Elon Musk is wielding a chainsaw towards US authorities departments, probably culling tens of hundreds of jobs, as a part of an enormous plan to shrink the federal government and slash federal spending.
This massive-scale purge of public servants, coordinated by means of Musk’s Division of Authorities Effectivity (Doge), could find yourself creating one of many biggest employment cuts in US history. Tech firm IBM laid off 60,000 folks in 1993, and about 25,000 employees (some outdoors the US) misplaced their jobs when Lehman Brothers bank went bust in 2008, however this swathe of job losses may outstrip them each, with numbers predicted to hit round 300,000.
On Friday February 21, Musk despatched a “productivity email” to all federal workers demanding that they summarise the work they’d carried out prior to now week. President Donald Trump hailed Musk’s ultimatum as “ingenious” and echoed that failure to conform would imply that workers could be “semi-fired or fired”.
By the Monday, chaos reigned in Washington. The bedlam left profession civil servants uncertain of how, and even whether or not, to answer, marking the most recent flashpoint in a tumultuous final month created by Doge and aimed toward trimming the federal workforce. Including insult to harm, Musk later admitted the e-mail was a ruse to check whether or not federal employees “had a pulse”. A follow-up electronic mail is rumoured to be coming this weekend.
On X, Musk doubled down, posting a picture of the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants taking a look at a “Bought Executed Final Week” listing that included: “Cried about Trump, Cried about Elon, Cried about Trump and Elon some extra.” Days earlier, on the annual gathering of the US proper wing, the Conservative Political Motion Convention, Musk brandished a chainsaw and screamed “Chainsaw!” to indicate the uproarious Maga crowd how he supposed to eviscerate the federal paperwork.
Political payback?
Doge’s proposed job cuts are huge and deep. To this point, a lot of Musk’s ire has been directed on the US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAid), the place 4,700 workers have already been put on leave – with 1,600 of these positions terminated.
It’s maybe no shock that Doge began with this smooth goal. Though the US spends solely about 1% of federal money on improvement help, polls constantly present that People, particularly Republicans, assume Washington overspends on overseas help.
The cuts additionally come amid rising hypothesis that these firings may very well be a part of a political retaliation by the White Home. Influential adviser Stephen Miller claimed, with out exhibiting proof, that 98% of employees at USAid “both donated to Kamala Harris or one other leftwing candidate”.
The Trump administration has additionally forced out dozens of officers throughout the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company charged with investigating makes an attempt at overseas interference in US elections.
But it’s not simply these establishments the place federal jobs are below menace. From the Department of Education to the National Parks Service, Musk is revving up his chainsaw.
Even the Pentagon, historically a “third rail” for Republican presidents in relation to spending reductions, is feeling the squeeze. The US secretary of protection, Pete Hegseth, has promised to slash army spending by 8% over the subsequent 5 years from its US$850 billion (£674 billion) annual finances. Whereas US service members in uniform are at present exempt from job losses, many anticipate civilian employees, particularly these of their probationary interval, to be proven the door quickly.
Washington DC, which voted for former vice-president Harris over Trump by a margin of 92.5% to six.6%, is house to the biggest variety of authorities jobs: about 2.2 million civilians. Nonetheless, federal employees are unfold throughout the US. That features red states where Trump won in 2024. For instance, there are greater than 129,000 federal jobs in Texas, greater than 94,000 in Florida, and greater than 79,000 in Georgia.
For Trump, this complicates the Doge agenda to make a dent in America’s US$36 trillion (£28.6 trillion) debt by means of mass job terminations. Whereas many Maga supporters cheered marketing campaign pledges to eradicate authorities “waste, fraud and abuse”, many now confront the stark actuality of job losses of their communities (or even their own jobs).
Trump has promised to get spending by the nationwide authorities below management, however with out addressing reform of important providers – resembling Medicare and social safety – it’s unclear how he can obtain this aim.
Backlash and authorized battles
Public opinion in the direction of Musk breaks sharply alongside partisan strains. In keeping with latest polling by YouGov, 42% of People have a constructive view of Musk (52% unfavourable), together with 79% of Republicans however simply 10% of Democrats. The identical proportion, 42%, assume favourably of Doge, with related partisan divides. However the variety of People who charge Musk positively has been dropping in the past few weeks, though he’s seen as more and more influential.
Contributing to negativity, Musk’s rollout of Doge to supervise cuts to the federal labour drive hasn’t come with out main flubs. For instance, he not too long ago fired (before un-firing) employees on the Nationwide Nuclear Safety Administration, tasked with overseeing the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpiles.
Even some Trump loyalists are pushing again. After Musk’s “doc work or resign” electronic mail was blasted to the FBI, newly minted director Kash Patel sent his personal message telling workers to not reply, declaring: “The FBI, by means of the Workplace of the Director, is in control of all of our evaluation processes.”
On X, Harvard political scientist Maya Sen called the response “in all probability improvement for the rule of regulation”, including: “Musk acquired a head begin however separate & distinct pursuits of latest political appointees over their very own workforces will conflict increasingly more w/Musk.”
The Trump administration now faces mounting legal challenges to Doge’s agenda. An amended lawsuit filed by a cadre of unions, together with the nation’s largest federation of unions, AFL-CIO, alleged that mass firings of probationary employees is unlawful, and that solely federal businesses have management over human assets choices.
Past authorized chokepoints, Musk confronts growing scepticism – even inside Doge itself. On Tuesday February 25, 21 workers from Doge resigned, saying they’d not use their skilled abilities to “dismantle vital public providers”.
Even amongst some Republican lawmakers, there’s fear concerning the breakneck velocity of firings. Republican consultant Jeff Van Drew, for instance, said that “we’ve got to be actually cautious that we’re chopping issues that don’t damage on a regular basis folks”. Some have criticised Musk’s flippant angle towards longstanding public servants. Others assume Musk is taking a hatchet to an issue that requires a scalpel.
Whether or not a hatchet, a scalpel or a chainsaw, Musk’s slash-and-burn method carries dangers. By the 2026 midterms (when 35 of the 100 Senate seats will probably be up for election), the image of Musk gleefully slicing authorities jobs may very well be much less a logo of effectivity, extra a logo of Trump-era hubris.
