Career feds act like they’re the ones running the country



It shouldn’t have to be said, but here we are: No, it is not normal for federal employees — whether career staff, political appointees, or otherwise — to defy the direction of the president of the United States.

It doesn’t matter which party is in power. It doesn’t matter if you disagree with the president on a certain policy. Short of a murderous dictatorship or truly Constitution-threatening administration (and regardless of what they say on Bluesky, this isn’t that), the powers of the executive branch are vested in a president. All federal employees work for the president and have a duty to the American people to see their will enacted through each new administration.

Those who are fearful of losing their coveted and protected government jobs are gnashing their teeth at the sight of real accountability.

You wouldn’t know it, however, watching the second Trump administration.

Amid the streamlining of the federal government, many federal employees have taken aim at Trump’s policies mandated by the American people. Some may actually be motivated by their understanding of the Constitution or their love of country. But given the years of malfeasance in the Beltway, few deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Most are federal employees looking to save their comfortable jobs and pampered skin. These employees are so entrenched that they believe they are entitled to their jobs on the taxpayers’ dime — with one recently going as far as to claim that the Trump administration shows “disrespect” to federal employees.

Entitlement runs deep

Their resistance goes beyond Trump-era deregulation. Many of these same employees continue to complain about returning to the office after COVID-era stay-at-home orders — something the private sector largely resumed years ago. They claim that going back to their federal workplace is an “arbitrary punishment.”

Worse, the corporate left-wing media is attempting to spin the lack of resources at these bloated offices on the Trump administration, as if the previous president hadn’t allowed wanton remote work.

At the center of this bureaucratic backlash is President Trump’s push to reinstate Schedule F — a policy that would reclassify certain federal employees to make them more accountable to the executive by placing them more directly under the president’s purview.

Naturally, the federal employees ringing alarm bells about this policy are the same ones who want to retain the litany of job protections not afforded to people in the private sector. Redesignating certain staff as Schedule F employees ensures that those working in the government aren’t phoning it in and collecting a paycheck for decades on end.

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  cmannphoto via iStock/Getty Images

This isn’t a new problem. Both Trump administrations have faced internal resistance from the civil service. But so did the Biden administration. Though Joe Biden didn’t see nearly as much resistance as Trump, the scenarios were just as egregious.

Arguably the most high-profile issue that spurred federal workers to buck Biden was Israel’s war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas after the deadly anti-Semitic attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023. Some federal employees didn’t just protest the Biden administration’s stance on Israel’s war outside the White House; they staged a walkout in support of the war-fighting Islamic terrorists who hate America. A U.S. airman even immolated himself in protest.

These instances underscore a significant problem facing the federal government: federal employees who believe themselves both above the policies of the presidents they serve and more knowledgeable than the American people who decide our leadership.

It doesn’t matter which party or president is in power — those who are fearful of losing their coveted and protected government jobs are gnashing their teeth at the sight of real accountability.

When bureaucrats act like they’re above democratic accountability, they not only weaken presidential authority, but they also jeopardize the nation’s credibility on the world stage. In doing so, they erode the trust Americans place in their government.

While it’s imperative that federal workers speak out in the face of actual constitutional danger from any administration that seeks to upend our nation, the actions undertaken by federal employees in the current and previous administrations severely run the risk of the American people viewing all federal workers as boys and girls who cry wolf.

Perhaps some of these individual revolts are emotional reactions to perceived injustices or policy blunders. It’s tempting to see a pattern in their occurrences and the media lionization of the malcontents. But wisdom says never to attribute to malice what you can to incompetence.

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'Have a nice vacation': Trump offers millions of federal bureaucrats a buyout to get rid of them



When it comes to shrinking the size of the federal bureaucracy, President Donald Trump evidently means business. The White House issued a memo Tuesday offering buyouts to millions of federal workers in an effort to expedite the downsizing process and to ultimately save American taxpayers oodles of cash.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management revealed Tuesday in a post titled "Fork in the Road" that an email was sent to all eligible full-time federal employees presenting them with a choice. They could either remain in their current position, meeting enhanced standards of conduct and working in their physical offices five days a week without any "certainty of their position or agency," or they could alternatively opt for a "dignified, fair departure from the federal government utilizing a deferred resignation program."

