How to Push Back

There is a reason Trump is afraid of the federal bureaucracy, the career civil servants he wants to replace. They are powerful. They are knowledgeable. And although they often get a bad rap, in my experience—25 years of it—they are dedicated and mission driven. Tell doctors at CDC, federal prosecutors at DOJ, or scientists at the Department of Agriculture that they can’t do their job, and they will find a way to get it done. Tell the entire bureaucracy you want them to leave? You’ve summoned the sleeping giant.

That’s just what Donald Trump did with last night’s “buyout offers” for almost all employees in the federal workforce. Buyouts are not unheard of in the federal government. In fact, they tend to happen every few years. In essence, they are a cost savings device designed to get more experienced and hence more expensive employees to retire a couple of years early to be replaced by younger, less expensive employees. It’s how many offices across the country stay staffed at necessary levels to do the work without busting their budgets.

But not this one. Someone experienced in these matters told me it was “a trap, not a buyout.” Others with experience in federal employment law seemed to agree.

Rather than receiving an email from their own agency, the normal course of business, federal employees received an email from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), essentially HR for the federal government, which was as much a threat as it was an offer. Its subject line was “Fork in the road,” which some folks on social media were quick to point out was also the moniker Elon Musk’s email to Twitter employees bore before he started mass firing employees there.

Before offering employees the opportunity for “deferred resignation,” the email laid out just how bad the federal work environment was about to get for the wrong kind of people if they stayed in place. Employees were advised to expect their agencies “to be downsized through restructurings, realignments, and reductions in force,” and that they could be furloughed if they stayed and held to new, “higher” standards. They were told that their jobs could be reclassified, and that they could be reassigned or even removed. Employees were advised, “At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency but should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity and will be afforded the protections in place for such positions.”

If there was any doubt about what this was about, the email laid it out plainly. The goal is to remake the career professional civil service into a troop of Trump loyalists: “The federal workforce should be comprised of employees who are reliable, loyal, trustworthy, and who strive for excellence in their daily work.”

To take advantage of the “opportunity” they were being offered, employees need only hit reply and send the word “resign” back—a laughable process for anyone who has ever worked in or with the federal government and understands the amount of paperwork involved in even the most simple of actions. To underscore the obvious, no federal employee should be duped into thinking this is a normal, enforceable buyout with all of their rights, including severance pay and pension, fully protected.

After the emails went out last night and some of the initial shock subsided, something very interesting happened. Perhaps the most pressing question of this era is, “but what can I do about it?” It seems that we are about to learn what people who have developed a yearning to resist anti-democratic moves by this new administration can do. The federal workforce seems to be deciding to show Donald Trump who they are.

On Reddit last night, it was clear that a sizeable number of federal employees are digging in for the fight. Donald Trump has always fantasized about a deep state inside of government that opposes him, something that didn’t exist. Now, he is well on the way to creating one. It turns out federal employees take their oath, their job, and their duty to serve very seriously.

If you’re not familiar with Reddit, one of my kids described it to me as being “very useful for getting answers to questions,” and said, “It is the epitome of what social media should be: boring and useful.” As you’ll see below, quirky usernames and colorful language both feature heavily on the site, and it was anything but boring last night on the federal employees subreddit, where a post titled, This non "buyout" really seems to have backfired took off. A common theme was the love and respect these employees have for their work and their service—and their desire to “hold the line.” Lots of people expressed the view that they were done with being afraid and ready to fight.

Despair turned into “burning motivation.”

Federal employees often view the oath they take to uphold the Constitution and serve the American people with an almost religious fervor.

These folks love their jobs. They really care.

Folks who weren’t already engaged decided it was time.

It wasn’t just Reddit. Comments supporting federal workers emerged across social media, like this one on Bluesky:

Retired federal employees jumped in to make the point they don’t walk away from their oath when they leave their government jobs. (I feel the same way.)

If all of this is starting to make you feel hopeful, you’re not alone. It’s been difficult to watch the absence of effective opposition to Trump’s first week in office, as he ignored and openly violated the law as only someone who thinks he’s immune from all consequences can. If the people who believe in our government, our democracy, are willing to come together and hold the line, what can’t we do together?

Americans, it turns out, love their democracy. They may have voted for lower egg prices. They may have regrettaby fallen for the blather of a man who said he cared about them. They may have tuned out and ignored this last election. But the federal workforce now understands the assignment and the importance of the moment. And they’re going to educate their friends, families, and neighbors in the process.

The Marxist cry, “Workers of the World, Unite,” is more than a slogan. It’s an assessment of the power workers have together in community. It was echoed in the union movement in this country at the turn of the last century and beyond, as workers understood they could improve their conditions by standing together. Last week’s now-rescinded OMB order (we discussed it last night) freezing spending directed federal agencies to abandon programs that supported “Marxism.” That part of the memo tossed political red meat to the GOP base, but it also revealed that Donald Trump is afraid of the power we wield together as citizens; he’s concerned about what might happen if Americans mobilize for democracy.

In reality, what Trump targeted with the “Marxist” label, along with “woke” and “Green New Deal,” expresses a fear of basic grassroots support for the fundamentals of democracy. Pay attention to what Trump 2.0 demonizes—if they’re afraid of Americans working together and afraid of the federal workforce, let that be a beacon that lights the way.

We’re in this together,

Joyce