest welfare queen), why hasn’t the opposition proposed a debt crisis solution?”
@Kevin:
@Scott O:
@Gustopher:
Beat me to it.
Love to see a smug fool’s lies immediately debunked, with ease. MAGA incels lived in their Nazi echo chamber for so long, they forget how idiotic they sound when around normal people.
@Fortune:
Trump voters are responsible for their bad choices, not liberals. The “party of personal responsibility” needs to grow up and take some, instead of absolving themselves of accountability via their “A liberal hurting my fwagile feewings forced me to vote for an incompetent pathological lying rapist” blame shifting bunk.
I’ve been called a n****r and a f***t all my life, but I didn’t turn around and support fascism. Trumpers have no excuse. They were selfish, ignorant, and failed to listen to people smarter and more aware than they. Surely those who hate political correctness can handle such a truth bomb being dropped about them.
Getting fired after getting the mandatory Covid vaccine with bi annual boosters to keep their Federal job.
@WaitAMinute:
You couldn’t even get through seven words without telling a lie? So sad.
@Roger:
Once again, you have inadvertently stumbled upon what he sees in the message that makes it so spot on.
@Gustopher: I think that “greatly impacting the government’s ability to get shit done” is more than a “minimal effect,” but I get your point.
The fiscal impact/effect toward lowering the debt will indeed be minimal. Fortunately, Republicans are back in charge so the fiscal impact or effect toward lowering the deficit is unimportant again. Laissez les bons temps roullez!!
@Paul L.: Porcupine.
” Are you commenters aware that interest has now exceeded defense spending? Are you aware that about a third of our outstanding debt, financed short at unsustainable low rates due to the Fed and that idiot Janet Yellen, needs to be refinanced as it rolls over, at prevailing, much higher, rates? ”
Absolutely. Are you aware that your cult leader is pushing tax cuts that will far exceed cost savings further increasing the debt? Conservatives only really “care” about the debt when a Democrat is POTUS as we all know so stop trying to pretend like you care and wait until another Dem is in office.
Steve
@Roger: Around 2013-4 there were several changes in US politics. Obama declared he didn’t need Congress because he had a pen and a phone. The DOJ argued in support of gay marriage before the Supreme Court. Senate Democrats ended the filibuster. The killing of Michael Brown led to the new era of regular riots and accusations of various isms, and the internet didn’t help any. Life wasn’t perfect before but the cancellations, CRT, etc. has continually increased tensions.
@steve: It’s a good sign how quickly the “DOGE rebate” idea got shot down.
Hello everyone. Long time reader, first time commenter here. Just wanted to thank everyone for the smart debates and for the education I receive daily
Also, @DK you’re my freaking hero, please don’t ever change.