"The federal workforce is expected to undergo significant near-term changes," noted the OPM. "As a result of these changes (or for other reasons), you may wish to depart the federal government on terms that provide you with sufficient time and economic security to plan for your future — and have a nice vacation."

Federal workers who choose the second option will be able to retain all pay and benefits and will be exempted from in-person work requirements until Sept. 30, 2025.

The OPM email indicated that those bureaucrats looking to depart need only reply from their government account, "type the word 'Resign' into the body of this reply email," and "hit 'send.'"

The buyout agreement requires that outgoing bureaucrats assist their employing agencies with "completing reasonable and customary tasks and processes" to facilitate their departure.

Federal workers have until Feb. 6 to opt into the eight-month severance package. Military personnel, employees of the U.S. Postal Service, and those in positions related to immigration enforcement and national security are ineligible.

A senior official in the Trump administration told NBC News that between 5% and 10% of the federal workforce is expected to quit, which could result in an estimated $100 billion in savings.

'If they don't want to work in the office and contribute to making America great again, then they are free to choose a different line of work.'

Of course, many more bureaucrats may soon be kicked to the curb, in part due to Trump's reinstatement of his previous policy establishing the Schedule F employment category for federal employees, which makes it easier to remove insubordinate and useless bureaucrats from an estimated pool of 50,000 eligible candidates.

"I will wield that power very aggressively," Trump vowed in a March 2023 video. "We will clean out all of the corrupt actors in our national security and intelligence apparatus, and there are plenty of them."

Other federal workers may also end up hitting the bricks following the Trump administration's planned restructurings, realignments, and reductions in force.

"American taxpayers pay for the salaries of federal government employees, and therefore deserve employees working on their behalf who actually show up to work in our wonderful federal buildings, also paid for by taxpayers," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. "If they don't want to work in the office and contribute to making America great again, then they are free to choose a different line of work, and the Trump administration will provide a very generous payout of eight months."

Everett Kelley, president of American Federation of Government Employees, condemned the buyouts, stating, "Purging the federal government of dedicated career civil servants will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government."

"Between the flurry of anti-worker executive orders and policies, it is clear that the Trump administration's goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to," added Kelley.

Leavitt rejected the suggestion that the house cleaning is a "purge," telling reporters in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, "Six percent of the federal workforce in this city actually shows up to work. That's unacceptable. We're all here at work at the office. There are law enforcement officers and teachers, and nurses across the country who showed up to the office today. People in this city need to do the same."

The Verge highlighted that the buyout offer not only resembled Elon Musk's Nov. 16, 2022, ultimatum letter to then-Twitter employees but had the same subject line, "Fork in the Road." Musk's companywide email told employees they could either commit to working "long hours at high intensity" or opt to receive "three months of severance."

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Pentagon officials reportedly scheming how to respond to Trump orders they don't like



Days prior to the 2020 presidential election, former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley telephoned his communist Chinese counterpart, General Li Zuocheng. Milley reportedly reassured Zuocheng that he would provide him with actionable warnings should his commander in chief, then President Donald Trump, decide to attack, thereby nullifying the strategic advantage of a possible American surprise attack for the benefit of an adversarial nation.

According to Bob Woodward and Robert Costa's book "Peril," Milley also plotted in secret to deprive the American president of his ability to swiftly defend the nation with nuclear weapons, telling senior military officials in charge of the National Military Command Center not to follow orders unless he personally gave the green light.

It appears Pentagon officials are once again figuring out ways of undermining Trump, possibly at the nation's expense.

Defense officials recently told CNN that elements of the Department of Defense have been holding informal discussions about how they might respond to Trump orders they find objectionable, such as the firing of redundant bureaucrats or the domestic deployment of troops.

'There is huge risk in disobeying a president's order.'

"We are all preparing and planning for the worst-case scenario, but the reality is that we don't know how this is going to play out yet," said one defense official.

Among the concerns reportedly entertained by would-be obstructors is that Trump might deploy active-duty forces to help Customs and Border Protection — something military officials were happy to do when President Joe Biden took office. It appears the difference is that Trump might use the forces effectively.

One former senior DOD official noted that unlike the military, law enforcement agencies "don't have the manpower, they don't have the helicopters, the trucks, the expeditionary capabilities" that are likely necessary to execute Trump's mass deportation plan. While using the military to make good on Trump's campaign promise is sensible, "it is a big deal," suggested the official.

