While you’re reading this, the odds are good that hundreds of civil servants are being told by the Trump administration to pack up their desk, office or lab and get out.
The mass firings of federal workers taking place across the country are more than a slap in the face to the workers themselves.
What does it say about the state of America right now when Elon Musk — who has zero experience serving the public — and his legally questionable Department of Government Efficiency have the power to sack thousands of workers who keep our air and water clean, care for our military veterans, maintain food safety, staff our national parks, respond to weather disasters, ensure airline safety, process tax filings and more?
It’s chaos, not sensible cost-cutting, no matter what Musk and President Donald Trump claim.
If we’re wrong, show us the detailed cost-savings analysis, not Musk’s wildly inflated claim of $55 billion in savings; the tally on DOGE’s website reportedly shows just $16.6 billion saved. More important, how will those savings benefit everyday Americans who rely on government workers in ways we too often forget — till those workers aren’t on the job.
Finally, if Musk and Trump were serious about doing right by Americans and making government more effective, they would make it clear that these fired workers won’t someday be replaced by political loyalists under Trump’s Schedule F plan to “transform” the civil service.
Don’t hold your breath.
Instead, the Trump administration has taken a wrecking ball to the civil service system, created in 1883 under the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act to ensure that merit and expertise — not politics — are the basis for hiring government employees. As for any claims Trump and Musk make about a “bloated bureaucracy,” consider this: The total number of federal civil servants today is roughly the same as it was in the late 1960s, according to the nonprofit, nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service.
‘A loss for all of us’
The Chicago area has some 48,300 federal workers, more than half of the 82,000 federal workers based in Illinois as of December 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Before the firings, many of them experienced “harassment, and abuse, and intimidation,” as one U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs worker told Sun-Times reporter Mitchell Armentrout. “For people who think it’s a normal kind of downsizing — it’s not.”
Here’s what one young scientist, among dozens of employees fired from the Chicago office of the Environmental Protection Agency last Friday, wrote to us in a letter:
“Civil service attracted me because of the opportunity to use science to serve the American public,” wrote Bridget Lynch, who was also interviewed by Sun-Times reporter Brett Chase. “I’m not worried for myself — I will get another job. I share my experience to highlight the broader implications of these short-sighted decisions: the loss of young talent in the federal government is a loss for all of us.
“The government has established layoff procedures that consider essential roles — these were not followed. No matter where you stand politically, I plead with you to see that we, as a nation, are on the wrong track.”
Lynch and other scientists interviewed by Chase were told Wednesday that they can return to work — a twist that shows no one should fool themselves that Musk and DOGE, staffed by inexperienced techies who likely draw their inspiration from that shopworn biz-speak cliche about “disruption,” have any clue what they’re doing.
Consider these other missteps too :
Fired workers from the National Nuclear Safety Agency were called back after the Trump administration realized their jobs are essential maintain the safety of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
Officials working to respond to the bird flu epidemic that has sent egg prices soaring and decimated poultry farms were “accidentally” fired from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The agency says it is “working to swiftly rectify the situation.”
Then there’s the claim made by Musk and Trump that the Social Security Administration is riddled with fraud, including payments being made to 150-year-olds. Turns out that yes, some improper payments have been made by the agency, but the overall rate of fraudulent payments is less than 1%, not the “millions and millions” of fraudsters Trump claimed.
How long before the administration has to rehire air traffic control staff — whom they began to fire Monday — to ensure air travel safety as we head into the busy spring break and summer travel seasons?
Top officials from the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Treasury Department, and the U.S. Department of Justice are among those public servants who have stood up to Musk and DOGE’s actions.
Sadly, they ended up resigning. But they showed integrity, a quality that seems in short supply in Washington these days.
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