The Department of Governmental Efficiency has certainly delivered on shock value. The agency, created by President Trump and headed by billionaire Elon Musk, has axed over 100,000 federal employees in total between deferred buyouts and direct layoffs, not including the agency’s mass firings of probationary workers that were blocked in the courts. President Trump has an affinity for policies that create shock waves and chaos equally as strong as his affinity for building a loyalist coalition in government. His administration’s cuts to the civil service deliver on both fronts.
Trump got the ball rolling on building a government of yes-men with his Cabinet appointees, opting for staunch supporters with little experience in government. There’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, former co-host of the Fox News show “Fox & Friends Weekend,” on which Trump was once a regular guest. Then there’s F.B.I. director Kash Patel, who proved his allegiance to Trump through his contributions to the “Nunes memo,” a document alleging that the F.B.I. favored Democrats in its investigation of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election. And of course, Elon Musk himself is another example of how Trump is keen to bestow positions of power on those who demonstrate their loyalty to him.
A steady stream of firings and resignations are also a memorable highlight of Trump’s first term, exemplifying the president’s low tolerance for pushback within his administration. 92 percent of the 65 most influential executive office positions experienced turnover in Trump’s first term, the highest turnover rate out of the past 5 presidents. It’s also hard to forget Trump’s animosity towards former Vice President Mike Pence after his refusal to stop the certification of the 2020 election.
Trump is taking his coalition-building tactic one step further with the recent cuts to the federal workforce. Although cloaked in a disguise of promoting government efficiency, it’s obvious that the cuts are doing the opposite by hindering agencies’ operations. What the layoffs do succeed in, however, is creating a culture of fear within federal agencies. The imminent threat of layoffs places federal employees in a vulnerable position, presumably encouraging deference to the administration’s policies; either play by Trump’s rules or get the boot.
The effects of Trump’s “with me or against me” leadership style are already visible. The Republican party has overwhelmingly shifted to supporting Trump, including those that were once his vocal opponents. Vice President J.D. Vance is a prominent example; he went from comparing Trump to Hitler in 2016 to being Trump’s second in command. This culture of deference is permeating not only the Republican Party, but the country at large. Some Democrats are opting for cooperation over resistance, news media and technology companies have settled lawsuits with Trump, and some media outlets appear to be adapting their coverage to please the administration.
If politicians and company executives are deciding to acquiesce to Trump, there seems to be little option for federal employees with far less social power. The president is surely aware of this. Federal workforce cuts will weed out dissenting employees and instill fear in those that remain, further entrenching the culture of deference to Trump and effectively creating a government of yes-men.
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