Sending troops into American cities is hardly unprecedented. For instance, President George H.W. Bush invoked the Insurrection Act during the 1992 Los Angeles race riots and tasked federal troops with restoring order.

'We will clean out all of the corrupt actors.'

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a memo following Trump's landslide victory, directing the military to "make a calm, orderly, and professional transition to the incoming Trump administration."

Austin also made a point of specifying that the military must obey "lawful" orders.

"The U.S military will stand ready to carry out the policy choices of its next Commander in Chief," wrote Austin, "and to obey all lawful orders from its civilian chain of command."

"Troops are compelled by law to disobey unlawful orders," one defense official told CNN. "But the question is what happens then — do we see resignations from senior military leaders? Or would they view that as abandoning their people?"

Kori Schake of the American Enterprise Institute made clear to Reuters that there is a big difference between lawful orders and orders believed to be immoral.

"There is a widespread public misperception that the military can choose not to obey immoral orders. And that's actually not true," said Schake.

Rachel VanLandingham, a former Air Force attorney, told the Washington Post, "They will follow President Trump's orders, particularly because the president can lawfully order domestic use of the military in a wide variety of situations."

"There is huge risk in disobeying a president's order and seemingly little risk in obeying it," added VanLandingham.

The other big concern that insiders are reportedly "gaming out" is that Trump might trim the fat as promised, at least where government bloat is concerned.

Trump plans to reissue his 2020 executive order establishing the Schedule F employment category for federal employees, making it easier to remove insubordinate and useless bureaucrats from an estimated pool of 50,000 eligible candidates.

"I will wield that power very aggressively," Trump vowed in a March 2023 video. "We will clean out all of the corrupt actors in our national security and intelligence apparatus, and there are plenty of them."

Vice President-elect JD Vance told Tucker Carlson ahead of Election Day, "If the people in your own government aren't obeying you, you have got to get rid of them and replace them with people who are responsive to what the president's trying to do."

While Biden announced a rule earlier this year aimed at further shielding federal bureaucrats from being ousted under a framework resembling Schedule F, one defense official told CNN that "there are still ways a new administration could work around these protections."

"My email has been inundated on this topic," said an unnamed defense official. "Definitely going to be a busy couple months."

Blaze News reached out to the DOD's press operations office for comment but did not receive a response by deadline.

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'Their days are numbered': Federal bureaucrats are panicking over Trump win — especially at DOJ and FBI



Employees at the Biden-Harris Department of Justice and their fellow travelers at the FBI are apparently "shell-shocked" and updating their resumes following President-elect Donald Trump's landslide electoral victory.

Federal bureaucrats' apparent fears of a thorough housecleaning are justified, as Trump has made no secret of his plan to "shatter the Deep State and restore government that is controlled by the People."

Background

In March 2023, Trump announced that on day one, he would reissue his 2020 executive order establishing the Schedule F employment category for federal employees, making it easier to remove insubordinate and poorly performing bureaucrats from an estimated pool of 50,000 eligible candidates.

"I will wield that power aggressively," Trump vowed.

President Joe Biden revoked Trump's Schedule F in January 2021 and announced a rule earlier this year aimed at further shielding federal bureaucrats from accountability and from being ousted under a framework resembling Schedule F.

'They're getting the hell out of dodge.'

Reversing this rule might take months and involve legal challenges. Nevertheless, Trump appears committed to ensuring that America's democratically elected president will once again "have appropriate management oversight regarding this select cadre of professionals."

Trump also vowed in his 10-point plan to "clean out all of the corrupt actors in our national security and intelligence apparatus."

"The departments and agencies that have been weaponized will be completely overhauled so that faceless bureaucrats will never again be able to target and persecute conservatives, Christians, or the left's political enemies, which they're doing now at a level that nobody can believe even possible," said Trump.

Since detailing his cleanup program last year, Trump has brought on Elon Musk to lead a federal efficiency initiative, which might reinforce the cleanup of deadwood at the Justice Department and its well-armed offshoot.

