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U.S. President Donald Trump and his advisor Elon Musk are hellbent on cutting down the size of the federal bureaucracy. The newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has become a platform for Musk to run amok in seeking to pressure civil servants to step down or else force them out of their jobs.

During Trump’s first few days in office, federal workers woke up to emails urging them to consider a deal in which they would receive pay and benefits until Sept. 30 if they choose to “resign” by Feb. 6. One of the president’s first actions was a back-to-work executive order that requires federal employees to come back to the office—with the hope that many will decide to stay home. Trump won’t stop going after diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, determined to gut them from every office possible—including private institutions and state governments that receive federal money.

U.S. President Donald Trump and his advisor Elon Musk are hellbent on cutting down the size of the federal bureaucracy. The newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has become a platform for Musk to run amok in seeking to pressure civil servants to step down or else force them out of their jobs.

During Trump’s first few days in office, federal workers woke up to emails urging them to consider a deal in which they would receive pay and benefits until Sept. 30 if they choose to “resign” by Feb. 6. One of the president’s first actions was a back-to-work executive order that requires federal employees to come back to the office—with the hope that many will decide to stay home. Trump won’t stop going after diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, determined to gut them from every office possible—including private institutions and state governments that receive federal money.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been folded into the State Department, diminishing its autonomy to protect workers, while large numbers of staff overseas were told that they were being put on paid leave. This comes on top of the administration cutting ties with the contractors that constitute more than half of USAID’s workforce. Trump has said that the top priority for Linda McMahon, his nominee to become the education secretary, is to put herself out of a job, meaning to get rid of the entire department.

Musk also set off the alarms when he gained access to the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Fiscal Service, which is responsible for distributing millions of dollars of payments—including the salaries of federal workers—despite internal efforts to stop him.

And all of this is just the start. With so much attention in the 2024 campaign having been focused on immigration and inflation, Trump’s war on the administrative state has moved front and center, with Musk as his top henchman. Back in early 2017, then-top Trump advisor Steve Bannon had called for the “deconstruction of the administrative state.” In 2025, Trump is trying to make that dream come true.

None of this is a total surprise. After all, Republicans—and some Democrats—have been railing against government for decades. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan set the tone........

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