'They're so vindictive': Why some federal employees are fearing Trump 2.0
They're finalizing Biden priorities, dusting off their resumes and delaying home repairs as they fear losing their jobs.
EPA employees are shuffling to "safer" agencies. An Interior Department worker is putting off buying a new car and poring over Project 2025. And civil servants across the government are worried they might soon get fired.
Federal employees throughout the executive branch are panicking at the thought of another Trump administration.
Former President Donald Trump has pledged to "demolish the deep state." His running mate, Ohio Republican Sen. JD Vance, has said Trump ought to fire "every civil servant in the administrative state." It's not just campaign-trail bluster. In the waning days of his first administration, Trump sought to make it easier to fire federal employees -- a move that was quickly reversed by the Biden administration.
Workers in some agencies are particularly distraught about a possible Trump return. The former president and his allies have singled out certain agencies -- including those that issue environmental rules -- as prime targets, should he return to office in January.
Climate, clean energy and conservation programs scaled up and burnished with cash during the Biden administration are certain to be lightning rods for Trump and his team. That's looming large over energy and environmental workers, who are feeling the pressure on a professional level as they're hustling to get Biden's priorities wrapped up in the coming months. It's also hitting them personally as they fear they might soon be out of a job.
The prospect of a Trump return is shaping how one Interior employee and their spouse -- another federal worker -- are handling their finances.
"We have stopped doing any money-spending things because what if we're without jobs in the next year?" the Interior employee said. "We need all the savings we can get."
That couple has put off buying a new car and paying for needed home repairs, that person said. "We're both feeling the heaviness of this right now."
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"They're so vindictive, I can see them going back through E&E News articles and saying, 'You're fired,'" the Interior employee said.
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It's "in the back of everybody's mind" that a Trump administration might purge the federal workforce, said one employee at the National Science Foundation.
"People are worried, but anybody who has half a brain is existentially afraid for the safety of democracy," that person said. At the moment, "people are very concerned with their day-to-day jobs" and are "working to make sure they can get a lot of good done now."
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Push to 'drain the swamp'
Feds' fears about Trump are justified, said Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat whose district is packed with government employees.
"Federal employees are rightly concerned about what a second Trump presidency will mean for them and, by extension, for the American people they so dutifully serve," Connolly said.
Trump "has pledged to fire or relocate more than 100,000 federal employees who live and work in the D.C. region. He has repeatedly and shamelessly mocked the work of career experts and scientists, going so far as to scrub references to climate change from government websites. He has even promised to abolish entire government agencies that do not sufficiently bend themselves to his whims," Connolly said.
Trump and his allies, some of whom are still fuming over feds' pushback during his first administration, are eager to make changes. Senior energy and environmental appointees who served in the Trump administration have been vocal about their frustrations with civil servants when they were in office.
Apologies for the very light blogging today. I've had bad insomnia for five nights straight. I think I know the culprit: I was taking Afrin before bed, which causes insomnia and also dries my mouth out so much that sleeping is uncomfortable.
So I won't take that any more (or at least not later than 2pm).
But today, I am demolished.
Unrelated: Tim Walz cosplayed as a "normal guy:"
He then showed off his Knucklehead Authenticity by attacking JD Vance for being successful, stupidly saying "I don't even know what a venture capitalist does!" as if being ignorant of basic things makes him a Manly Musky Masculine Manperson.
I mean, even if I didn't see Silicon Valley, I would guess that a venture capitalist raises capital to invest into ventures they believe will be profitable in the future.