Trump and Federal Employees
Trump wants to eliminate and replace federal employees with an employee buyout. Apparently, they believe this is necessary because they believe the federal workforce is left leaning. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cnvqe3le3z4o
The Administration has also issued a memorandum (Schedule F) that removes civil service protections from many (at least 50,000) federal employees so that they can be fired based on their political views. https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2025/01/28/trump-executive-order-federal-workforce Their goal is to replace current federal employees with policy making responsibilities with Trump loyalists. https://protectdemocracy.org/work/trumps-schedule-f-plan-explained/ In other words, we are going back to the misbegotten era of patronage where employees were hired not on merit but on their support for the winning candidate. https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/political-patronage/ Civil Service reforms had assured that employees were hired (and fired) based on merit, rather than their political allegiances. Top jobs can still be distributed based on party or political loyalty, but the bulk (estimated 90%) of the federal workforce is covered by Civil Service. https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/political-patronage/
Federal employee unions have sued to block Schedule F. https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/politics/national-politics/federal-worker-unions-sue-to-block-trump-executive-order-rolling-back-civil-service-protections-schedule-f-career-policy/65-d47c5e56-6514-465b-9973-9e41ed4c9641