It seems the admin just wants to gut everything, and the only reason to me seems privatization. Make all these agencies dysfunctional, tell people look how bad<insert govt. agency here> is, let's get bids from private companies that can do a better job at <x> dollars.
I hope this is not the case.
In my state (Idaho) there "seems" to be a big push to defund and disrupt the local school systems, libraries [1] and community college board of trustees [2].
There is also legislation that keeps attempting to be pushed to allow public funding to parents who have their kids in private schools [3]
This is all part of the "Redoubt" movement [4]. Which sadly...even though I am living literally in the same town as some of the major players I had never heard of it until a friend from Germany sent me a link.
I later realized it all made sense when you look at everything as a distinct "movement" instead of "motivated individuals" who were disrupting all these public services.
[1] https://cdapress.com/news/2024/jul/05/my-turn-are-we-losing-... [2] https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/accreditation... [3] https://idahoea.org/news/competing-voucher-proposals-first-b... [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Redoubt
"Some 280,000 employees out of the 2.3 million member civilian federal workforce were hired in the last two years, with most still on probation and easier to fire, according to government data."
"About 1,200 to 2,000 workers at the Department of Energy were laid off, including hundreds of employees from the office that oversees the nuclear stockpile, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday."
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/thousands-fired-trump-musk-...
Looks like absolute carnage, and its hard to see how the US government is going to maintain its operational capacity. As for the CDC being gutted, better hope these bird flu and measles outbreaks don't do a covid.
> As for the CDC being gutted, better hope these bird flu and measles outbreaks don't do a covid.
With RFK in the lead would it honestly matter how many staff they have?
Could read into this a few ways. People joined who were eager to be part of tackling how the US prepares for and manages the next pandemic (which was uh, how do you say...an unpopular event with this administration), or people who may have been hired while DEI initiatives were having their moment. Both cases feel like vengeful targeting.
Regardless of which camp you're in, you can't ignore the collateral damage from this. What a very troubling time for the US.
> One high-level researcher who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that the NIH has effectively shut down a highly competitive intramural research program for undergraduate degree holders before they start graduate or medical school. It’s responsible for the next generation of leaders in biomedical sciences, the researcher said: “These are the best and the brightest to get their training and become world class scientists to compete with China.” The program had about 1,600 people in it last year; more than 1,000 positions will not be filled, the person said.
https://virginiamercury.com/2025/02/05/virginia-moves-to-pro...
Make the federal government accountable and allow terminations based on performance.
Documented individual bad performance and misconduct are the (only, basically) reasons firing nonprobationary civil servants on an individual basis is allowed, seniority is an issue with general reductions in force because of elimination of functions, but isn't the controlling factor in for cause, performance or misconduct, firings.
It is, however, illegal to fire civil servants arbitrarily and invoke notional “bad performance” as an excuse; unlike in the private sector, there is a defined process that has the force of law and Constitutional due process rights behind it.
What is likely illegal vs what is actually the presidents prerogative? Or is it all a test to find that boundary?
> Head of ARPA-H and Biden appointee Renee Wegrzyn told staff Friday morning that she was fired, a source told STAT. The agency, established in 2022 by Biden to work with the private sector on breakthrough medical technology, employs less than 200 workers. Because of the agency’s newness, most employees are considered probationary and could be targeted for layoffs.
By the way, it is quite remarkable how much resistance there is to change in the supposedly 'progressive' opposition to Trump. Those who want to keep things the way they are tend to be called 'conservative' while those who want to shake up things - to make them better or just to change them for change's sake - are called 'progressive'. It looks like the 'progressives' of old have turned into 'conservatives' while the 'conservatives' have taken on more 'progressive' characteristics. This goes to show that party labels and affiliations only go so far when it comes to finding out who stands where and that the silly 'left' vs 'right' dichotomy is decidedly useless to separate 'good' from 'bad', no matter where you consider yourself to stand in this division.
https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/tuberculosis-in-kansas-the...
Yes, he was let loose without supervision or code review.
Fun times.
It's entirely possible RFK feels extreme regret for such incident and wishes to help prevent it from happening again. It's also entirely possible RFK will do a decent job, just like it's possible he will be replaced in 6 months.
There is some validity in his comments, US is not healthy, there is extreme dietary issues, lack of exercise and eating terribly is rampant. But nobody complained about any other department head for not trying to solve that issue. But his past is very loudly negative.
Somebody must have had an expectation, otherwise how were they selected? Why do we keep hearing over and over that they need forgiveness?
If you know someone has done terrible things, why would they change once they acquire more power?
Having a bad past stops you from owning weapons, from obtaining security clearance. Why do you think this is the case?
But no, I don't expect him to change that much. Just last night he was on Fox saying how we don't have good data on the COVID vaccines.
Yes.
It's not like he hasn't got a massive body of public statements to read. I mean, I understand that people in gov think we are all dumb enough that we think he's "pro-vaccine" no, somehow despite his toddler merch.
I mean, sometimes I think I am dumb too, especially when I respond to folks on this site. But yeah, most folks here aren't so dumb they can't tell what RFK will probably do based on his long public record of saying dumb stuff.