U.S. President Donald Trump wants to lay off federal workers during the government shutdown. In contrast to previous presidents who have furloughed employees during shutdowns since 1979, Trump is trying to go much further. He is using this political crisis as an opportunity to continue with the agenda that he launched in January with the Department of Government Efficiency: slashing into the civil service workforce as part of his mission to dismantle the administrative state. Though a federal judge in the Northern District of California has temporarily blocked his efforts, the administration has been able to overcome many such rulings at the Supreme Court.

Trump signed an executive order in March that rescinded the collective bargaining rights of workers in a number of agencies. “Certain federal unions have declared war on President Trump’s agenda,” according to the White House. “President Trump supports constructive partnerships with unions who work with him; he will not tolerate mass obstruction that jeopardizes his ability to manage agencies with vital national security missions.”

U.S. President Donald Trump wants to lay off federal workers during the government shutdown. In contrast to previous presidents who have furloughed employees during shutdowns since 1979, Trump is trying to go much further. He is using this political crisis as an opportunity to continue with the agenda that he launched in January with the Department of Government Efficiency: slashing into the civil service workforce as part of his mission to dismantle the administrative state. Though a federal judge in the Northern District of California has temporarily blocked his efforts, the administration has been able to overcome many such rulings at the Supreme Court.

Trump signed an executive order in March that rescinded the collective bargaining rights of workers in a number of agencies. “Certain federal unions have declared war on President Trump’s agenda,” according to the White House. “President Trump supports constructive partnerships with unions who work with him; he will not tolerate mass obstruction that jeopardizes his ability to manage agencies with vital national security missions.”

But the current war on government workers is nothing new; it is deeply rooted in Republican presidential politics.

At the start of the conservative transformation of American politics in 1981, President Ronald Reagan struck a major blow to public-sector unions. At a moment when the labor movement was struggling as the manufacturing sector languished in the face of competition with Japan and West Germany, public-sector unions had been one of the few areas where organized labor continued to grow. It had gained legitimacy since President John F. Kennedy’s

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