President Trump’s slash-and-burn approach to shrinking the federal workforce—along with decisions to halt critical activities at numerous agencies—will not make America great again, but it will strip the government of expertise, rob it of the capacity to respond to public needs, and make our nation less secure at home and abroad.
Yes, the government should be reformed, but this is not what Trump (along with billionaire Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency) is doing.
Instead, they are gutting agencies created and funded by Congress that they don’t like, such as the U.S. Agency for Internal Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; halting the work at entities such as the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that don’t fit their ideology; deep-sixing important government programs and services; and putting in motion plans to fire tens of thousands of civil servants across the country regardless of their strengths, expertise, or the public need.