Reaping the whirlwind

Blaze News investigative journalist Steve Baker said that bureaucrats at the DOJ and the FBI are right to panic, not only because a "reshuffling of the deck is normal" but because Trump is poised to make good on his pledge to personify and deliver "retribution" for those Americans wronged by what has become an increasingly politicized justice system.

"We know that this panic is happening at the assistant U.S. attorney level and at the U.S. attorney level. These guys are already planning their exits," said Baker. "They know that their days are numbered. They are looking for their golden parachutes into the big, high-power law firms. They're getting the hell out of dodge."

FBI employees are expecting a similar shake-up and pre-emptive exodus.

Several anonymous bureau sources recently told the Washington Times that the top brass at the FBI were "stunned" and "shell-shocked" by Kamala Harris' humiliating electoral defeat.

The insiders, convinced that the president-elect will "smash the place to pieces when he gets in," suggested that no one at the supervisory special agent pay grade (GS-14) or higher is safe from losing their jobs, especially not Director Christopher Wray.

"It's a countdown for Wray because [people here] don't think he will stay to get fired after what Trump did to Comey," said one FBI source. "Trump will say, 'Yeah, fire his ass. Don't let him take the plane home.'"

Trump appointed Wray in 2017. While the director's term is not set to expire for another three years, the president-elect could put him out to pasture.

'Everyone's going to have a real problem when they're running for the door.'

FBI employees are apparently also wary about Musk's efficiency commission.

One source told the Times, "When [Musk] tries to do efficiency at headquarters, the place is going to have five people."

"Try to find a person that's actually working," continued the source. "That may be the biggest problem there — that there's no efficiency. So that's actually the bigger threat. If you're going to try to make the government efficient, you would start with the FBI, because if you do politics all the time, you're probably bloated."

Another source suggested to the Times that some FBI employees who have grown tired of the Jan. 6 witch hunt are amused over the prospect that Trump will liberally issue pardons, nullifying their efforts.

While the promise of pardons has apparently amused some bureaucrats, it hasn't slowed down Democratic elements of the judiciary.

Baker, whose pretrial hearing regarding his Jan. 6 misdemeanor charges is scheduled for Tuesday, told Blaze News that despite the understanding that Trump will ultimately pardon nonviolent Jan. 6 protesters, D.C. courts are continuing to waste time and taxpayer funds pursuing his and similar cases.

"They are going forward with the process no matter what, when they should be hitting the pause button," said Baker.

While the president-elect currently lacks authority, Baker suggested that "he should at least issue a public statement and say, 'I'm telling you, DOJ, I'm telling you, FBI, I'm telling you, judges of the D.C. District Court: You're wasting your time. You're wasting the people's time. And you're wasting the people's money going through this process because I'm going to put a stop to this on the day of or day following my inauguration.' He could at least send a signal."

Baker suggested that such a statement may not get through to those blinded by hatred and committed to crushing Jan. 6 protesters, but it might resonate with those persons in the District of Columbia still equipped with common sense.

In the meantime, it appears that FBI employees are getting ready for a change of employment.

"You know the fit test? How they let the standards slack on the fit test?" one FBI source told the Times, referencing the bureau's physical fitness requirements. "Everyone's going to have a real problem when they're running for the door."

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New Biden Rule Aims To Entrench The Deep State Forever

The Biden administration’s rule seems designed to ensure the deep state will remain unaccountable to the president — and the American people.

In preparation for Biden loss, the administrative state is making it harder for Trump to fire obstructive bureaucrats



The Biden administration took a major step this week to ensure that federal bureaucrats can be just as unaccountable and resistive under a potential Trump presidency next year as they were during his first term.

Trump tries to Schedule F the 'resistance'

One month prior to the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump issued an executive order establishing a new Schedule F employment category for federal employees, making it easier to remove insubordinate and poorly performing bureaucrats from an estimated pool of 50,000 eligible candidates. After all, civil servants, some self-described and others dubbed by the media as the "resistance," had worked for years to prevent the democratically elected president from executing the will of the American people.

Prior to its bankruptcy and shuttering, Vice excitedly reported that federal civil servants were "waging bureaucratic war against Trump," threatening to scrub documents, hide information, and refer "items for legal review as a way to chew up time."

"While such intentional foot-dragging may sound borderline treasonous to some, ... this sort of bureaucratic firewall is employed only by those civil servants who legitimately feel they're protecting the long-term interests of their country," reported the defunct publication.

"You're going to see the bureaucrats using time to their advantage," one Department of Justice employee told the Washington Post in 2017. "People here will resist and push back against orders they find unconscionable."

Vanity Fair reported that some bureaucrats even remained in contact with Biden appointees "to learn more about how they can undermine Trump's agenda and attending workshops on how to effectively engage in civil disobedience."

Federal employees evidently would have much preferred to have done the bidding of failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The Hill reported that 95% of all campaign donations from 14 government agencies went to Clinton ahead of the 2016 election. More than 99% of contributions from the State Department, 94% from IRS employees, and the supermajority from DOJ employees went to Clinton.

Biden shields the deep state

President Joe Biden, who had little to fear from the administrative state that helped get him elected, reversed course in January 2021. He revoked Schedule F via executive order, claiming it "undermined the foundations of the civil service and its merit system principles."

Now that there's a strong chance Trump will return to the White House, the Biden administration is taking steps to ensure the "resistance" can go back to hamstringing the commander in chief.

The Biden administration announced a new rule Thursday aimed at further protecting federal employees from being ousted under a framework resembling Schedule F.

According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the rule clarifies "that the status and civil service protections an employee has accrued cannot be taken away by an involuntary move from the competitive service to the excepted service, or from one excepted service schedule to another. Once a career civil servant earns protections, that employee retains them unless waived voluntarily."

Additionally, the rule clarifies that the exception previously applied by the Trump administration to a host of career civil servants only applies to noncareer, political appointments.

To further shield bureaucrats from accountability, the Biden administration has also established an appeals process for federal employees, whereby they can fight ousters or the loss of civil service protections.

"This final rule honors our 2.2 million career civil servants, helping ensure that people are hired and fired based on merit and that they can carry out their duties based on their expertise and not political loyalty," OPM director Kiran Ahuja said in a statement. "The Biden-Harris Administration is deeply committed to the federal workforce, as these professionals are vital to our national security, our health, our economic prosperity, and much more."

A Thursday statement attributed to Biden framed the new rule as a means of protecting 2.2 million bureaucrats "from political interference, to guarantee that they can carry out their responsibilities in the best interest of the American people."

"This rule is a step toward combatting corruption and partisan interference to ensure civil servants are able to focus on the most important task at hand: delivering for the American people," continued the statement.

A reckoning with a handicap

When Trump first created Schedule F, he noted, "Faithful execution of the law requires that the President have appropriate management oversight regarding this select cadre of professionals."

"Given the importance of the functions they discharge, employees in such positions must display appropriate temperament, acumen, impartiality, and sound judgment," continued the Republican president. "Due to these requirements, agencies should have a greater degree of appointment flexibility with respect to these employees than is afforded by the existing competitive service process."

"Separating employees who cannot or will not meet required performance standards is important, and it is particularly important with regard to employees in confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating positions. High performance by such employees can meaningfully enhance agency operations, while poor performance can significantly hinder them," added Trump.

While in years past, Trump has routinely vowed to "drain the swamp," Government Executive indicated he got more specific during a 2022 speech in South Carolina.

"We will pass critical reforms making every executive branch employee fireable by the president of the United States," said Trump. "The deep state must and will be brought to hell."

That same year, sources close to Trump told Axios that the Republican front-runner was especially keen to shake up the national security apparatus; to "clean house" in the intelligence community and State Department; to oust the "woke generals" in the Department of Defense; and effectively decapitate the Justice Department and FBI.

Concerns have been mounting in recent months in Washington, D.C., over the prospect of Trump making good on his promises.

Kevin Munoz, a spokesman for Biden's campaign, warned the Associated Press in February that Trump "is already telegraphing plays straight out of the authoritarian playbook — gutting the civil service of people he deems disloyal and plotting revenge on his political enemies."

Axios reported that should Trump return to the White House and seek to reverse this new rule, doing so might take months and involve legal challenges. For starters, he would have to direct the matter to the OPM to draft new rules.

James Sherk, the director of the Center for American Freedom at the American First Policy Institute, suggested several weeks ahead of the OPM's announcement, "The federal workforce has ideologically polarized, and this rulemaking would impede the ability of presidents whose views differ from the bureaucracy’s to implement their agendas."

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